What Are You Skeptical of...and what do you believe?

[caniswalensis]

[ciscop]

nicely said !!

[caniswalensis]

Thank you!

[NinjaPuppy]

Yes, very nicely said.

[really?]

[Craig Browning]

[Indigo Child]

I generally do not like beliefs, I think beliefs breed weakness in
the mind. However, reasoned beliefs which can be supported by
evidence are good, and most of my beliefs are reasoned beliefs.


Reasoned belief and knowings:

Astrology: Yes, it is theoretically possible. We already know that planets
and the moon do have an effect on us. However, I think current astrological
systems are too primitive, vague to be useful, so I do not pay much heed to
them.

ESP: Yes, I have experienced ESP many times. Knowing.
Auras: Yes, I can vaguely see them. My mom can see them better. Half knowing(I need to improve)
NWO: Yes, I have looked at enough evidence to conclusive they are real.
9/11: Mostly yes, the evidence I have seen so far shows evidence of conspiracy.
UFO: Yes, I started out researching ufology, and have seen more than enough cases to
conclude they exist.
Reincarnation: Yes, I have had a past life regression, but it was bunk. I know many in my
family who remember their past lives. It is also very logical, so I accept it.
Soul/ghosts: Yes, been out of my body a few times. Knowing.
Chakras and Prana: Yep, I am sensitive enough to feel them. Knowing.
God: Absolutely. Knowing.
Angels, demon etc: Yep, have survived possesion attempts by demons.
Prayer/power of mind: Yes

Beliefs:

Ascended masters
Atlantis and Lemuria
Annunaki and Reptillians
Pleadians

There is scrace evidence for these, but I intuitively feel it is true.

Skeptical:

Vampires, bigfoot and mermaids
Paralel universes
EFT
Homopathy
The law of attraction
Sylvia Brown
Derek Accora
Derren Brown
The Galactic federation

[ciscop]

hahahahahahaha great post Indigo

a lot of what you said is subjective
you arent wrong, but that doesnt mean you are right
like god
I intuitively feel there is no god

and to be honest
neither of us knows the truth

[jakesteele]

I look at things on a scale or spectrum of probability with 'virtually no chance', on one end and 'fairly likely', on opposite end with different points in between depending on the subject matter. On the virtually no chance end I would put things like fairies and unicorns and on the other, fairly likely end I would put UFOs and most likely for me would be the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe somewhere.

[Twain Shakespeare]

What do I not believe in? Epiphenomena.
What do I believe in without knowledge? The noumenon
What do I know? At the moment, i can only think of two thing. There is an experience occuring, and probability is a good predictor of what sorts of phenomena might be experienced next, but is no where near foolproof

Attempts at consistency, there is about a 70% probability at any moment that an entity I am currently using the perpendicular pronoun for will appear to be a continuous wave-function occuring in my brain, but there is at least a 25% chance it will be asleep instead. and a five percent chance I will be in some other mental state I do not recognize as myself. Mosat specifically I might momentarily disconnect my mental controls and shoot my mouth off, and say something difficult to rerpudiate. Still the probaibility that I will be around to take responsibility for my words is high enough that I will use "I" when writing English when referring to the nexus of my body, speech, and the epiphenomena in my head.

I find both according to replicable scientific reasearch and my own experience that casual perceptions are manufactured in part by expectations, therefore I don't believe in what I see or hear, and could probably be excused testifying in court in my opinions were known.

At the extreme, as far as epiphenomena go, while I have great respect for science as the distillation of the rational process, I have more respect for facts than for theory, and I am as suspicious of efforts to find "ultimate answers" of the GUT theoriy variety as I am of proper mysticism. Part of this is a distrust of authority based, quite simply, on my distant from them
(You can stand, there, you can have landed there, or you could have read a rumour in the newspaper or a grade school book), and from the consistent Priestcraft of even men like Sagan when faced with men like Velikovski. If you act like a priest, I'll treat you like a priest and doubt everything you say on your professional topic.

Aside from the realms of human epiphenomenal What do I "believe" about the noumenon?
Very little, especially if you are taking about thing I know, but I assumer you want to know about the "irrational " beliefs of alleged skeptics.
I refer you to David Lerner's "The Big Bang Never Happaned" With that preface, let me see that, while agnostic on the question of the eternity of the universe versus a point of origen, I prefer to believe in a synergetically open universe, rather than an entropically closed one, as in ther former evolution of complexity and intelligence would be likelier to be inherent qualities of the noumenon
I know this "can't be proved" and might be considered irrational (As a matter of fact, I have been told I am not an atheist because I don't "believe" in the big Bang) it makes me feel better, so I am holding this belief, which my life experince further seems to confirm. Marginally, but that is all it takes in the interaction of entropy and synergy.
Thanks for reasding. I hope I am welcome here.

[Arouet]

Hi folks,

I usually try and take a skeptical approach to pretty much any belief that I have. I like to ask questions, and prefer to think in terms of probabilities than certainties. I'll often speak of something being the "most likely" or leading hypothesis. I usually leave open the possibility of me being wrong and will always do what I can to analyse the situation.

I consider it important that a person making a claim has the burden of proof. Evidence should be presented, and evaluated. That doesn't necessarily mean running a scientific experiment for every claim! After all, we all have limited time, resources, interests, etc. That said: we should evaluate what is being proposed, and consider the reliability of the evidence, and different sides.

I also think that it is important to try and avoid logical fallacies in discussing these topics. Frankly, I see a lot of them around here (no offence!). I've made some posts pointing some out. A lot of what is being called pseudo-skepticism here is really cynicism. Which is distinct from skepticism.

I have biases just like anyone else, but I do try and be honest with my arguments, and look for flaws myself and welcome them being pointed out by others.

I try to keep open minded. While I am not currently convinced of the existence of psi, I do hold out the possibility that it exists and support the scientific studies being done in that area. The scientific community around psi is small, and progress is being made in tightening up controls. I think the AWARE study, for example, will be very interesting, no matter what the findings.

Finally, I don't get too caught up in terms like materialism. I guess you'd call me a materialist, but that's only because the current scientific consensus is that that's what makes up our universe. Not being a physicist, I have to rely on consensus like that. If science figures out that psi is real and that there are other factors playing on our universe - hell, I'll accept that!

Not sure if I answered the OP exactly, but hopefully this is on topic.

[Ellie]

I've seen some genuinely heart-warming posts in this thread, not to mention some very clear displays of what scepticism is really all about - logic makes me happy

[OmegaChaos]

I am skeptical of

current consensus of Evolution theory - there are many anomalies in fossil record against it,and fossil record itself doesn,t prove it.

Big Bang Theory - doesn,t seem very logical explanation for me.I support that Universe has been existing infinitely.And there are many cosmologists who are against Big Bang.

Uniformitarian geology - Catastrophism,many kataklysms seems to be have made these layers of rock.

Climate Change - seems like a total fraud.

UFO,s being alien spacecraft - no evidence for that UFO,s are alien spacecraft,and also most what have been seen can,t space travel.

Astro-Theology - I am very skeptical of claims,that Jesus,Horus ,Krishna etc has many similarities,in truth no ancient text supports that.

Planet X or Nibiru - There is some indication of it existing,but in reality Sumerian texts tell that Nibiru is a star.

What I think are right

That Atlantis existed - Ancient texts,artefacts and megalithic sites seem to support that there was technologically advanced civilization before us.

Alien Visitation - many legends tell about it, and some other evidence and indications that it happened.

Aliens genetically manipulated humans - even though Sitchin is wrong about Planet X and his chronology is out of place,it seems that he got that part right,that aliens did manipulate us genetically in past.

New World Order - Agenda to create one-world goverment definitely exists and ton of evidence for it.

Black Nobility and The Illuminati controlling the world with their secret societies - I am totally sure that these groups are top of the pyramid,The Illuminati is an infiltration arm and Black Nobility real ruling power.

[Craig Browning]

[really?]