# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/61 "2017-11-01T14:40:11Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Interesting. I would think immortality is a classic example of paranormal activity (because paranormal activity is so often linked with the idea of spirits living on after “death”), but in this case, a scientific explanation would render it not paranormal. > > Which brings me to a follow-up question for people insisting that “paranormal” means “magic.” If there were scientific evidence for ghosts, ESP, telekinesis, etc. – whatever is considered paranormal today – would you argue that those never were paranormal in the first place? If so, how can you determine if anything is classified as “paranormal,” given that we don’t know what might possibly be discovered that we don’t yet know? Well, just as “alternative medicine” with actual evidence of efficacy is known as “medicine”, if “paranormal” events were real they would be accessible to the scientific method. But the bigger point is that you seem to be infected with the widespread misconception that scientists have an agenda to _reject_ evidence that seems to contradict the current orthodoxy. It’s true that scientists are methodologically skeptical, but that’s not the same thing at all. Science has achieved such remarkable advances in the last few centuries by using methods that can reliably distinguish _real_ anomalies (that may lead to new science) from wishful thinking and bullshit. _Real_ anomalies that stand up to careful scrutiny are exciting and fascinating to scientists. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/62 "2017-11-01T15:55:04Z")
I don’t know that I would say real so much as exists and awaiting explanation. 1. Ghosts. I never really believed when I was younger but since we have one my opinion has changed. Not totally; there could be a explanation we just haven’t found yet. But something odd is happening somewhere. 2. Aliens. I am sure there are some somewhere but I’m not all that willing to accept they have visited us or that they would have some sort of anal fixation. 3. Bigfoot. Something remaining in the ocean undetected (coelacanth) I can buy. Small and medium mammals in the jungles of Indonesia; sure. Something that large and living in Pennsylvania undetected? Much less to say the least. 4. ESP and related form of magic. When James Randi, or say Penn & Teller, says yes they accept it, I’ll probably believe it. Or not. Especially if its Teller saying it. ---
**Author:** ![Unabashed\_Fascist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c2a13f/32.png) [@Unabashed\_Fascist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unabashed_Fascist)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/63 "2017-11-01T16:13:36Z")
No, I do not. Still enjoy listening to Coast-to-Coast AM though. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/64 "2017-11-01T17:46:57Z")
> [@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”. This completely changes the question. I’m confident there is weird and unexplained stuff. But that doesn’t make it somehow out of the realm of reality. Perhaps I’m using the term synonymously with “Supernatural” for better or worse. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/65 "2017-11-01T18:21:52Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Which brings me to a follow-up question for people insisting that “paranormal” means “magic.” If there were scientific evidence for ghosts, ESP, telekinesis, etc. – whatever is considered paranormal today – would you argue that those never were paranormal in the first place? If so, how can you determine if anything is classified as “paranormal,” given that we don’t know what might possibly be discovered that we don’t yet know? Heh, in a fiction story I wrote a psychic character specifically objected to psychic powers being called “paranormal” because she didn’t believe they defied science or physics, despite their mechanics remaining unexplained. If we found the causes and mechanisms behind psychic powers, like say figuring out how to mass-produce machine-based telekinesis to make an affordable flying car, I think calling it paranormal would probably fall out of favor on its own, simply because it wouldn’t be non-normal anymore. This probably applies to anything that can be replicated and normalized. Contrariwise, I think the term “supernatural” could have legs as becoming the common descriptor for entities from the otherworldly dimension ghosts normally chill in, presuming there is such a place. But ‘paranormal’ seems to exclude itself from being applied to common and commonly understood things by its very nature. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/66 "2017-11-01T18:26:28Z")
I’m conventionally religious, so by definition, I believe in numerous things that SDMB non-theists find preposterous. But apart from God/Jesus, I’m extremely skeptical about the supernatural, and take none of it seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/67 "2017-11-01T19:20:26Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Sea Monsters? Ghosts? ESP? Aliens visiting the Earth? Big Foot? Real world Magic? Anything at all. What do you believe is real? I used to post, as a joke, that we have been visited by aliens in the past and they put signs up all over the Solar System warning others to stay away from the insane asylum on the third planet. I think there is a possibility we have been visited in the past. I think there is a possibility they might come back, or someone new does. I just hope they won’t look at us as a food source. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288/68 "2017-11-01T21:38:20Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > [It’s scientific fact that they do exist](https://www.google.com/search?q=pacific+northwest+highland+games+2017&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS763US763&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir1I6fopvXAhUEySYKHeTdDt4Q_AUICygC&biw=1280&bih=590#imgdii=EsxcUw4t2tubaM:&imgrc=7qn2n6ZVwt99vM:). I wonder if he really doesn’t have anything on under that! 😉 > [@astorian](#): > > I’m conventionally religious, so by definition, I believe in numerous things that SDMB non-theists find preposterous. > > But apart from God/Jesus, I’m extremely skeptical about the supernatural, and take none of it seriously. Ditto. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-anything-thats-paranormal/800288.md?page=3)