|
Posts:
403
Registered:
12/21/08
|
|
(11 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jul 7, 2009 10:51 PM
|
crap. quatrain.
i'm thinking robert frost.
but that's all i can think of right now when you say poetry.
how can anyone not love and look back on the road not taken?
|
|
|
Posts:
135
From:
Constant Regression
Registered:
7/18/08
|
|
(10 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jul 7, 2009 7:42 PM
|
Wary, weary, deep & dreary
Skepticism needn't be scary
Unqualified belief
is another cut of beef...
(Is this the first "poetry," let alone the first quatrain to appear on these boards ?)
--
The only answer to Theodicy is idiocy.
Rev.DR
|
|
|
Posts:
403
Registered:
12/21/08
|
|
(9 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jul 7, 2009 5:44 PM
|
I think you are reading that question wrong. If you notice that it is under the "Upload your paranormal photos" link, which you mentioned, then I think you can deduce that what they meant to have happen with that link is for people to upload their photos of the paranormal, which skeptics could then look at and try to debunk.
i'm not quite sure how i could be misreading that very simple question, but i can be dense sometimes.
my point is that the question being placed there at all is awkward since there is not much toleration of skepticism within the PRS community and very little skepticism, if any, on the show itself. (i've never seen any skepticism other than a few off-handed equipment error type comments from sergey to explain FLIR anomalies and one bit on an episode where PRS agreed with a psychologist who proffered sagely that children get their cues from the adults around them.
please forgive me for scoffing at and/or being skeptical  that the PN believing readers and/or the AE moderators would even allow skeptical commentary on someone's uploaded supposed PN pics.
skeptical POVs on the PS forums have been so moderated and met with so much rancor and finger wagging from the show's fans that i find it rather absurd that AE would even use "are you skeptical"!" as some sort of a topic starter.
it's obvious that many, many people are indeed skeptical. it's also obvious that their POVs aren't exactly popular here.
|
|
|
Posts:
403
Registered:
12/21/08
|
|
(8 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jul 7, 2009 1:03 PM
|
kudos to RevDr for his patient and calm response.
"lets try to consider and acknowledge all the opinions on this board, and RevDrDFK, please don't scare away the newbies, many of whom are probably a little weary about posting, by being too skeptical!"
i would have to say that if you actually read the posts on this board and notice the very minute amount of skeptical attention this "experiences" board receives, you'll see that it is hardly the believers who are "scared off". (i'm guessing you meant to type "wary" instead of "weary")
|
|
|
Posts:
5
Registered:
6/24/09
|
|
(7 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jun 29, 2009 2:37 AM
|
Such wonderful discussion came out of that, thank you both. RevDrDFK, I appreciate your discussion of other scientific studies... I personally believe in the paranormal, but I am also married to a mathematician, so that sort of discussion is something I appreciate very much. I personally believe that there is something to the paranormal, something even strangely scientific about it if you start to truly think about, and analyze the possibilities.
Logic is vital to any field of study. I really appreciate your perspectives, both of them, and although I may lean more away from skepticism, I think it is a vital part of true discovery. So, lets keep posts more based on both, like CCH said (or at least implied) lets try to consider and acknowledge all the opinions on this board, and RevDrDFK, please don't scare away the newbies, many of whom are probably a little weary about posting, by being too skeptical!
Really, I didn't think the responses would be so awesome, you both rock!
|
|
|
Posts:
11
Registered:
5/25/09
|
|
(6 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jun 28, 2009 8:17 PM
|
Great observation band. Something that they needed to hear as well. See while this MB is still new to me and my busy life doesn't put me in front of a computer for long periods of recreation, when i am on and it happens to be on this MB which is reserved for the rare topic of the paranormal and supernatural, it puts me in more of a 'reading and learning of others' mood rather than a 'responding to others (and their responses)' mood. Because i focus like that.
But from what i have seen in the social dynamic of this board while reading the past and present of this board is a difference between a few of the main posters on and the new or fleeting posters who seemed to me at least to be more like others fresh to the reality of the supernatural, the types of persons who would rather have answers to their questions or at the least a set of passionate and enduring intellectual ears who can engage them respectifully and honestly with their concerns. I believe those people seek this out from the Paranormal State MB and not cameras and tv politics that produces nothing but amatuerish and professional skeptics when the realm of the paranormal and investigation of its realms hit the mainstream 21st century human communities with its all too reliable technological advances.
I would bet that if one of these persons being accused of coming to this community just to get on tv, if their claims were backed up with true concern and fear, they would accept PRS, or any other legitamite team of paranormal and supernatural research teams to come and engage them even if they were without A&E's cameras & contracts, I would go farther and bet those truly afflicted by the beyond would welcome them more without them.
I think passing the time by passing people off as attention cravers and headcases and questioning every single thing about every single thing and making it appear as if you have an answer for every single one of them is a lonely game of dangerous assumptions, one I can't play.
To put a summary on as much as I can cover involving all of LIFE in a phrase with what, and who, has been discussed in this topic and on this board......*huff & sigh*....
My personal belief is that it is nothing more than the much discussed but less often seen collective human arrogance that we carry with us in all of our individual lives in this age of the end. As much as I love our science and our scientists, no one discusses or acknowledges the true reasons why it is all juvenile,... and even at our very best, worthless.
And its because even at our very best, every microsecond of everyday since our exception, we are a species on the brink of extinction. And that extinction is something we cannot control or avert. So how can we possibly say that because OUR science can not provide any evidence of alternate realities and dimensions of time, or beings and entities with a billion years of evolution over us, how can we say that they do not exist. How can a person lay claim to a planet and its interstellar community when pound for pound, limb for limb, we cant even hang with a small percentage of some of the apex predators inhabiting this miracle planet, or last in the mysterious ocean depths, or lift our arms and fly about the dangerous of its ebb and flow.
My humility lies in Presence. Yes speaking of God is one thing, but what about His presence, debating the exisitence of Angels and Demons is exhiliarating, but how does their presence affect LIFE, being told about the true size of our Earth, and that size relavant the size of Jupito, and his size relavant to The Sun, and her size relavant to her distant brothers and sisters, and their size relavant to the entire Milky Way galaxy....and there are billions of galaxies.....that is an illusion we cannot produce, and they can only convince a skeptic that it is not real.
Imagine our size relavant to those I have just mentioned. And understand that it is the Light of the Supreme Deity, Source Energy as Dr. Wayne Dyer refers to this All Inteligential Creator. We can't know anything until He allows us to. So lets just all agree to acknowledge that to ourselves and each other.
|
|
|
Posts:
135
From:
Constant Regression
Registered:
7/18/08
|
|
(5 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jun 26, 2009 4:14 PM
|
There has been a serious, multidisciplinary study of the paranormal for over 150 years. Physics, statistics, mathematics as well as psychology. It is illuminating that some of the most successful debunking has been done by conjurers. Yes, it has been shown that many scientists are more likely than laypeople to be fooled by people like Uri Geller. Of course you are right that psychology is an inexact, immature science, and any researcher worth their salt would admit as much. However, recent strides made in real time brain imaging & brain imaging in general have made some very interesting contributions to the understanding of the mechanics of observation, recall and cognitive bias.
Being skeptical of the paranormal is not so much a case of closed mindedness as an adherence to a large body of investigation that has not shown any statistically realistic evidence. As I read recently :
"Well, let's suppose for arguments sake I have no idea-absolutely none whatever-how X can be explained. Does that fact, in itself, justify you in concluding your explanation must be the correct one ?"
As mentioned before, good science remains open minded when questions can't be answered, but some areas of research have been gone over (&over & over) so thoroughly that the chance of the negative answer being incorrect becomes vanishing small. With all the time, resources & imagination that has gone into paranormal research the chances of new techniques leading to confirmation are quite small. Not to mention all of the hoaxes that have been revealed and confessed to.
PS plays at being "open minded" and have in fact made a few calls against paranormal explanations. But over all
it is, as you say, entertainment & the great majority of Americans would rather have their ghosties and demons and other fairy tales confirmed. Logic, consistency, rationality and science are hard and make the brain hurt. Better a just so story.
--
Jesus Chrysler Drives a Dodge
(Screaming Blue Messiahs)
|
|
|
Posts:
5
Registered:
6/24/09
|
|
(4 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jun 25, 2009 6:30 PM
|
I think you are reading that question wrong. If you notice that it is under the "Upload your paranormal photos" link, which you mentioned, then I think you can deduce that what they meant to have happen with that link is for people to upload their photos of the paranormal, which skeptics could then look at and try to debunk. That was my interpretation at least.
And your right, PRS does not often feature skeptics on the show, in fact, I don't know if they ever do. But you are underestimating the importance of ratings, and giving to much credit to a television audience. People want to be spooked, not taught a lesson about observation and correct scientific theory and experimentation.
Lastly, I have looked over many of the posts from both of you, and you are both sound like you have quite an aversion to any truth in paranormal activity. First of all, let me remind you that a good, thorough skeptic will have evidence based on many different fields of scientific study, not just the common psychology studies that you both keep repeating. Maybe bring in more evidence against peoples experiences other then "its in your head" and "look at this psychological study." Remember that we have mapped very little of the human brain, and for the reason psychology is still a very interpretive field....... Also, Confirmation bias, defined by the Skeptic dictionary as "Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs," could also be used in reverse, to apply to both of you. Neither of you want to see or believe in the paranormal, so you merely look for the explanations which confirm your own skepticism. Just a thought.
|
|
|
Posts:
403
Registered:
12/21/08
|
|
(3 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jun 23, 2009 7:45 PM
|
heh, i typed 'iss'.
at least it wasn't 'ish'.
far too early in the day for that.
|
|
|
Posts:
135
From:
Constant Regression
Registered:
7/18/08
|
|
(2 of 11)
Re: interesting ending question
Jun 23, 2009 4:02 PM
|
Just being polite, I guess. Like asking a potential dinner guest, "Are you Kosher ?" or, "Are you a Vegetarian ?"
(And then cookin' up that big pot of chittlins, regardless.)
--
Jesus Chrysler Drives a Dodge
(Screaming Blue Messiahs)
|
|
|
Posts:
403
Registered:
12/21/08
|
|
(1 of 11)
interesting ending question
Jun 23, 2009 12:39 PM
|
at the top of the main topics page for the "share your experiences" discussion, there is a whole blurb stating that PRS can help you if you've had PN experiences!! and for you to share the experiences here (notice all of the one-time posters who do just that)
what i find interesting is at the very bottom of the blurb, right under where they say "upload your paranormal pictures!" they ask:
"Are you a skeptic about Paranormal Experiences?"
PRS / AE have never featured a skeptic on any episode of the show and PRS doesn't tolerate skepticism or criticism of their show/methods on their own forum.
(AE has taken that route lately as well with this forum over-moderation)
so just what iss the point in asking that question?
|
|
|
|
|
