Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Why there are almost certainly no ghosts:
http://www.randi.org/research/index.html
At JREF, we offer a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event.
To date, no one has ever passed the preliminary tests
If anyone could prove it, they would get $1,000,000.00. |
That prize is almost as make-believe as those who try to claim it, though. Have you read the criteria required in order to even qualify to be judged? You have to be a member of the media or have something published, and your claim of proof has to be reacted in front of a panel. There's almost no way to prove "ghosts" are real, because you can't really tell the ghost "Okay, show up here at this time so I can prove to the judges you're real," assuming such is the case. In almost all cases, paranormal activity is sporadic and unpredicted.
Furthermore, should an entry make it pass the preliminary requirements, there's likely a very large panel of judges who can sit there and "prove" that any of the recorded data has been staged, photoshopped, or is a natural phenomenon that debunks it as anything supernatural or abnormal.
As mentioned before, no science is 100%, not even the stuff we know is real. There's always room for reasonable doubt, and in this case, as long as there is reasonable doubt, nobody will be able to claim the prize.
I'm not picking sides, here... but it really grinds my gears when this gets used as an argument. I don't necessarily believe in ghosts either, but I know for a fact that some things fall under the category of unexplainable, and not even the FBI or Nasa can properly explain them outside of educated guess.