The Best Proof that Paranormal Phenomena do not Exist
Blog topic:
Yesterday, I was sitting in my office and out of the blue, a guy (who apparently has nothing to do with the university), popped in. He wanted to know what does science think of the "Uri Geller Phenomenon". I told him that science doesn't even waste time on this kind of rubbish. It wasn't enough for him. So, given that I didn't want him to leave the office thinking that science doesn't have an answer, and given that my time is precious, I quickly tried to find the optimal answer. Here it is.
If any person claiming to have paranormal ability did in fact poses it, he, or she, would easily be able to claim the James Randi Education Foundation's million dollar challenge offering a prize US$1,000,000 to anyone who can demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test conditions agreed to by both parties. Anyone possessing a genuine paranormal ability should easily be able to reach an agreement on the test criteria with James Randi (aka "The Amazing Randi"). No one was able to claim the award, so no one posses any provable paranormal ability. Period.
The guy at my office then said. "So why do people listen and believe all those Charlatans?".
"Good question!" I told him. "I don't think however I have the time to answer that one."
Anyway, one nice book I did find on the topic was "Why People Believe Weird Things" by Michael Shermer. Its a nice book which tries to explain the psychological phenomena behind the reasonas why people are so gullible.
Always remember, just because you don't know of a reasonable explanation to something doesn't mean that there isn't one!
Comments (48)
It seems to me money or not if you had the ability you would want to put the debate to rest by truly opening up about your skills.
Paranormal phenomena, i.e. ghosts, telepathy, and such DO exist.
Do you actually believe that you're going to be able to talk somebody who's witnessed the paranormal firsthand on many occasions out of believing what they saw and/or experienced?
I for one couldn't care less what anyone thinks they know about the existence of paranormal phenomena.
I know it's real. Keep on fooling yourself, nobody cares.
No, I don't really believe I'm going to talk the ignorant into growing a brain, but I try, just the same. You're just one more "bleever" with the same old tired bag of tricks. You claim definitively it DOES exist. You claim to have seen it. You tell me I'm fooling myself. You pretend my opinion is unimportant. All the while you prattle on you never say a thing. Not once do you back up a single claim with any kind of proof. You think of the critical thinker, the evil "septic skeptic", as the enemy, out to harsh your buzz, man! Ooooh! I'm a skeptic and I like nothing more than to hide the truth! I'm the boogie man! Fear me and hate me! If you want to be an ignorant buffoon, by all means, be an ignorant buffoon. But when someone says, "Where's the proof?", don't be an ass about it and start tearing into them for being "stupid" for wanting to actually SEE Santa Claus before holding out hopes for a Christmas miracle. I've known lots of people like you. I know how you rationalize what you've "experienced" lots of times. You "know in your heart" (because your head won't have any part of that nonsense) what the truth is. You rationalize what it can't be and what you're left with (that is, what you're left with that you WANT to be left with) is the truth. You see no evidence of human involvement and that leaves only .
Do you really think we skeptics talk about what we don't know? That would make you stupider than you sound. We know you. We know how you think. We've talked at great length to your type, trying to inject rationality into the conversation. And we've failed. Yes, we KNOW that we can't convince you because we KNOW that you are not rational. And we KNOW the psychological tricks you use on both yourselves and us, such as using the term "UFO" to mean "alien aircraft". When called on it you get to say, "I never said aliens, I said UFO, which means UNIDENTIFIED Flying Object". Even when you so blatantly mean "aliens", such as when the topic is "Do UFOs exist?", you still can't be reasoned with. OF COURSE UFOs exist, if you mean UNIDENTIFIED Flying Objects. Every thought you have and every thing you speak is subconsciously designed to confuse yourself and propagate the mystery surrounding the subject in much the same way a Jehovah's Witness is trained to confuse reality when they preach to people (except they are VERY good at it).
If you have "witnessed the paranormal firsthand on many occasions" then, by all means, let us skeptics in on whatever the hell it is you're doing because you've obviously come up with something that's repeatable here, which is the major roadblock for truly scientific research. Skeptics and scientists alike would jump all over the ability to "witnessed the paranormal firsthand on many occasions", so don't be stingy. But that's not what you have to offer. What you have to offer is to simply claim we're wrong, claim you are some authority without backing it up, claim you don't care what we think even though you CLEARLY do or you wouldn't have posted here and claim that we are "fooling ourselves", again without backing it up. The sad thing is that you really, truly have no clue how accurate a description "fooling yourself" is of you.
You want to know why I'm an outspoken skeptic? It's not because I like crushing hopes and dreams. Those who know me generally like me. I often go out of my way to help people without compensation, even when it comes to my business, where I really SHOULD be charging for help, but often don't. I don't hate you because you don't think like me. I feel sorry for you because you CAN'T think like me. But what really gets me going is the truth. I REALLY like the truth. I don't care what that truth is, as long as it's the truth. I have checked out paranormal group after paranormal group and the truth is simply not there. There is a LOT of deception. Most of them claim to "investigate scientifically" and some even claim to use "scientific methods", which is very close to saying "scientific method", the term which means you are, in fact, investigating according to scientific methodology. Of course, none of them DO investigate using scientific methods. I would never say I have "scientific equipment" in my house. But I do have flashlights, digital and film cameras, computers and digital and tape recorders. I may some day have security cameras there, too. That's most of the toolbox of "scientific equipment" for a paranormal research group. If I throw in an EM meter do I magically get a PhD as a scientist in some field? Talk about fooling yourself! A digital camera and a tape recorder is scientific equipment? In what universe? My cell phone has a camera light which I can turn on with the built in digital camera AND it has a voice recorder program. I can get or make white noise generator software for it if I want and it records the data to internal storage and can run programs, so I don't need a computer. I'm a walking frigging ghost lab with all the "scientific equipment" built into my cell phone! The sad thing is, to you, that probably doesn't sound stupid.
I bet Randi would have argued against Einstein, roflmao, the theory of a membrane, the idea of multiverses or of black holes, dark energies or dark matter,relativity, bending of time,or EPB experiment and theory. I think skeptics are the saddest of people because to them there is no wonder in the universe. There is emerging reseach showing that prayer works ,measurable results and changes or what about the phantom DNA experiment(look on web). Even things like remote viewing from which the government did get good results but, you say that you must always get the same results yet, these results are better that chance. Dr. T. G. Heironymus's machine that was used by the Pennsylvania Dept of Ag in 1950.(Look on web)
There are hundreds of experiments that have been done and still are being done.
Sorry but you don't believe in science like quantum physics because it gives rise to the possiblity of things like paranormal phenoms but Einstein believed in ghost and he said so. To us E=MC2 means something because the truth is everything is energy and what appears to be solid really has more space than solid mat'l.
Just because something has so far escaped science may be because science has been to ignorant to investigate it.
To call something rubbish is easy. Princeton University has ongoing experiments on how humans have an effect on machines(look on web). Quantum physics knows that we have an effect on what we study(look on web). Randi would never pay that money because I'm sure he could at Princeton but then he'd be exposed for his being a charlatan and a fraud.
Maybe this scientist that recommended the book "why people believe weird things" should read some of the reseach that has been done starting with the Phantom DNA( oh it's on the web).Paul Noonan
Whether Geller is a fraud don't know don't care but, to totally dismiss all paranormal is a blantant disrespect for people like Dr. Hieronymous, Albert Einstien and Telsa who said that when science starts to investigate the paranormal they will learn more than they have in the last 100 yrs(look on web). There is a difference between being skeptical and having a closed mind. Thank goodness people like Newton,Einstein,Telsa, Planck and Dr. Heironymus were scientist with open minds rather than these arrogant scientist who thing that everything has been discovered.
The scientists that ushered in the new thinking were alchemist
people like Galileo,Copernicus and Newton who I doubt would have so easily dismissed paranormal they would have and did investigate what others called rubbish!
I am sad no one mentioned Victor Zammits Million Dollar challenge...well obviously since no one has won his million dollar test to prove that the paranormal "Doesn't exist"
the paranormal must exist.........
see that was easy.
-M-
Well, I really gotta say this whole topic is a tremendous let down. The title intrigued me. I wanted to see some scientific explanations or documentation on commonly known "phenomena" so that I may research it further and ever evolve my understanding of this great world around me. Instead, I found that "The Best Proof that Paranormal Phenomena do not Exist" is because nobody has proved it yet. Reading that really made me want to know exactly which field of study you belong to Shaviv (and I really do hope it doesn't involve explosives...heh). I'll even bet that you're the kind of guy who says it is not possible to "rain fish" too. You are right though, science never does waste it's time on the paranormal, but it does dedicate time and research to the field (that could never be a waste).
No hard feelings bucko, but I just had to say something about those remarks. As for you Asmodee, I can understand why you are obviously fed up with the zealotry of those "true believers". "I'm right and you're wrong just 'cause" is rarely a credible stance to take in an argument (unless I'm rubber and you're glue that is...heh). I too become fed up with those seemingly forcing their beliefs on me with no rhyme or reason to their logic. However, I must remain indiscriminate with my views. I cannot entertain a radical unbeliever who completely shuts the door on a subject without taking any claims into consideration. I'm not saying you're one of course (hell, I can't say I know you that well). Anywho, I'm not totally sure on exactly which paranormal activity you speak against Asmodee. After reading all your comments, I'm tempted to think all. That would include psychics, telekenetics, aliens, God, ghosts, demons, the boogeyman, etc.
If this is the case, then I'd like to suggest a revision in your beliefs. I'm a supporter of individual thought, but I wouldn't group everything together like that. For instance I believe in God, but I highly doubt that imps come out of the closet to steal my socks each night. It would make me happy to hear I have been mistaken on this matter. However, if indeed you do mean that you truly do not believe in every single thing that could be classified as paranormal; then you have much more faith than I could ever muster. I cannot look at myself and know that every single tiny blood vessel, cell, nerve ending, capillary, thought wave, heartbeat, breath, bone fragment, etc just threw itself together in a rare form of coincidence. I'll have to take the painfully easy way out on that one. I do not posses the ability to explain why a Tibetan monk can increase his body temperature to dry a six foot long towel in an hour, or why he can put molten metal in his mouth for 20 seconds and have no signs of a burn, or why certain gymnasts have the uncanny ability to bend in such a way that causes doctors to claim they should have a shattered vertebrae, or why nature always evens everything out, or even what has caused a few Asian families to become magnetized to the extent of lightweight metal sticking to them.
I think it's best that we look at the only truth we can count on; none of us have all the answers. Also, believers and non believers out there, let's remember that science can never truly disprove an unknown ideal. One simple reason governs that outcome; it's unknown. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the individual. I say go an find your own answers whether you are a believer or not. If you can't convince others either way then so be it. I dont believe any of us needed the opinions of others to wake up this morning.
paranormal - of or pertaining to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation.
If there is any proof one way or the other, the event would cease to fit the definition. So no, there is no proof that the paranormal does or does not exist.
There is a lot of experimenting going on about there on this..remember Dark Energy and Dark Matter and exotic matter are in themselves as enigmatic and mystical as so called 'paranormal' events. Consider when you last felt someone's gaze so intensely it made you shudder or felt the electric feeling in the air after a very intense argument. Perhaps there are energies out there that are so suble they are hard to measure with today's science.
I could go into detail as I express my opinions on the various replies to this posted so far but that would take more energy then I care to give at the moment as I simply do not care that much.
Do I believe in psychic abilities and the like? Yes but much like how I believe there are likely aliens due to how unlikely it seems we'd be the only life in the universe.
With that said though I do feel that as someone who believes in this sort of thing it is also my responsibility to be as skeptic as anyone anyone who simply does not believe. Just as I'd hope they'd think it was only fair to be as open minded to.
This argument however that because someone hasn't been able to prove it and therefor is not real? I challenge the science community to apply this same argument to themselves and see where their string theorist end up. Or to question if building their large hadron colliders was really worth it given not that long ago in our history the very thing these experiments seek to prove without doubt was something that was considered something that could not be proven and by the logic of this argument.
I'm fine with science moving the goalpost. That is how it has managed to progress over the years. I'm not fine with science forgetting that it had a great long history of not always reaching the goalpost itself.
Also, for some of the above skeptics, and I am sure you know who you are, but do you seriously think that is an acceptable way to speak to anyone? That sort of condescension does not help anyone and I am sure if anyone were to speak to you like that for anyone reason you'd see how unnecessarily hostile and insulting you are being.
In defense of the believers they have evidence of their beliefs but with the technology we have at this time ,there is nothing convincing because it can be all recreated by human means. There is enough evidence to prove to the individual, but not enough for scientific population.
Since I have not seen any evidence that convinces me in either direction I remain undecided. Believing one way or another is does not make someone an idiot or ignorant. I submit the those who dismiss opposing arguments as false without serious consideration or following the statement with in my opinion are ignorant.
You will know who they are because they will be the ones attacking me after I post this :). Sorry not really fair to use a logical trap in an argument but I did so...
-mark
No, I don't really believe I'm going to talk the ignorant into growing a brain, but I try, just the same. You're just one more "bleever" with the same old tired bag of tricks. You claim definitively it DOES exist. You claim to have seen it. You tell me I'm fooling myself. You pretend my opinion is unimportant. All the while you prattle on you never say a thing. Not once do you back up a single claim with any kind of proof. You think of the critical thinker, the evil "septic skeptic", as the enemy, out to harsh your buzz, man! Ooooh! I'm a skeptic and I like nothing more than to hide the truth! I'm the boogey man! Fear me and hate me! If you want to be an ignorant buffoon, by all means, be an ignorant buffoon. But when someone says, "Where's the proof?", don't be jerk about it and start tearing into them for being "stupid" for wanting to actually SEE Santa Claus before holding out hopes for a Christmas miracle. I've known lots of people like you. I know how you rationalize what you've "experienced" lots of times. You "know in your heart" (because your head won't have any part of that nonsense) what the truth is. You rationalize what it can't be and what you're left with (that is, what you're left with that you WANT to be left with) is the truth. You see no evidence of human involvement and that leaves only .
Do you really think we skeptics talk about what we don't know? That would make you stupider than you sound. We know you. We know how you think. We've talked at great length to your type, trying to inject rationality into the conversation. And we've failed. Yes, we KNOW that we can't convince you because we KNOW that you are not rational. And we KNOW the psychological tricks you use on both yourselves and us, such as using the term "UFO" to mean "alien aircraft". When called on it you get to say, "I never said aliens, I said UFO, which means UNIDENTIFIED Flying Object". Even when you so blatantly mean "aliens", such as when the topic is "Do UFOs exist?", you still can't be reasoned with. OF COURSE UFOs exist, if you mean UNIDENTIFIED Flying Objects. Every thought you have and every thing you speak is subconsciously designed to confuse yourself and propagate the mystery surrounding the subject in much the same way a Jehovah's Witness is trained to confuse reality when they preach to people (except they are VERY good at it).
If you have "witnessed the paranormal firsthand on many occasions" then, by all means, let us skeptics in on whatever the hell it is you're doing because you've obviously come up with something that's repeatable here, which is the major roadblock for truly scientific research. Skeptics and scientists alike would jump all over the ability to "witnessed the paranormal firsthand on many occasions", so don't be stingy. But that's not what you have to offer. What you have to offer is to simply claim we're wrong, claim you are some authority without backing it up, claim you don't care what we think even though you CLEARLY do or you wouldn't have posted here and claim that we are "fooling ourselves", again without backing it up. The sad thing is that you really, truly have no clue how accurate a description "fooling yourself" is of you.
You want to know why I'm an outspoken skeptic? It's not because I like crushing hopes and dreams. Those who know me generally like me. I often go out of my way to help people without compensation, even when it comes to my business, where I really SHOULD be charging for help, but often don't. I don't hate you because you don't think like me. I feel sorry for you because you CAN'T think like me. But what really gets me going is the truth. I REALLY like the truth. I don't care what that truth is, as long as it's the truth. I have checked out paranormal group after paranormal group and the truth is simply not there. There is a LOT of deception. Most of them claim to "investigate scientifically" and some even claim to use "scientific methods", which is very close to saying "scientific method", the term which means you are, in fact, investigating according to scientific methodology. Of course, none of them DO investigate using scientific methods. I would never say I have "scientific equipment" in my house. But I do have flashlights, digital and film cameras, computers and digital and tape recorders. I may some day have security cameras there, too. That's most of the toolbox of "scientific equipment" for a paranormal research group. If I throw in an EM meter do I magically get a PhD as a scientist in some field? Talk about fooling yourself! A digital camera and a tape recorder is scientific equipment? In what universe? My cell phone has a camera light which I can turn on with the built in digital camera AND it has a voice recorder program. I can get or make white noise generator software for it if I want and it records the data to internal storage and can run programs, so I don't need a computer. I'm a walking ghost lab with all the "scientific equipment" built into my cell phone! The sad thing is, to you, that probably doesn't sound stupid.
i beg to differ your opinions....there are many scientists or researchers who spend years trying to prove that they exist and perhaps the turth is always being covered up in order not to create any panic or widespread fear among the people....i do believe it exists and te truth will come to light sooner or later.
so..one question. why does one with real paranormal abilities need a million dollars for? i'll tell you why they don't, that's for sure. Exposure? if the government got hold of someone who could dunno move objects with his mind, he'd be experiment X for the rest of his life now, wouldn't he? plus..i'm peruvian and i've never heard of that price before. So american of you to believe that the paranormal could only exist where you are, and because no one there has claimed that price, it doesn't exist. yeah, right. Plus, if i can trick minds into doing what I want them to do, what do I need a million dollars for? losers. hehe
OK, here I will offer anyone $100,000 or 10% of what it will be worth...whichever comes first...to anyone that can get my foot in any door and get me a real shot to prove the paranormal at work...because anyone that can...it is well worth more than the messily 1 Million Randi is offering up for such proof...I guarantee you and that and or anyone else that contributes to my cause and Mission...Proving that we all are Living Ghost and or Spirit Beings...in which I can prove it so! TY Ron, Admin.
http://www.thespiritforce.com/
If anyone has real paranormal powers it will by now have been leveraged into billions of dollars, not millions. And such a person would be a fool to give the game away.
This logic 'proves' that if these powers exist the prize would definitely NOT be claimed. In other words, your 'proof' is not a proof.
I guess I will start my banter with you by asking you a simple question. Do you, a man of science, believe in God? Christian or otherwise.
I think that the gods were invented by man in a futile attempt to provide answers to questions they couldn't answer.
Greetings,
I also writed an article about psychics and i found that people are following them silently,
just like if they were hypnotized.I also mentioned the videos of the famous anti-magician James Randi.
However I think this article is more likely about Psychics but not Paranormal in General.
As i founded that psychics are 100% fake people, and if you ask me how??
The answer is simple : Just have a look at their pages/groups/blogs/forums
their claim to know a person is future by just looking at their picture!! Why is that??!
Because they can't contact you in any other way!!
And that means no business on the internet = No Big audience to their sites and forums + They Won't gain popularity = No Money
I tell everyone here from my personal experience, their are no psychics or fortune tellers.
Thanks Shaviv for this nice article.
I am currently a university undergraduate and used to be a sceptic of the paranormal. That is until I experienced certain events that changed my point of view. I find it interesting that science is open to new ideas of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, alternative universes as well as acknowledging that a person's attitude to an experiment influences the outcome. Yet at the same time as if offending their sense of pride love deriding subjective personal supernatural experiences as somehow meaning the individual is somehow 'gullible' or uneducated. Not only does this prevent any real objective science into supernatural events and silencing people's fascinating cases of intuition but would in my opinion stop people trying for these prizes for proof of the supernatural. Let us also remember intuition and glimpses of spirits and auras ect can not be turned on with a switch and sensitive individuals can find extreme negativity also prevents positive results. If one looks at all the circumstantial evidence with an open mind it is easy to not be so dismissive. Many people who have had so called psychic experiences in the first place didn't want to experience them and also push them out of their mind because of the mockery of their peers. Anyway this is my 2 cents...
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