Do ghosts exist?

[benb]

Well presumably the person in question doesn't take the Bible literally, which is quite possible.

I'm not religious myself, but faced with a concept of a Big Bang, in which apparently, everything in an infinite universe was created out of nothing, I can see how believing in a creating deity doesn't seem so odd. Listening to discussions of quantum physics and so on, at my layman's level, it all sounds just as made up as any religion. Perhaps, eventually, it's more provable, but I'm not even sure about that - the best we can say is that the theory fits the evidence - we can't set up an alternative universe to check...

The difference is that one is supported by evidence, and one isn't.

 

[GaryA]

The difference is that one is supported by evidence, and one isn't.

The evidence for the big bang is not as clear cut as many believe.... it depends on a 14 billion year extrapolation with the implicit assumption that the laws of physics are immutable.
Guths 'Inital inflation of the universe' just after the big bang exceeded the speed of light.......

 

[ArDee]

This is my view on ghosts and other stuff.

I don't believe in god or any organised religion, but I do believe that there's a lot of things that we as can't explain - religion is an attempt by men to take control and try to explain such things of other men and get them to do what they want them to do.

corrected - in my opinion

 

[Sara_H]

corrected - in my opinion

I think thats what I meant really.

 

[benb]

The evidence for the big bang is not as clear cut as many believe.... it depends on a 14 billion year extrapolation with the implicit assumption that the laws of physics are immutable.
Guths 'Inital inflation of the universe' just after the big bang exceeded the speed of light.......

No it doesn't.
Hint: background radiation.

 

[GaryA]

No it doesn't.
Hint: background radiation.

Its a complex problem in which Confidence and certainty is not shared by all physicists.....

http://www.edge.org/documents/ThirdCulture/y-Ch.16.html

 

[numbnuts]

God started the big bang after that everything is history.
As a Catholic and amateur astronomer I find it very hard to get my head around in what I believe.

 

[just jim]

Can we stick with with the spooky stories pulease!

 

[benb]

Its a complex problem in which Confidence and certainty is not shared by all physicists.....

http://www.edge.org/documents/ThirdCulture/y-Ch.16.html

Hmm, that's an editorial, not exactly peer reviewed.

Of course, a theory that better explains the observed phenomena may come along - that's the scientific method - but for now, the Big Bang is the best model we have for how the universe began, and it is well supported by the available evidence.

By all means, submit your own alternative theory for peer review. If it does a better job at explaining the observations then it will supersede the prevailing theory - and you'll probably win a Nobel prize too.

 

[just jim]

We stayed in a rented house for about a year after we moved up northwards.
The house we were in was a renovated property. Sealed windows and doors - no dampness.
There was one particular spot downstairs at the entrance of a bedroom which always made me a bit uncomfortable around. There was a "foosty" (as we say up here), but rather intangible odour. Couldn't really describe it, bit not very nice to be around.*
When we moved out after a year we were talking to the landlady about the experience and I jokingly said "perhaps the house is haunted".
She went very quiet for a minute and then explained that she too thought the same thing, but was more sure of her opinion. She indicated the same spot and said she too had felt similar discomfort.

*and before anyone says it - no it didn't smell of dog-wee.

 

[GaryA]

Hmm, that's an editorial, not exactly peer reviewed.

Of course, a theory that better explains the observed phenomena may come along - that's the scientific method - but for now, the Big Bang is the best model we have for how the universe began, and it is well supported by the available evidence.

By all means, submit your own alternative theory for peer review. If it does a better job at explaining the observations then it will supersede the prevailing theory - and you'll probably win a Nobel prize too.

Your being a sarcastic scientific blogger ignoramous
Ever heard of the crisis in cosmology conferences? held in Portugal beginning 2005, I believe?
Full of religious quacks and intelligent designers were they?
Look it up and learn a bit...... of humility if nothing else.

 

[benb]

Your being a sarcastic scientific blogger ignoramous
Ever heard of the crisis in cosmology conferences? held in Portugal beginning 2005, I believe?
Full of religious quacks and intelligent designers were they?
Look it up and learn a bit...... of humility if nothing else.

So are you saying that the Bing Bang theory doesn't explain the observations as well as a competing theory?

And if you're going to bandy insults around, at least learn to spell and punctuate properly: it's ignoramus.

 

[benb]

Of course the peer-review system is not exactly infallible - Wakefield's paper on MMR and autism got published by the Lancet (and it took over a decade for it to be withdrawn).

I would be the first to agree that peer review isn't infallible.

 

[steve52]

ghosts no, or we would be inundated with em, but odd things happen, and so the quantom boys tell us every thing that can happen does happen, so i may win the TDF yet

 

[MontyVeda]

That's my feeling. I'm agnostic, so to speak. I find rampant atheism, like Dawkins, as crazy as blind faith.
...

Agreed, Dawkins and his blind followers really get on my tits.

Saying that, one of my 'born again' friends believes that ghosts (and extra terrestrials & UFO's), are "quite clearly" demons. The proof is that when one screams 'jesus christ' they always disappear.