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#681 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 8,694
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#682 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#684 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 6,859
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Yet there are many people who have had more than one 5 number win, and many people who've had bigger wins, without attributing them to spiritual interference; and all those wins fall into the range expected by the simple statistics of probability. There is no bump in the curve for 'spiritual' people.
To everyone but you it was a chance win; yet your desire to somehow feel special, makes it something else. We all get feelings that we're special - that's a natural part of having a sense of self, but most of us learn to accept that the results of probability and coincidence are a normal and expected part of life, and not something magical. |
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Simple probability tells us that we should expect coincidences, and simple psychology tells us that we'll remember the ones we notice... |
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#685 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 8,694
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#686 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 8,694
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#687 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 8,694
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#688 |
Persnickety Insect
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Sunny Munuvia
Posts: 16,346
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This is what is known as special pleading. It's a logical fallacy.
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Free blogs for skeptics... And everyone else. mee.nu What, in the Holy Name of Gzortch, are you people doing?!?!!? - TGHO |
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#689 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,533
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#690 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 31,690
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1. He'd never do that. 2. Okay but he's not currently doing it. 3. Okay but he's not currently technically doing it. 4. Okay but everyone does it. 5. He's doing it, we can't stop him, no point in complaining about it. 6. We all knew he was going to do it which... makes it okay somehow. 7. It's perfectly fine that's he's doing it. |
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#691 |
Schrödinger's cat
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Malmesbury, UK
Posts: 12,860
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I have only just caught up with the last page or so of this thread and am relieved to see you post this. I hope you will take advantage of all the help that is available to you, from your family, your GP, the Samaritans, and any church you wish to visit. By all means take solace in your beliefs, and perhaps consider taking a break from trying to convince sceptics of them until you are feeling better.
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"If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things" - Terry Pratchett |
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#692 |
Scholar
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 112
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I wish you luck in trying to unlock some new human ability. That would be awesome! But don't ignore the warnings people have been giving you here.
The strength of your belief is not evidence. If you come back here and tell us about a detailed, specific vision of heaven and souls, and an unbearable brightness that was the burning heart of God, and you wept with joy as you felt, for a moment, the very pulse of the universe, ... well, that's dandy, but we can't do anything with it. People have visions and dreams all the time, and the brain is good at making stuff up and filling in details. So as you explore, think about what you can do to demonstrate your ability to someone. Assume we want to believe you: we trust, sort of, but we definitely verify. You could be just one more of a thousand people with completely different views on the nature of the universe, each with their own visions and occult experiences. That does not mean you are wrong, but what evidence can you offer that sets your extraordinary ideas above all those other extraordinary ideas? In other words, ask yourself, seriously: why would anyone believe me? "I'm not a liar" is one of the worst reasons you could give. If you start getting results, look to what you can objectively demonstrate. Because if all you have is what is in your head, then we can't see it. It gets messy when we try - I learned that the hard way. ![]() |
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#693 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: South Africa
Posts: 3,827
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Originally Posted by Pixymisa
When a person wants information on a subject, one goes to those who are qualified in that discipline. I am giving you the opinion of people who are qualified in that area. You can choose to believe, or not believe. If I tell you that I had histoplasmosis, and my immune system was fully functional, the medical experts will tell you that that is not possible. One or two might admit that it might be possible, but would be extremely rare. So when I say that this happened to me and two others they would be extremely sceptical – but that does not change the truth of what happened.
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Perhaps one day science will say, there appears to be a non-materialistic influence on living things, rather than discard results that appear to be in error because they do not fit the expected repeatability model. When it comes to science I agree with your model because it works. Your model cannot explain some strange happenings. Physical evidence or repeatable proof is the mantra of the religion of secular humanists. You believe that you know the answers to what the Ultimate Reality is – and therefore you know what rules to apply to test other theories of the Ultimate Reality. Your absolute belief leaves no room for doubt.
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
Remember the days when science only had a few small unknowns to tie up?
Originally Posted by Pixymisa
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#694 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#695 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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__________________
You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#696 |
Schrödinger's cat
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Malmesbury, UK
Posts: 12,860
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Everybody has premonitions. I've had many myself. A few happen to come true, and are remembered. The rest don't, and are forgotten. The question is: is the percentage that come true greater than would be expected to be the case by chance?
You say the voice told you you had won the lottery, and you had 5 numbers come up. Would you still have considered the premonition true if only 4 numbers had come up? That's a win too, right? How about three numbers? About 30 million Saturday lottery tickets are sold every week. There is about a 1 in 54 chance of winning something, and a 1 in 55,000 chance of having 5 numbers correct. That means on average there are about half a million winners of whom over 500 people have 5 numbers correct every single week. Is it really so astonishing that you happened to be one of the latter that particular week? No single lottery win could ever be evidence of the paranormal, even if it is preceded by a premonition. Now if you got these messages regularly and each time you were a winner, then you could begin to build a case that there is something extraordinary going on. But this turns out to be just what you're told not to expect to happen. Neither do I expect it to happen, for different reasons. |
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"If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things" - Terry Pratchett |
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#697 |
Schrödinger's cat
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Malmesbury, UK
Posts: 12,860
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"If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things" - Terry Pratchett |
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#698 |
Incurable Optimist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,737
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#699 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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The spiritual philosophy behind it is that God does not interfere in human affairs. He is simply the source of everything and he waits for us to return to him by our own efforts. We are here to act as we see fit and reap the consequences. Its called cause and effect, and it works through karma and reincarnation. The spirit world teaches that we will live countless lives in a cycle that will eventually lead us to spiritual perfection and unity with God.
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You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#700 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: hic.
Posts: 8,035
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#701 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: hic.
Posts: 8,035
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#702 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: hic.
Posts: 8,035
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#703 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#704 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: In my head.
Posts: 7,758
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"If I hadn't believed it with my own mind, I would never have seen it." - thanks sackett "If you stand on a piece of paper, you are indeed closer to the moon." - MRC_Hans "I was a believer. Until I saw it." - Magrat |
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#705 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: In my head.
Posts: 7,758
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"If I hadn't believed it with my own mind, I would never have seen it." - thanks sackett "If you stand on a piece of paper, you are indeed closer to the moon." - MRC_Hans "I was a believer. Until I saw it." - Magrat |
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#706 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#707 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#708 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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__________________
You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#709 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#710 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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All she may need is the support of others in a church, and not be on her own.
Another thing I want to say to mstricky is this. Remember your daughters. Not wanting to hurt them saved you last time, so even if you feel you could harm yourself, you do not want to hurt them. So live for the love of your daughters, that is something worth living for. |
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You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#711 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#712 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,392
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Everyone here is trying to put down religious beliefs (almost everyone).
I cited the religious repression in Russia as evidence it does not work. Even in that extreme circumstance where little old ladys were put in mental hospitals for twenty years and given all kinds of aversion therapy using drugs, they went back to church when they were released. |
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You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy |
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#713 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#714 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#715 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#716 |
a carbon based life-form
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 39,049
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#717 |
Scholar
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 112
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And of rational and reasoned argument. Without some evidence, without some kind of testability, we don't have anything useful left, even if it happens to be true, because we have no way of knowing it is true. We can guess. We can make up hundreds of ideas to explain things with no reason to accept one over the other - none of them have evidence, none of them can be tested, and they could all be wrong. If we have no evidence for it, and we can’t test it, we’ll never know. All conjectures become equally unprovable and equally useless.
If an event is rare, such as being a psychic, it might take us a long time to gather the evidence we need to verify it and then, possibly, explain it. Eventually it will happen though. Let’s just wait for the evidence and not jump to conclusions. There's no rush. If you can do something extraordinary, have it tested. So far ... nothing. And so we wait. You are correct, that video won't answer those questions. Neither will washing your car. How could they? Where else would we be? Why would it mean anything? |
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#718 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Lenoir City, TN/Mineral Bluff, GA
Posts: 6,639
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#719 |
Scholar
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 112
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#720 |
Persnickety Insect
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Sunny Munuvia
Posts: 16,346
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Not at all. They go much, much deeper than that. Any statement that contains a formal logical fallacy is worthless. Statements that contain informal logical fallacies may not be immediately worthless, but they are highly suspect.
If your argument consists entirely of logical fallacies, of course, then it is worse than worthless.
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If these things happen as you claim they do, then of necessity they produce an observable change in the material world, and of necessity this can be distinguished from the normal pattern of events.
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I'll tell you what is rare: Neutrino interactions. A neutrino can pass unhindered through a light-year of solid lead. And yet, we have absolutely no doubt about the existence of neutrinos, the number of different types (three) and their properties. Because we are very very good at finding things that are real.
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Well, one point. They're also impossible. When you have solid evidence that something impossible actually happened, that's a scientific breakthrough. When you have no evidence of something impossible, it's just impossible.
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Science has no belief in any such "Ultimate Reality". There's just the world around us, as it is.
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Where would you like to start?
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Mostly, as I said, they don't. Most mutations are neutral.
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As I said earlier, if you have an iPhone, you literally have no soul.
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Free blogs for skeptics... And everyone else. mee.nu What, in the Holy Name of Gzortch, are you people doing?!?!!? - TGHO |
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