# Do you believe in anything that's paranormal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 31, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288 "2017-10-31T15:36:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/21 "2017-10-31T18:12:11Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/22 "2017-10-31T18:22:33Z")
No, but I pretend they’re manifestations of quantum activity on a macro scale. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/23 "2017-10-31T18:31:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The definition of “paranormal” is not “normal things we haven’t figured out yet”. Actually … yes it is. [Cite](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/paranormal) [Cite](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paranormal) [Cite](https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=paranormal) ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/24 "2017-10-31T18:31:25Z")
The world’s financial markets are arguably based on the paranormal, particularly in the relationship between the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci sequence. No one can explain how and why it works, it’s just out there. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/25 "2017-10-31T18:32:14Z")
I’m open to the idea of them, but I’d need to see consistent scientific evidence that they exist. Lots of people have claimed to see a bigfoot, and I can’t explain why so many people are seeing something like it in the pacific northwest or why that geographic area seems to have more bigfoot sightings. But until someone gets a body and does biological testing on it, I’m agnostic. Also I wouldn’t consider cryptozoology the same as the paranormal. Sea monsters, bigfoot, etc. if they exist would just be biological life forms that haven’t been discovered yet. They’d be in a different category than life after death, telepathy, etc. Arguably same with UFOs. They wouldn’t be paranormal either. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/26 "2017-10-31T18:37:03Z")
Haven’t there been instances of dogs finding their owners after the owners moved a great distance away? Or are those just ULs? If true, what would explain that? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/27 "2017-10-31T18:39:03Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Actually … yes it is. [Cite](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/paranormal) > > [Cite](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paranormal) > > [Cite](https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=paranormal) Those definitions aren’t very good IMO. The reason I say that is because they just sound like the [god of the gaps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps) argument. They’re implying paranormal phenomena is beyond the scientific method. I don’t know if most people believe that. People can criticize it, but people who hunt ghosts claim to use various scientific tools to measure temperature, EMF readers, thermal cameras, etc. to detect ghosts. Granted, so far, they haven’t uncovered anything truly convincing to skeptics to make them believe in ghosts. But to claim that they aren’t using tools that can be understood by science isn’t accurate either. Same with bigfoot. If someone catches a bigfoot we could run an MRI on it, test its DNA, etc. It isn’t beyond the scientific method. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/28 "2017-10-31T18:41:49Z")
I believe that human minds interact with one another via some sort of remote sensing capability, something like a Vulcan mind meld, but at a completely unconscious level (and not requiring immediate physical proximity like Spock putting his hands on another person’s forehead). All higher-level interactions that we are consciously aware of (body language, spoken language) and all social interactions are mediated by this low-level mind-meld, but we are unaware of all that. In some people, this low-level channel is not well developed, or may be totally dysfunctional. This is what leads some people to be socially awkward or dysfunctional, and also is the mechanism by which some people are on the autistic spectrum (formally known as Asperger’s Syndrome), and also explains why attempts by these people to learn more successful social behavior tend to not be very successful. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/29 "2017-10-31T18:42:36Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Haven’t there been instances of dogs finding their owners after the owners moved a great distance away? Or are those just ULs? If true, what would explain that? I don’t know if that is paranormal. That is probably just a biological function of navigation we don’t understand yet. Personally I don’t consider any subject to be truly paranormal (assuming it is real). If it is real and in our universe, it should be subject to the scientific method. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/30 "2017-10-31T18:44:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Provide sufficient evidence, and I’ll consider believing it. Pretty much this. At least about many things labeled “paranormal,” I’m what you might call a skeptical agnostic. I don’t know for sure, and probably never will; I’m open to the possibility if I encountered a good enough reason/evidence, but would consider “mundane” explanations for such evidence first. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/31 "2017-10-31T18:44:51Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I believe that human minds interact with one another via some sort of remote sensing capability, something like a Vulcan mind meld, but at a completely unconscious level (and not requiring immediate physical proximity like Spock putting his hands on another person’s forehead). > > All higher-level interactions that we are consciously aware of (body language, spoken language) and all social interactions are mediated by this low-level mind-meld, but we are unaware of all that. > > In some people, this low-level channel is not well developed, or may be totally dysfunctional. This is what leads some people to be socially awkward or dysfunctional, and also is the mechanism by which some people are on the autistic spectrum (formally known as Asperger’s Syndrome), and also explains why attempts by these people to learn more successful social behavior tend to not be very successful. What evidence lead you to believe this, and what would convince you that it isn’t true? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/32 "2017-10-31T19:35:22Z")
Don’t get too caught up on the word “Paranormal”. I was trying to find a succinct way of saying “Weird and/or seemingly unexplained stuff”. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/33 "2017-10-31T20:34:06Z")
As a general rule I’m a skeptic who thinks that most forms of supernatural and other tinfoil hat type things like bigfoot and visiting aliens and religions are bunk. However I have made the conscious decision to accept that fortune cookies are absolutely true and always reliable. (Lotto numbers on them excepted.) Hey, a guy has to believe in something, right? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/34 "2017-10-31T20:47:02Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > As a general rule I’m a skeptic who thinks that most forms of supernatural and other tinfoil hat type things like bigfoot and visiting aliens and religions are bunk. However I have made the conscious decision to accept that fortune cookies are absolutely true and always reliable. (Lotto numbers on them excepted.) > > Hey, a guy has to believe in something, right? I agree, with the proviso that “in bed” be addended to the fortune. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/35 "2017-10-31T20:57:39Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > No. > > However I don’t consider extraterrestrial life to be paranormal. I don’t believe Earth has ever been visited by aliens but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that billions of miles away are other lifeforms. That’s still inside the Solar System. Unless you meant one of the many moons. Otherwise, the nearest star is 27 trillion miles. Give or take a Smoot. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/36 "2017-10-31T21:25:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Provide sufficient evidence, and I’ll consider believing it. Once there is actual evidence, you drop the “para”, and it becomes just “normal”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/37 "2017-10-31T21:28:03Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Don’t get too caught up on the word “Paranormal”. I was trying to find a succinct way of saying “Weird and/or seemingly unexplained stuff”. Well, since not everything has an explanation, the answer has to be “yes”. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/38 "2017-10-31T21:31:40Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > 200 years ago human flight would have been paranormal activity. Or time dilation. Many things exist but we just aren’t aware of them yet. the first tethered balloon flight with humans on board took place on October 19, 1783. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/39 "2017-10-31T21:33:58Z")
I don’t think so, but I find this an interesting question. I have a good friend, a band-mate, who is very religious and very on the woo-side. There is nothing that he cannot go on about at length be it, big foot, ufos, mermaids, chupacabras, evil spirits, etc. We talk shit to each other a lot about stuff, but we kind of came to a head one day when I snapped and said, “Jesus Christ, man, is there anything you \*don’t \*believe in?” To which he judoed me: “Is there anything that can’t be explained that you \*do \*believe in?” Had me there. The best I could come up with is karma, though I don’t really ascribe any supernatural phenomena to it. I just tend to believe that, whether consciously or subconsciously, we tend to reap what we sew, for lack of a better phrase. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/40 "2017-10-31T21:35:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The definition of “paranormal” is not “normal things we haven’t figured out yet”. Yes it is. How would the Founding Fathers have reacted if someone landed a helicopter in a square during the Continental Congress. In fairly certain their reaction would be the same as ours if someone elevated a car and flung it across the street. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288.md?page=3)