naraburns
nihil supernum
No bio...
User ID: 100
naraburns
nihil supernum
4d ago
I think the study of the paranormal would benefit by more smart people focusing on it.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but smart people who focus on the study of the paranormal (and who are not actively grifting) tend to conclude that paranormal studies are only really valuable as a grift. The only way the study of the paranormal "benefits" is by having each phenomenon either debunked or explained; in the former case, most people didn't need it debunked because it was obviously a grift from the start, and in the latter case the explanation removes the phenomenon from the realm of the "paranormal" and into the realm of the "normal." In other words, either way, "success" in paranormal studies inevitably means the elimination of paranormal studies. So we can be much more efficient by just eliminating paranormal studies entirely, and when a plausibly interesting but unexplained phenomenon occurs, subjecting that phenomenon to normal studies.
Sometimes the conclusion will be "we still can't explain this phenomenon." That doesn't mean something "paranormal" has happened. It just means that we're limited beings who are often underequipped to grasp or explain some things. The universe is complex enough given what we do know; adding further complexity by building shrines to our own ignorance does not help us in any way.
naraburns
nihil supernum
4d ago
Yeah, the comment was a bit longer (and from a fresh-rolled zero-karma account) but the quoted text is the gist of it.
A similar question was posed a couple months ago so I approved this comment because it wasn't obviously spam, but it did seem a little bait-y. That the user's apparent response was to delete the question strengthens my sense that something fishy was happening there.
FYI, I have removed this post, it doesn't really meet the effort threshold for a top level post.
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