# You're a ghost... now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 17, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394 "2024-07-17T18:49:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/61 "2024-07-18T15:11:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The Mona Lisa is overrated anyway. I’ll tell Leonardo what you think. As soon as I find him. And learn Italian. I have all the time in the world. 🙂 Ghosts that continue to exist with freedom of movement, and thought, let alone if they have the ability to still manipulate matter, violate the conservation of energy, and the law of entropy. I’ll get all the greatest (deceased) physicists, philosophers and others together in one great big symposium, where we can solve the issue and figure out the meaning of life. Like, if ghosts can see and hear, are they affecting light and sound waves? Can enough ghosts together block light from reaching the still living? How do ghosts see each other? Can they? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/62 "2024-07-18T15:47:29Z")
A lot of this sounds exactly like the plot of _The Spectators_ comic by Brian K. Vaughan. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/63 "2024-07-18T16:10:10Z")
I’d first spend a lot of time trying to figure out why I can walk around, even climb stairs but also go thru walls. What sort of nonsense Physics is this? And how can I exploit it to communicate or something with the real world. If I stomp my foot on a drum on the ground, what happens? Does my foot go thru it? Does my body go up? If so, how does Newton’s 3rd law work here? And then there’s the stuff **Just\_Asking\_Questions** gets into. The sound wave stuff is especially interesting. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/64 "2024-07-18T16:20:21Z")
I don’t believe in ghosts, spirits, or the afterlife. When you’re dead it’s blackness forever, and there is no reason to believe that’s not the case. Just like it is for a dog or any other living creature on our planet. Let’s say you leave your TV on and never turn it off. When the power goes out the TV goes black. You can’t see or hear anything until you restore the power. Similarly, after you’re dead for a certain amount of time, nobody can restore your power. For example, someone trapped in a freezing river snagged by an underwater branch, can be resuscitated after a relatively long period of time, because they haven’t technically died yet. Someone please prove to me otherwise that doesn’t require an unseen and undetectable supernatural power. Next question? ---
**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:** [July 18, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/65 "2024-07-18T16:20:22Z")
I think the premise is that you are dead, not Deadman. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/66 "2024-07-18T16:38:01Z")
Moderating: > [@dolphinboy](#): > > I don’t believe in ghosts, spirits, or the afterlife. When you’re dead it’s blackness forever, and there is no reason to believe that’s not the case. Just like it is for a dog or any other living creature on our planet. Nothing requires you to accept the premise of the thread – except if you are posting in it. This is a threadshit. Please don’t contribute to the thread if it’s not for you. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/67 "2024-07-18T17:04:33Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Can’t read a book, unless you look over someone’s shoulder. You can look _through_ someone’s shoulder. And possibly, through someone’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/68 "2024-07-18T17:15:07Z")
Since we’re talking ghosts, not actual reality… You know what really scares me? Not that I become an eternal ghost, able to see but unable to interact with the living, doomed to be a ghost for the life of the universe. No, what scares me is being a ghost that is consciousness but being unable to see hear or interact with ANYTHING. Because light and sound and matter have no impact on the ghost, you become a consciousness, able to think but do nothing. Like being in a featureless black void. Alone. Forever. And that is what reality is actually like. All the 107 billion dead, stuck in their own featureless voids, with no way to tell us. Slowly going mad. And death isn’t even a release. Have a nice day! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/69 "2024-07-18T17:24:26Z")
Travel the universe and marvel at its treasures. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/70 "2024-07-18T18:44:27Z")
Same. **If** there is an afterlife, it is clear to me that the Universe is bigger than what we can imagine. If one becomes a ghost, it is very unlikely that anyone will hang around on this pale blue dot. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/71 "2024-07-18T18:56:11Z")
Hop on a rocket going “thataway”, get your momentum going, and when the rocket stops you leave the ship and keep on going until…? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/72 "2024-07-18T20:12:31Z")
150 trillion years later you come close enough to a star to see it. Then you move past and keep going. What the heck - you have all the time in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/73 "2024-07-18T20:38:32Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You’re dead. You have all the time in the world. Nitpick: you have all the time in the afterworld. No! Not _that_ after! It’s not so bad! > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I’d try to figure out how to get into Heaven so I can slowly stroll around listening to harp music. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > What a coincidence-That is the exact same reason I would use _not_ to move on to Heaven. [![](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/accordion-harp-far-side.jpg) ](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/accordion-harp-far-side.jpg) Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. > [@Lumpy](#): > > I’d wonder about the ramifications of my existence. So my consciousness and senses are persisting despite the fact that my brain and body are dead (probably cremated by now). How’s that possible? Do people who had senile dementia when they died get their minds back? Where is Heaven or Hell or God in all this? Am I alone or are there other spirits whether human or not? Is this truly a supernatural afterlife or am I a simulation in a computer somewhere? Congratulations! You have just proven that you and me have no immortal soul, that Godott does not exist and that this is just a fun thread masquerading as a thought experiment. Could be worse, couldn’t it? > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’ll tell Leonardo what you think. As soon as I find him. And learn Italian. I bet he speaks English by now. And he may be reading over your shoulder. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Like, if ghosts can see and hear, are they affecting light and sound waves? […] How do ghosts see each other? Can they? I hate to break this to you, but no, they can’t. They are completely transparent, they can’t be seen, they don’t interact with electromagnetic radiation at all. Which, as a corollary, means they are blind. And deaf and all the rest too. Actually, they are dead. But as I just wrote: this a _Gedankenexperiment_, and as such quite fun. I’m enjoying it! > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > What the heck - you have all the time in the world. Nitpick: aw, never mind 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/74 "2024-07-19T00:22:38Z")
I _tried_ to come up with something better, but the 12 year old boy in me keeps using my inner voice to shout inside my head, “Boobies. I’m going to look at boobies.” Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/75 "2024-07-19T02:57:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What a coincidence-That is the exact same reason I would use _not_ to move on to Heaven.Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Ha! As a boy I was a very good accordionist, and still enjoyed playing it (once in a while) all my life until I went deaf at 70. If my corporal hearing has been restored after death, Hell wouldn’t be so bad. I could even entertain all the other inmates! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/76 "2024-07-19T06:17:24Z")
I definitely won’t hang around my family. I’d be all for my wife getting remarried, but I don’t want to see it. And I’d rather not walk in on my kids. Walking in on someone else might be fun, but what’s my libido like? Circumnavigating the world and visiting all the countries and museums could be fun. Can I walk on top of the water? Why not - not much different from walking on the floor. And I’d definitely pay a visit to the ISS. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/77 "2024-07-19T13:32:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Hop on a rocket going “thataway”, get your momentum going, and when the rocket stops you leave the ship and keep on going until…? The “Physics” of ghostliness would be severely tested with a rocket flight. Would the rocket take off and just leave you hanging in mid air? Once in space, there is no “down” so how does the classic ghost movement trope work? Which sides of the capsule are “solid” so you can stand on them, which sides can you go thru? What if there’s a course correction and the ship goes one way while you go another? Etc. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/78 "2024-07-19T18:41:23Z")
I just thought that people studying human behavior would have a field day as a ghost. So many things are known only by not very reliable surveys. Think how Dr. Kinsey would love circulating through the bedrooms of a neighborhood to see what is really going on. First thing I’d do is to apply for an NSF (National Spook Foundation) grant. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/79 "2024-07-19T21:24:53Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I _tried_ to come up with something better, but the 12 year old boy in me keeps using my inner voice to shout inside my head, > “Boobies. I’m going to look at boobies.” > Sorry. I’m sure “nekkid wimmen!!” occurred to the vestigial 12 year old in many of the guys here. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394/80 "2024-07-20T00:11:03Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I’m sure “nekkid wimmen!!” occurred to the vestigial 12 year old in many of the guys here. I looked up vestigial, and it says “forming a small remnant of something that was much larger.” My 12 year old is plenty large 60 years after I was one, thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-ghost-now-what/1004394.md?page=5)