# What paranormal phenomena, if demonstrated to be true, would you consider proof of the supernatural? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693 "2010-06-18T18:06:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693/41 "2010-06-21T11:40:35Z")
Oh, I see! No, we haven’t established something exists if it isn’t done scientifically. I was thinking these sceptics would want brain scans and all that stuff to find out what exactly is happening, which is pretty much a given to convince a sceptic that it’s not just some incredibly elaborate fraud. No small rooms please, we’d have to take you into a lab and run some real tests. My first thought would be - someone is paying these people a lot of money to say this person is a real telepath if they haven’t even done one MRI! I’d be expecting research money pouring into this after such a discovery etc. ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693/42 "2010-06-21T14:06:55Z")
What would of course happen is John and Terry would be smeared along with the telepath as dupes/mad/gullible etc. Their (presumably scientific) careers would be ruined and they would be outcast. Everyone else who believed the proof watching their fall would be too scared to say anything. I believe that we don’t begin with birth and end with death. I believe in telepathy and precognition despite - not because - of the teeming charlatans who enrich themselves from exploiting these common beliefs. I’d don’t see the need to link these phenomena directly, except in the way geography is linked to physics. I don’t believe in the paranormal, I just think these things haven’t been properly explained - yet. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693/43 "2010-06-21T14:36:59Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > And at some point mightn’t the supernatural become explainable? I’m prepared to take that on a case-by-case basis - first you have to prove that the allegedly supernatural phenomenon is actually happening, then I’ll seek explanations. In other words, it’s not enough to claim that one day God might be explicable - first you have to show that God exists, even if currently inexplicable. ---
**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 21, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693/44 "2010-06-21T14:49:00Z")
Maybe this analogy will work better. You are in a room with five exits, but all the doors are locked. You don’t have a key, but over a very long period of time you manage to break off the lock on one of the doors and open it. Have you made going through the other doors any easier? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693/45 "2010-06-21T18:20:04Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Oh, I see! > > No, we haven’t established something exists if it isn’t done scientifically. I think we’re still misunderstanding one another. We could use rigourous scientific methodology to establish that telepathy exists without understanding it. Say the telepath passes the lab tests over and over; we could easily understand _how_ it works (that is, what conditions are necessary for him to be able to perceive the thoughts of others, what can frustrate any attempt on his part, etc) without knowing the _why_ that is, the mechanisms, biological or otherwise, that make his feat possible). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693/46 "2010-06-21T18:21:13Z")
> [@Drew\_Kit](#): > > What would of course happen is John and Terry would be smeared along with the telepath as dupes/mad/gullible etc. Their (presumably scientific) careers would be ruined and they would be outcast. Everyone else who believed the proof watching their fall would be too scared to say anything. > > I believe that we don’t begin with birth and end with death. I believe in telepathy and precognition despite - not because - of the teeming charlatans who enrich themselves from exploiting these common beliefs. I’d don’t see the need to link these phenomena directly, except in the way geography is linked to physics. I don’t believe in the paranormal, I just think these things haven’t been properly explained - yet. I’m sorry. You appear to have wandered into the wrong thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-paranormal-phenomena-if-demonstrated-to-be-true-would-you-consider-proof-of-the-supernatural/543693.md?page=2)