# Skeptics: Have You Ever Seen Anything That Has Made You Question Your Skepticism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 8, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707 "2018-06-08T19:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/21 "2018-06-10T10:31:40Z")
> [@naita](#): > > A little physics and biology easily discounts this hypothesis. The things you need to know are the following: > > The infrared radiation from objects in the 10s to a few hundred degrees is far infrared. Animals that do detect that radiation all have specialized organs, other than their eyes, that do that detection. > > The light detectors in your eyes do not have a sharp cut off point, so what is visible red light to some are not visible to others. But to send out significant near infrared radiation things have to be so warm they are also likely go glow very dully red, since heat radiation follows a planck curve. And your eyes are full of the kind of heat radiation that comes off objects around body temperature, because the eye itself is at that temperature. So even if your eyes had some extra sensors that somehow detected a completely different range of wavelengths than the other components, they wouldn’t be able to separate far infrared coming from outside the eye from far infrared just coming from the vitreous fluid. Ignorance fought then. Thank you! I didn’t know it was that difficult for a (retina-based?) organ to detect stuff outside the normal visual range. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/22 "2018-06-10T11:25:13Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I may have mentioned this on the Dope once before. > > Years ago, I was out on a drive with Mrs. J. on a Saturday, and decided to stop at a used furniture place which was advertised as being open at that hour. I went in what turned out to be the wrong entrance, up a flight of stairs and opened a door to what obviously was _not_ the store. > > Instead, it appeared to be the entrance to someone’s office or dwelling, in a state of extreme clutter to the point of looking ransacked. I had the disturbing feeling that if I went in any further, I’d come across a body lying on the floor. So I left and went back to the car, having ascertained on the way that the store was actually closed. > > Mrs. J. greeted my subdued self, before I had the chance to say anything, with “Well, did you find someone dead in there?” > > She had no way of seeing what I saw, but somehow sensed it anyway. > > Not exactly proof of Psychic Powers, but a kind of sensitivity not easily explainable. It hasn’t stopped me from being a hardcore skeptic. A more sophisticated, data-rich version of reading someone’s emotions off their body language. You had been spooked out and were displaying body language that made that obvious to other people or at least those familiar with you. Both your minds went to the same possibility of a body because human death is the greatest abstract threat to you, you both probably watched a lot of crime shows and you share an underlying outlook. That emotional communication is the same that happen when someone’s dog gets nervous when they do (I’ll let you choose who stands in for the dog here). ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/23 "2018-06-10T14:29:30Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Skepticism isn’t something you believe in. It’s not something that’s right or wrong. As such, there’s nothing that would make me question it. If something happens that can’t be explained by our current understanding of science, it just means our current understanding of science isn’t complete. And I already know that. As a scientist, every day I study things that science can’t explain, that’s how we expand our knowledge and understanding. So you agree that science will some day prove the existence of ghosts, ESP, etc. 🙂 > [@Jennshark](#): > > I’m deeply skeptical about the paranormal, but I love reading and watching ghost shit – I halfway hope incontrovertible evidence will surface someday. > > A few years ago I got out of bed for a night pee run. I don’t turn on the light because I know the path so well. I shuffled down the hall and saw, standing at the head of the staircase, a little girl dressed in a white dress. She looked solid, not see through. I shot back into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. Wifey asked what the hell was going on, I said “nuthin” and told her in the morning what I saw. It really did scare the crap outta me. > > It was, of course, a weird blend of ambient light from the windows, my half-asleep brain, and/or priming to see something. The previous owner was adamant that a ghostly little girl haunts the house. > > So still a skeptic, but ever since that night I turn on the hall light for night bathroom trips. Just in case. Mwahahahahaha (ghostly laughter). A lot of people would say that you have already received that “incontrovertible evidence,” but you rejected it because of your preconceived ideas. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/24 "2018-06-10T14:36:06Z")
I once shared a dream with someone I knew. I had already decided earlier that day to describe my dream to him, but before I could do so, he described his dream to me, and it was the dream I had had, including events, locations, and characters. It was very weird, and I am still unable to explain it in a satisfying way. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/25 "2018-06-10T14:42:32Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > So you agree that science will some day prove the existence of ghosts, ESP, etc. > 🙂 Not even implied in that post. > [@Flyer](#): > > A lot of people would say that you have already received that “incontrovertible evidence,” but you rejected it because of your preconceived ideas. A lot of people say that there is an alternate ending to the movie “Big”, and they have just as much evidence…and the same massive misunderstanding as to what the words “incontrovertible” and “evidence” mean. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/26 "2018-06-10T14:45:27Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I once shared a dream with someone I knew. I had already decided earlier that day to describe my dream to him, but before I could do so, he described his dream to me, and it was the dream I had had, including events, locations, and characters. It was very weird, and I am still unable to explain it in a satisfying way. How about: You both had similar dreams, but when he described his in great detail your mind used those details to enhance the memories of _your_ dream. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/27 "2018-06-10T14:45:49Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Ignorance fought then. Thank you! I didn’t know it was that difficult for a (retina-based?) organ to detect stuff outside the normal visual range. Bonus knowledge, perhaps. If you replace the biological corneas with implants you can detect some low energy UV with your high energy cones: [https://www.itworld.com/article/2732596/consumer-tech-science/real-world-superpowers--eye-surgery-lets-some-see-well-into-the-ultraviolet.html](https://www.itworld.com/article/2732596/consumer-tech-science/real-world-superpowers--eye-surgery-lets-some-see-well-into-the-ultraviolet.html) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/28 "2018-06-11T01:13:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How about: You both had similar dreams, but when he described his in great detail your mind used those details to enhance the memories of _your_ dream. Maybe. But considering the specificity of the dream’s contents, that in itself is still weird. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/29 "2018-06-12T15:16:08Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > So is there anything that you’ve seen that makes you question your skepticism? No. Skepticism is an _approach_, not a conclusion. For instance, I’m skeptical of claims that self-driving cars will be safe and reliable in the next five years (Note: this is an **example** - if you want to debate self-driving cars, go [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=838533)), because there are so many ambiguous situations that come up in driving that we humans handle pretty well, but would be the devil to program. I may be proven wrong. Would that mean I was wrong to be skeptical? Maybe, though hindsight is 20-20. Would it mean I am wrong in general to regard claims of seemingly improbable breakthroughs, or too-good-to-be-true deals or offers, or claims without any apparent foundation, with skepticism? Definitely not. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/30 "2018-06-12T15:23:46Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > A lot of people would say that you have already received that “incontrovertible evidence,” but you rejected it because of your preconceived ideas. Last night I had to make a different dinner for our family because I couldn’t find the cucumbers or snow peas I’d bought on Saturday. Later that night I dreamt I found them in the fridge. Maybe a lot of people would say I’d received incontrovertible evidence where they were–but I have a preconceived idea that my mind can play tricks on me (e.g., make things happen in dreams that don’t happen in real life), so that “incontrovertible evidence” seems pretty freakin controvertible. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/31 "2018-06-12T15:31:22Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/32 "2018-06-12T22:40:29Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > So you agree that science will some day prove the existence of ghosts, ESP, etc. > 🙂 > > A lot of people would say that you have already received that “incontrovertible evidence,” but you rejected it because of your preconceived ideas. Interesting point. I’m not certain what believable evidence would be for me. Maybe a guest staying with us who has never heard the stories about our ghostly girl and manages to take several high quality photos that pass an expert sniff test? If I had seen a ghostly Viking with glowing red eyes standing in my hall I’d be less skeptical, but it being very late at night +low light + “seeing” a little girl my brain was primed to see due to tales = brain/eyes doing the paradoilia trick. (I also teach gothic/horror film, so I am thinking about the paranormal all of the time and it’s a genre bursting at the seams with little girl phantoms). Did it scare the shit outta me? Absolutely! It was an incredibly vivid image that really frightened me, but neuroscience and psychology win this round. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/33 "2018-06-13T20:11:12Z")
I question my skepticism every day, you can never be too careful. In fact, sometimes I wonder if I’m questioning my skepticism too much. Other times I’m not so sure. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/34 "2018-06-14T12:05:05Z")
Every now and then something does indeed happen that I have to admit I can’t explain. It doesn’t cause me to suddenly believe in religion/ESP/UFOs/whatever, because generally none of those things would explain it, either. But it violates my empirical expectations. The biggest example was many years ago when our daughter MilliCal was a toddler who wasn’t toddling, but was zipping around with manic energy. In this case she was zipping around a defunct store in a shopping mall that had been set aside as a Children’s Playground. It had various oversized things the kids could play with, but was relatively empty. Besides the two of us (my wife, Pepper Mill, was off shopping on her own while I watched MilliCal) there was one other kid her age that she was playing with, and that kid’s Mom, sitting by herself away from me. as I looked at the other parent, I was struck with a deep and sudden conviction that this was a Published Author. I have no idea how I knew this. She wasn’t reading a book, or looking through papers regarding her latest book, and she didn’t have a big neon sign saying “I’ve Published Lots of Books”. I sure as heck didn’t recognize her – as I soon learned, I’d never even heard of her. There was absolutely no external evidence for this conclusion, but I was mortally certain of it. So certain, in fact, that I had to go over to her and ask her if she was, indeed, an author. And she was – she’d written a series of mysteries that had come out in hardcover and in paperback. She gave me a bookmark (No, I hadn’t seen these. She hadn’t brought them out until I asked) with her titles on it. We’ve become, if not good friends, at least acquaintances. We’ve ben out to dinner together and see each other at the local science fiction conventions al the time (her husband’s an author, too, if not as prolific). Both my wife and I have bought her books and read them, and she’s written two other series since. But I still can’t explain how I knew with such complete conviction that she was an author. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/35 "2018-06-14T13:11:55Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > So is there anything that you’ve seen that makes you question your skepticism? No > [@](#): > > As in, a supposed ghost video or photo that you can’t dismiss? No > [@](#): > > Ever had a personal experience that you can’t chalk up to natural phenomena? Gonna have to go with “No.” ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/36 "2018-06-14T14:19:05Z")
No. Although, I do believe i have a “ghost in the system” of a project I’m working on right now. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/37 "2018-06-14T19:26:13Z")
I doubt it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Doubticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/38 "2018-06-14T21:00:20Z")
I’ve had several odd things happen over the course of my life, but I’ll relay the one story I’ve told before on the message boards. I’m the youngest of three siblings. My mother used to say how when I was an infant that during the night if she thought about me, I would wake up crying. So fast forward 18 years, I was home from college, tired from a week of coursework, I was sleeping soundly in my old room. I was having an intense dream, I could hear my mother call to me, “Come Quick!” In my dream, I’m dashing from the upstairs to the kitchen. I see my mother standing in front of me, the image fades and I am laying on my side looking into my room. Still in the trance of the dream, I continue to scan for my mother, who I then see standing in my doorway for real. Note that my doorway is situated perpendicular to the foot of my bed. “What were you dreaming?” she asked. I explained that I was dreaming she was calling to me. “I used to be able to wake you up by thinking of you, I saw you sleeping and wanted to see if it still worked.” I consider myself a skeptic, but I can’t explain how this was possible. It could be a remarkable episode of cool incidence. Part of me wonders if there is some sort of mental “resonance” that people can pick up on. I always laugh how other skeptics fall over themselves to try and explain it. “You must have seen your mother in the doorway and your subconscious worked her into a dream.” Except that I wasn’t facing a direction to have seen her. Jeez guys, just call it cool incidence, I’m willing too. LOL ---
**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:** [June 14, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/39 "2018-06-14T21:23:52Z")
> [@Doubticus](#): > > I’ve had several odd things happen over the course of my life, but I’ll relay the one story I’ve told before on the message boards. I’m the youngest of three siblings. My mother used to say how when I was an infant that during the night if she thought about me, I would wake up crying. So fast forward 18 years, I was home from college, tired from a week of coursework, I was sleeping soundly in my old room. I was having an intense dream, I could hear my mother call to me, “Come Quick!” In my dream, I’m dashing from the upstairs to the kitchen. I see my mother standing in front of me, the image fades and I am laying on my side looking into my room. Still in the trance of the dream, I continue to scan for my mother, who I then see standing in my doorway for real. Note that my doorway is situated perpendicular to the foot of my bed. “What were you dreaming?” she asked. I explained that I was dreaming she was calling to me. “I used to be able to wake you up by thinking of you, I saw you sleeping and wanted to see if it still worked.” > I consider myself a skeptic, but I can’t explain how this was possible. It could be a remarkable episode of cool incidence. Part of me wonders if there is some sort of mental “resonance” that people can pick up on. I always laugh how other skeptics fall over themselves to try and explain it. “You must have seen your mother in the doorway and your subconscious worked her into a dream.” Except that I wasn’t facing a direction to have seen her. Jeez guys, just call it cool incidence, I’m willing too. LOL Forget blowing it off - I want you two to attempt to repeat the experiment in controlled conditions with objective observers and cameras recording as she silently summons you to wakefulness at random times from separate rooms with no view of each other and out of hearing range. Repeat several times as needed to establish the connection beyond doubt or demonstrate unreproduceability. What? I’m a skeptic, not _incurious_. Er, you do have the time and money to assemble and run such a test, right? ---
**Author:** ![Doubticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707/40 "2018-06-14T22:58:20Z")
Thirty years later and now I’m lucky if the alarm clock wakes me up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-have-you-ever-seen-anything-that-has-made-you-question-your-skepticism/815707.md?page=3)