Which answer would you prefer?

Question

When you ask a question dealing with Alt. Science, paranormality, metaphysics, spirituality, or pseudo-science would you prefer people to answer as if they have facts or theories? I run into this a lot when dealing in this area. A lot of people state things like facts about ghosts, demons, spirits, energies, etc. Do you find it helpful or closed-minded? I have always found it more comforting when it is presented as theory or "According to X the answer would be Y or Z for reasons A B and C." rather than "Oh yeah! Ghosts are real. You saw a ghost. It was a mean ghost. You can tell that by the way it hovered. When a ghost hovers 2 inches off the ground instead of 4 that means its mad!"

I generalize here, but I really would like to know - facts are comforting and provide boundries, but can we really speak about the ethereal as though we're explaining how a blender works or why A^2 +B^2 = C^2? Should we even try?

Answer 1

Make a question with science/paranormal, thats what I do. Like this one I did right here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 2

well with this there is the problem of course of generalisation, and trying to apply maths to situations that we are yet to explain with science. also who can compare 'ghost' cross the spectrum

Answer 3

That's an astute observation, I think. I often find that the true believers are the most closed-minded of all here. They speak of ghosts, crystal "energy", demons, spirit guides ,etc., as if they are facts. This is not a general blanket statement covering all believers here, though.

And many skeptics here speak in more scientific terms, e.g., "we don't have enough evidence to believe in, here's why...", which is a substantially more open-minded approach. Again, not a blanket statement.

I would love to steer this category in the more scientific direction, but it's never going to happen. We'll always have ghost stories and crystal energy and so forth. Just not enough people are interested in analyzing their beliefs in a scientific way instead of simply spreading them.

Answer 4

It's natural that people will bring certain sets of assumptions into a discussion. This can be helpful or not, depending on the nature and purpose of the discussion .

For instance, a seminar on ghost sightings being held by a group of anthropologists, for instance, is likely to be based on an entirely different set of assumptions than one being held by a group of parapsychologists.

When it's a general discussion open to anybody who cares to participate, you can expect participants to base their observations on a wide variety of assumptions. This can be enlightening or not--often, such discussions simply degenerate into religious wars unless all involved can agree on ground rules or some base assumptions.

In a Q & A forum like Yahoo! Answers, there's not supposed to be a lot of back-and-forth--in fact, the TOS discourages it--but if your intent is to get opinions from a more or less broad cross-section of people, it's a very good tool.

For better or worse, though, you have to accept the fact that people will bring their assumptions with them.

It can be infuriating, that's for sure. But that's part of the fun, I guess.

Answer 5

I would love to have scientific answers to paranormal things that happen. Wushaboy gave one just lately..about sleep paralysis..not that I totally believe in sleep paralysis. At least he tried to give a reasonable scientific answer. I just don't believe there are many scientific explanations for a lot of paranormal things that happen...so they just say "no evidence". If we went to the regular Science section about paranormal things..we'd get laughed out of it. We can't even be on our OWN section without getting made fun of or ridiculed.  I like to have sincere answers. No one can say anything about anything for certain..so many things in life can change..and sometimes the truth isn't discovered for years..sometimes 100 years.  Most of us are just giving answers according to our experiences and other people's experiences and what we've read and learned.

Answer 6

Give me a good mix any day! I love the variety of answers we enjoy in this section. The answers cover many viewpoints. Some are very rational and scientific, some are imaginative, some are emotional, and some are clever and funny. If you find an answer more comforting when it is presented as theory, that's great. I see your point completely, but you don't have to sacrifice other answers to have that type too.

Answer 7

I would prefer facts.Questions should be answered with them.Theories are fine when given as such.In the paranormal we see very few,if any facts.What we see are theories and stories presented as if they are facts.I agree facts are comforting,but they are not boundaries.One fact learned will lead to another and another.That's the process humanity has used since the first round boulder rolled down a hill.That fact became the wheel which led to the cart and on to self propeled vehicles.The thing about the paranormal,metaphysical and pseudo-science.There is not one single fact that leads to anything.All theories presented as if they are facts come to dead ends.At least all the ones I've checked out.

Answer 8

Since we presently do not have a fool-proof way of measuring, calculating, or charting our experience with the paranormal, discounting the occurrences as being utter rubbish is being closed minded.

I would love to have a conversation with a ghost or spirit.

I would love to know how they view us.........like do we appear as mist, dark shadows, semi-transparent, orbs, etc.......

What if the dark shadows of a human outline are actually people from our FUTURE? And they see us as ghosts?

So until there is a form of communication with other energies, it's open season to speculate.

But some people are closed mined enough to say that dark shadows mean that entity is a demon that needs to be exercised. Well, how in the world do they know that?

I've had a lot of personal experiences with the unknown.

And unless you can do the Vulcan Mind Meld and read my mind and give me a logical explanation to those things, don't assume we're a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

Answer 9

There really are no facts about the paranormal since nothing has been proven yet. There aren't even any theories that I know of, since to become a theory a hypothesis first has to be repeatedly shown to be true through multiple scientific tests. That leaves hypotheses, personal experiences, and opinions.

Sticking to hypotheses instead of experiences and opinions would definitely keep it scientific, but the number of answers one would get would be so few as to almost eliminate this YA section. Some paranormal subjects are so ignored by the scientific community that people's opinions and guesses are all we have right now.

Answer 10

Well YES we should try. YOU may be convinced but unless you can convince others of your truth, you'll be regarded by all those who are not mindless parascience believing sheep to be a kooky crazy spaz.

Convince scientists and you're not taken lightly. Convince Margerine Hupsky, alien probing survivor, cat enthusiast, and amateur tin foil hat maker, and you've accomplished nothing.

I believe that ghosts do not universally exist. They are not real.

HOWEVER, I believe that it is entirely possible that they exist/are real to the people who see them.

What IS real to someone? What their consciousness deems is truth. If your brain fires some weird pattern of neurons, you will see something as real - and it will BE real TO YOU.

Your brain makes mistakes. Everyone's does. And when it does so, it fixes its errors. Sometimes that has the side effect of creating the appearance of something - e.g. ghosts.

See that? I have just scientifically proven that it is possible for someone to see a ghost and not be lying.

That can be applied to any parascience, proving if it is at all possible.

Tadah!