Do You Believe In Any Of The Following?

[naomi24]

A survey of 2,000 British adults was commissioned to mark the launch of the new TV series ‘Believe’. The poll asked respondents about their beliefs as well as superstitions that still hold sway in 2014, with the following results:

Top 10 Beliefs in Unexplained Phenomena:

1 - Ghosts (33%)
2 - Sixth sense (32%)
3 - UFOs (22%)
4 - Past lives (19%)
5 - Telepathy (18%)
6 - Psychic ability to predict the future (18%)
7 - Psychic healing (16%)
8 - Astrology (10%)
9 - Bermuda Triangle (9%)
10 - Demons (8%)

http://watch.uktv.co.uk/believe/article/do-you-believe/

[Svejk]

you've no imagination, jim.

[naomi24]

Ghosts were mentioned last night. How about that for the next topic? Some people think that's all about imagination.

[jim360]

I said nothing about the source of energy. I merely said how much energy it would need to be -- you need to find a source of energy that is essentially equivalent to a small star. Doesn't matter what it is, or whether or not we've found it yet -- this hitherto unknown source still will need to produce that amount of energy, or more, in order to make things feasible. The number I gave are entirely independent of the source of the energy -- it's a question of required output.

Given the comparison I made to stars, for that matter, one possible source of such energy already presents itself in the form of nuclear fusion. So in fact far from ruling anything out I've probably managed to hint at how it might theoretically be achieved!

Don't underestimate the scale of the challenge required to achieve interstellar flight. It's probably not impossible, but it's a huge challenge and you ought to be realistic about that. As I've just calculated, the energies involved are comparable to the energies of small stars. That's not a trivial problem and while we can hope that it will be overcome, there is good reason to suspect that it might not be. Current nuclear fusion experiments are producing energy outputs measured lower than kilojoules, so you would need something in the region of a hundred million million million times more powerful.

[Tilly2]

For what it's worth, Naomi, I have never seen a ghost but because my Grandmother told me tales of her grandmother 's ghost coming to visit and standing at the bottom of Great Auntie Kizzie's bed, I am very easily spooked.
However, when my Mum was dying she said to me, 'If I can come back and visit you, I will'. She never has but often I have this strange feeling that there is someone else around.

My Grandmother scared me and the fear has stayed

[jim360]

I just wanted to add that I only worked out how much energy was required for the journey this morning. It's a ballpark figure but was a figure that in some senses surprised me. Not so much the value of the figure itself (since it's coming from something similar to E=mc^2 then you already know the numbers are going to be large) but, rather, how big that value is in context.

There are certainly many things missing from that back-of-the-envelope result: for example I've not bothered to take Gravity into account, nor have I considered the mass of the fuel needed, and I've assumed that the spacecraft being propelled is essentially the size and mass of a Space shuttle. Still, the net effect of adding factors like this in is more likely to shove the amount of energy involved up, rather than down, and perhaps by more orders of magnitude still.

The sheer scale of the problem of interstellar flight is phenomenal.

[Tilly2]

............and films such as The Sixth Sense' terrify me.

[goodlife]

The Bible encourages to check your beliefs against what it teaches. 1 John 4:1)

Because a wise person, does not blindly believe that something is true simply because some authoritative teacher says it is.—Psalm 146:3.

Millions had testify to that and doing so has added purpose and stability to their lives.

So, it is the course of wisdom to make sure that your beliefs are shaped, not by human wisdom and desires, but, rather, by God’s revealed Word of truth. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

[RATTER15]

Goodlife: //Because a wise person, does not blindly believe that something is true simply because some authoritative teacher says it is.—Psalm 146:3.//


Exactly, that is why most people with a little common sense disbelieve the Bible and the nonsense you spill out here on a regular basis!

[Old_Geezer]

Surely if it is wise to follow the advice of Psalm 146:3 then one should check what the Bible claims against my beliefs, rather than vice versa. Otherwise one would be blindly believing that something is true simply because the Bible says it is.

[Old_Geezer]

Why would that spook you Tilly ? Was your grandmother's grandmother someone to be feared ?

[murraymints]

Yes to all !!

[Tilly2]

.......and stories like Dicken's 'The Signalman'.

[murraymints]

Apart from astrology !

[naomi24]

Curiously my answer to Jim’s post at 07:06 Mon 31st Mar 2014 has been removed – I can only imagine because I questioned Jim’s motivation in posting responses that appear to ignore what other people say – a fair enough observation in my opinion, but there you are. Nevertheless, in the light of Jim’s latest responses – he clearly read it before it was zapped - for the benefit of the reader who will no doubt be trying to make sense of subsequent posts, I’ll chop that bit off and re-post the rest. ;o)

Jim, //It's worth pointing out just how much energy can be involved in feasible interstellar travel.//

////No, it isn’t worth pointing out just how much energy can be involved in feasible interstellar travel. The premise - that you seem to have ignored - is that inter-stellar space travel will be fuelled by hitherto unknown sources of energy. To comprehend that you need to have rather more ‘faith’ than you appear to have now in the potential of scientific advancement.

Shall we move on to another topic? How about ghosts, or telepathy or past lives?////

(An addition ..... a lot of posts since then .... I need to catch up now ..... so bear with me).

[Tilly2]

OG, I don't think she was someone to be feared but I would not want to see her standing at the bottom of my bed.

[naomi24]

Jim, //I said nothing about the source of energy.//

You didn't - and that's precisely why your post was superfluous to this discussion. The source of energy is the crucial factor.

[Svejk]

that was spooky, naomi.

[naomi24]

OG, //Why would that spook you Tilly ? Was your grandmother's grandmother someone to be feared ? //

I think just seeing someone who shouldn’t be there would spook anyone really. Having said that, I saw a ghost and at the time I wasn’t in the least ‘spooked’. I never understood why, because thinking about it later spooked me. 

[naomi24]

Svejk, ha ha! Indeed. ;o)

[AB Editor]

Hi Naomi. It was removed because you're being nasty. Be nice.