Do you believe in the supernatural/otherworldly/etc?

[Draco-Onis]

In my view, it's just something you can't quantify or study, so people don't try. We try to use what we can quantify or study to learn about our world. Gives us a lot of answers and hooray for that, but in some areas we're trying to put a puzzle together with only half the pieces.

There's nothing you can't quantify or study it is simply a question of whether or not we have the tools to. The history of human kind is littered with mysteries that we attributed to the supernatural only to figure it out centuries later. Maybe humanity will never reach the level of advancement needed to understand certain things maybe we will which is why I don't believe in the supernatural.

[PC2]

There's nothing you can't quantify

That's currently unknown. It may or may not be the case that abstract things like qualia/color, love, moral and aesthetic values can be quantified. All we know right now is that we can't conceive of how it would be done.

or study it is simply a question of whether or not we have the tools to.

You are definitely correct on the "study" part. There's nothing that cannot be studied, but just because there's nothing we can't study that doesn't necessarily mean that we will ultimately be able to study everything quantitatively.

The history of human kind is littered with mysteries that we attributed to the supernatural only to figure it out centuries later. Maybe humanity will never reach the level of advancement needed to understand certain things maybe we will

Exactly, spot on.

which is why I don't believe in the supernatural.

There can't be anything supernatural in my view. If something exists in reality it would simply be subsumed into what is "natural" once the explanation for it is discovered.

[Shadowferal]

There's nothing you can't quantify or study it is simply a question of whether or not we have the tools to.

Mental capacity, among other things, is also required.
For the most part I see your statement as an opinion.

[Draco-Onis]

Mental capacity, among other things, is also required.
For the most part I see your statement as an opinion.

Well that's kind of what everyone is doing here giving our opinion

There's the saying if you give an infinite amount of monkeys an infinite amount of time they can write Shakespeare. Well we are the monkeys the universe is Shakespeare.

[Shadowferal]

It's just that those claiming science or logic and saying a certainty...isn't really connecting logic or science in their stated opinion. But citing a belief instead.

[boyzma]

I have experienced enough unexplainable things to not believe. I have seen many things too that although strange could be explained. But to have a large mirror fly out of an empty bathroom, turn a corner and land in the middle of the living room with 6 people...no...that could not be explained....and I have never ran out of a house so fast in my life. That house was really creepy. Aliens? Also have seen too many things not to believe. Thing with me though is ufo's don't scare me....I'm always the one that wants a better look.

[Poe]

I believe that the universe is too vast for humans to comprehend even a fraction of how anything really works.

[Theodarzna]

Yes I firmly do. I've had some encounters with paranormal stuff and am 100% convinced on that stuff.

[Shadowferal]

I believe that the universe is too vast for humans to comprehend even a fraction of how anything really works.

I have to agree with much of this.
The reality is an immense question mark, and that is terrifying.

[PC2]

I believe that the universe is too vast for humans to comprehend even a fraction of how anything really works.

Yes that's because our understanding of the universe is fundamentally based on an approximation so no matter how much comprehension one has, it'll always be a fraction. This isn't even a "belief" when we get to a topic like mathematics because Godel's incompleteness theorem shows that there can't be a system capable of proving all truths.

I believe in ghosts/spirits, yes. I believe there’s something after death. What, idk.

That is one of the reasons why most people are against the idea of humans becoming immortal and curing death in the future. An afterlife isn't just implausible it's also a dangerous idea to the future of humanity!

[ErrandRunner]

Based on my life experiences so far, no I do not believe in the supernatural. As for life outside Earth, yes I do believe the probability of there being life outside our planet in such an astonishingly large universe (which could be one of many) is high and therefore very likely. However, no evidence exists so far that there is.

I think there are some questions we simply won't be able to answer no matter how advanced technology becomes. It is frustrating as a thinking human that we will probably not be able to answer some of the big questions (what existed before the Big Bang, how did life originate, are there other dimensions or realms of existence? etc.)

[Adamas102]

No, absolutely not. And the people claiming "well, we don't know EVERYTHING" are using that sad excuse to essentially say "we don't know ANYTHING". The fact is, we do know a lot about how this world works. Matter, light, gravity, etc aren't just fledgling concepts to be taken for granted. Our understanding of these concepts has led to tremendous progress throughout our history. The notion that there are phenomena on our planet that simply don't adhere to any of the laws of the universe is ridiculous. Apparitions that can displace matter at will but apparently leave no trace of their existence. Of course these phenomena are ALWAYS observed by very small groups of individuals and NEVER in a testable setting.

However, the one thing we DO know is that the mind is excellent at playing tricks on itself. Delusions, hallucinations, pattern recognition, lucid dreaming. I remember a couple dreams I've had that felt so real that they caused me to physically jump out of bed only to realize that what I had reacted to was only in my head. I get it. I understand why people gravitate to the idea of the supernatural. These experiences evoke very strong feelings in a lot of people, and many take it as a sign of some sort of afterlife. Hell, I'd love for it to be true as well just because I think it would be kind of interesting, but anything more than a cursory thought makes it obvious that it's just fantasy.

With all the people who have died throughout the course of human existence, if ghosts were real it shouldn't be that hard to prove. Estimates put the total number of humans born around 100 billion (of which 92.5% have perished over the millennia). Of all those potential ghosts, only a small fraction have apparently decided to make themselves known, but never to large crowds or on camera. And they never have anything of value to contribute, typically just appearing in order to fuck with people? How is THAT more believable than your imagination causing you to think you saw something that wasn't actually there?

[breadisfunny]

No, absolutely not. And the people claiming "well, we don't know EVERYTHING" are using that sad excuse to essentially say "we don't know ANYTHING". The fact is, we do know a lot about how this world works. Matter, light, gravity, etc aren't just fledgling concepts to be taken for granted. Our understanding of these concepts has led to tremendous progress throughout our history. The notion that there are phenomena on our planet that simply don't adhere to any of the laws of the universe is ridiculous. Apparitions that can displace matter at will but apparently leave no trace of their existence. Of course these phenomena are ALWAYS observed by very small groups of individuals and NEVER in a testable setting.

However, the one thing we DO know is that the mind is excellent at playing tricks on itself. Delusions, hallucinations, pattern recognition, lucid dreaming. I remember a couple dreams I've had that felt so real that they caused me to physically jump out of bed only to realize that what I had reacted to was only in my head. I get it. I understand why people gravitate to the idea of the supernatural. These experiences evoke very strong feelings in a lot of people, and many take it as a sign of some sort of afterlife. Hell, I'd love for it to be true as well just because I think it would be kind of interesting, but anything more than a cursory thought makes it obvious that it's just fantasy.

With all the people who have died throughout the course of human existence, if ghosts were real it shouldn't be that hard to prove. Estimates put the total number of humans born around 100 billion (of which 92.5% have perished over the millennia). Of all those potential ghosts, only a small fraction have apparently decided to make themselves known, but never to large crowds or on camera. And they never have anything of value to contribute, typically just appearing in order to fuck with people? How is THAT more believable than your imagination causing you to think you saw something that wasn't actually there?

than explain what happens when you enter a black hole with 100% confidence.

[Adamas102]

than explain what happens when you enter a black hole with 100% confidence.

What does a black hole have to do with seeing ghosts? Explain the connection without just saying "well, if we don't know one thing then how can we know another completely unrelated thing". We know black holes exist. We can see how they affect matter and space around them. They can be studied, they can be observed. So again, explain what that has to do with seeing ghosts.

[PC2]

What does a black hole have to do with seeing ghosts? Explain the connection without just saying "well, if we don't know one thing then how can we know another completely unrelated thing". We know black holes exist. We can see how they affect matter and space around them. They can be studied, they can be observed. So again, explain what that has to do with seeing ghosts.

Ghosts are nonsense, but block holes have never been observed either, so there has to be some other way we know about them.

[PC2]

You do know we can observe them with equipment?

I'd love to hear about this new equipment that observes black holes, from which no observable object can escape.

We can literally tell where a black hole is located due to what happens around them.

Indeed! It's almost like we only know about them via *indirect reasoning*.

[PACOX]

The problem with these discussions is

A) When something considered supernatural/otherworldly is explained/less mysterious does it cease to be extraordinary? If something strange is explained does it cease to be strange?

B) Since most 'supernatural' stuff exist outside of the realm of science its hard critique anything outside of he said/she said.

[The Butt Witch]

I believe there are things that we haven't seen yet, so we think they're impossible.

[PACOX]

What does a black hole have to do with seeing ghosts? Explain the connection without just saying "well, if we don't know one thing then how can we know another completely unrelated thing". We know black holes exist. We can see how they affect matter and space around them. They can be studied, they can be observed. So again, explain what that has to do with seeing ghosts.

I believe the point they are trying to make is that we do not know how everything works so how could you say if something exists then it should be easily explained.

We know black holes exist. We can observe their effects and prove them mathematically. We know how they affect stuff that gets near them but the actual nature of them becomes somewhat paradoxical. Furthermore, we can measure gravity, we can explain what it does, and yet gravity is the most mysterious of the 4* fundamental forces of nature.

Its better to say ghosts cannot be scientifically explained than to say "if they exists then we've would've already verified them". Many scientists believe extraterrestrial life exists - we haven't found a crumb outside of Earth.

[Muajin76]

I don’t believe in ghosts or the supernatural because in the age of everything being captured and recorded, the verdict should be out already. And it is. No ghosts.

Mod Warning: Keep discussion to ghosts and harmless topics, not religion.

There are vids on youtube that obviously show the existence of supernatural forces at work.
With that said....f yea i believe in the supernatural, aliens, mother's in law, the lochness monster, big foot...etc