Do You Believe?

[alphabassettgrrl]

I'm still trying to collect my thoughts on this. I believe in a lot of things. I disbelieve in a lot of things. I hope I'm balanced. Mostly.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Betty

I believe that thoughts can change things.

I believe it's within the realm of possibility that thoughts can affect the world at large. I do not, however, believe anyone has provided sufficient evidence that it does, nor even a plausible theory as to a mechanism that would allow it. Only conjecture, anecdotes, and seriously flawed application of quantum theory.

[~MS~]

I believe that we have the power to connect on multiple levels to the world around us, I believe that the more innocent the person the more 'spirit to spirt' connected they will be. I believe that there is in fact evil because I believe that there is good and the law of balance requires that if one exists then so must the other. I believe that as an emotion love has a power that is unexplanable by scientific methods but can not be disproved. I believe that science has barely scratched the surface of what 'mankind' is capable of achieving.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I believe it's within the realm of possibility that thoughts can affect the world at large. I do not, however, believe anyone has provided sufficient evidence that it does, nor even a plausible theory as to a mechanism that would allow it. Only conjecture, anecdotes, and seriously flawed application of quantum theory.

Picard once saved the galaxy from a Vulcan thought weapon. Proof enough for me.

[€uroMeinke]

I believe thoughts are constantly changing things. I'm in a dark room, I think about turning on a light and Bam - next thing you know I go turn on a light.

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I believe thoughts are constantly changing things. I'm in a dark room, I think about turning on a light and Bam - next thing you know I go turn on a light.

But do lights come on for you as your driving down the street?

[Gemini Cricket]

I would love to see a "real" ghost and a "real" UFO. I think that would be cool. And how come no one sees UFOs in the middle of Dodger Stadium with thousands of other people? How come it's always someone who is drunk, driving in the desert in Hesperia who sees stuff like that. And how come no one sees ghosts during say the Republican National Convention? No, it's always when someone's alone in some dark house, museum or theatre.

[CoasterMatt]

I think you're more likely to see undead zombies at a political convention.

[Kevy Baby]

Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart
How the music can free her, whenever it starts
And it's magic, if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul
But it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I believe thoughts are constantly changing things. I'm in a dark room, I think about turning on a light and Bam - next thing you know I go turn on a light.

A fair point, and an illustration of why I don't discount the possibility of other forms of thought-controlled world. So let me elaborate on exactly what I mean.

Right now, we know of one mechanism for our thoughts to affect their world. That's through the intermediary of our nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. Of course, our thoughts have an unfair advantage in that realm in that they are PART of that system.

Now, I do believe there are other outlets for causal relationships in this universe that do not involve direct physical interaction. As an example, think of an asteroid that's millions of lightyears away, discovered to be heading generally towards earth. That asteroid is well out of a range where its physical properties have a direct effect on human behavior, yet it would surely alter human behavior. But that's very different from "the asteroid chose to alter human behavior."

I have no doubt that activity in our brains has effects on electric and magnetic fields, on atomic interactions with the air around us, quantum interactions with the electrons around us, and on physical systems we haven't even characterized yet. What I don't believe has been demonstrated yet is a reliable, repeatable link between the content of our thoughts and those resulting affects on the physical world through channels other than our physical body.

You can take a plastic box, put a folded piece of paper with a prayer written on it inside, and toss the box into a river. The box will alter the course of the river. The paper inside will contribute to exactly how based on its weight and shape. Even the ink on the paper will affect it. But the symbolic meaning we assign to the particular scratches of ink? Certainly there will be a relationship between the symbolic meaning and the degree of effect because a different sentence will have a different weight and balance, and I don't deny that even such infinitesimal differences matter. But what's missing is evidence that those differences do anything that is related to the meaning of the words. Just because it does something doesn't mean it will a achieve a prayer/wish/whatever written on that paper.

Like I said, I don't deny that it's within the realm of possibility that, for example, a prayer written in such a way will, due to the ink's representative relationship to thoughts, will cause just the right alteration in the microcurrents of the river to cause just the right change in weather, etc., etc. that eventually leads to that thought being fulfilled. But just because it's plausible doesn't mean it's true. Unless someone can demonstrate that thought A reliably and repeatable leads to result B, we're in the realm of speculation.