silverquiver Wrote:"Mental Abilities" are nothing to be scoffed at. Though there is no actually scientific proof, it is not farfetched to believe that the human mind can tap into some pretty extraordinary things.

silverquiver Wrote:The brain is one of the few areas left for humans to continue to evolve. Telekinesis, empathy and precognition could all be some odd mutation. If we are lucky, perhaps "mental abilities" could seep into our gene pool.
Many respected science-fiction authors have written about "mental abilities". Larry Niven combined a future of space travel with humans that could create mental arms or change the mind of someone if threatened. (some of his work that illustrates these points are: "A Gift from Earth" and "Gil 'The Arm' Hamilton")

silverquiver Wrote:"Mental Abilities" are nothing to be scoffed at. Though there is no actually scientific proof, it is not farfetched to believe that the human mind can tap into some pretty extraordinary things.
The brain is one of the few areas left for humans to continue to evolve. Telekinesis, empathy and precognition could all be some odd mutation. If we are lucky, perhaps "mental abilities" could seep into our gene pool.
Many respected science-fiction authors have written about "mental abilities". Larry Niven combined a future of space travel with humans that could create mental arms or change the mind of someone if threatened. (some of his work that illustrates these points are: "A Gift from Earth" and "Gil 'The Arm' Hamilton")

AngelSL Wrote:Science is not everything (except for religion and god. it does not pineappleing exist!). It doesn't mean that if there's no scientific proof, it means it's farfetched or impossible.

Pfft.

Vathek, if you're not gonna be positive, then GTHO.

Vathek Wrote:I'm confused as to your main point. Can you name something that empirically exists that is entirely outside of science?

This is the intelligent discussion forum, is it not? I feel I should be allowed to intelligently refute peoples' opinions in a thread on the intelligent discussion forum.

If you're not capable of refuting the points I make, or lack interest in doing so and would rather simply have a nice meandering circle-jerk in which everyone supports you and your opinions, then why did you post this in the forum that is labeled for 'intelligent discussion?' How are we to intelligently discuss anything if all dissent is labeled as useless or not responded to?

Quantact Wrote:Science fiction and reality are two different things. And evolution is not something any of us will notice. Evolution is a trial and error thing. If something mutates and it's good, it survives, if not it dies. I might add that in human beings' sake it can be argued that evolution has stopped ENTIRELY. With humans, people generally survive regardless of whether they have a beneficial mutation that nobody else has.

Pre-civilization: stronger, faster humans survive; weaker slower humans get killed by the wolves:

Now: EVERYONE survives because everyone has food, shelter and protection. An evolutionary advantage does not make its bearer more likely to reproduce, therefore it'll rise in an individual and then get drowned out in a vast ocean of "normal," non-affected human beings that survived just fine without it.

In other words, it can be argued that evolution in humans has STOPPED and we are evolving through the products of our minds -- through technology, philosophy, etc. This is much faster than evolution, but the fundamental nature of human beings does NOT change. We are right now what we were 10,000 years ago because in the language of evolution even 1 million years is not that much. This accounts for seemingly strange and seemingly illogical behavior in human beings: for example, a girl might pick a very strong but not very nice guy as her boyfriend; back when we were all in caves, such a guy could protect her children from harm better than a weaker but nicer man, now the whole issue is usually moot, but the instincts in question still survive from caveman times.

As far as mental abilities go... any technology that is sufficiently advanced can seem like magic. If you took a person from the middle ages and showed him cell phones, computers, radio and MP3 players, he would think it was magic. There might be technology in the future which lets a person do control similar to control WITH the mind. But as far as the basic composition of the brain, I don't think that'll ever change, the way humans are going.

AngelSL: Kinda off topic, but some of the greatest scientists in history, including Albert Einstein, believed in God. Science is not itself a refutation for religion.

XBish Wrote:evolution still happens in humans, like you said we just dont notice. although it is true that survival rates are much higher now, it is still also true that "stronger" genes have a better chance of reproduction and survival in the gene pool. smarter, stronger men have a better chance of reproduction and more females for the same goal. same goes for the best female genes. the reproduction instict is very much there in humans which like you said is what explains why good guys finish last. a strong agresive male sperm is much more apealing than a weak nice one. of course even the weak ones can reproduce, but the strong one has a higher chance. that is why i always say girls like it rough guys.

now these "brain powers" are fiction, not real, no living organism in this planet has shown any kind of power. we just like to feel special and better than everyone else.

Quantact Wrote:What I mean is: let's take a sickly weak guy and a strong healthy guy. 10,000 years ago one would be more likely to survive than the other. Right now, with modern medicine and plentiful food, they'll both probably have families. If the strong guy doesn't have a better chance to survive like that, is he really evolutionarily better? How can evolution proceed when everybody is equally likely to survive?

ClawofBeta Wrote:The sickly weak man doesn't have as good as a chance as a strong healthy guy, though. True, he probably does have a small chance, but as long as its a smaller chance than the healthy guy, evolution will continue.

Quantact Wrote:I am not talking about a person with Turette's Syndrome, I am talking about a thin nerdy guy that wears glasses. Plenty of those live to be like 75, right?

Some of them lived till 75 on Maple Story.

ClawofBeta Wrote:In your case, then it's true.

However, there's the case of the man of Turette's Syndrome (and more). Even though a large amount of the population reproduces, there's always the man with Turette's Syndrome that doesn't reproduce, thus making evolution.

Almo Wrote:I don't know if I have any, but I do believe that mental abilities exist. You need a proper technique to perform any of these actions though.

@Vathek;
You state that somethings are impossible, this is clearly a sign of narrow-minded assumtions.
We live in a giant Universe, where the possibilities of anything seem to be infinite.
Who is to say that these abilities do NOT exist? Just because you've never seen them does not mean they don't exist.
EDITx2: Also, take a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jgMzcRxxEE

RobMdza Wrote:You are clearly blind and narrow-minded. The topic doesn't have to be empirically proved to fall into ''intelligent discussion''. Somethings exist beyond science and empirism. If not Social Sciences (despite the name they were given) would only be studied through the Positivism lens. There are other points of view that escape it. Historicism and The General Critic Theory (whatever is called in english) don't apply all these rules and hence that not always considered science ¬¬.


- Sorry if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes.-

Quote:You state that somethings are impossible, this is clearly a sign of narrow-minded assumtions.
We live in a giant Universe, where the possibilities of anything seem to be infinite.
Who is to say that these abilities do NOT exist? Just because you've never seen them does not mean they don't exist.
EDITx2: Also, take a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jgMzcRxxEE

Vathek Wrote:Yeah, I'd rather watch Loose Change or some idiot pomegranate like that then watch this.

Okay, who's to say that magical eagle-apes who have purple fur and eat only dodo eggs for sustenance don't exist? If you start saying 'oh, well, technically we live in an infinite universe of possibilities, so it totally could exist' then you're opening the door to all kinds of ridiculous pomegranate, like the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I suggest you read Dr. Hugh Everett's landmark paper on multiple universes, i think you'd find it interesting.

Kabanaw Wrote:I watched that video up until the point where he said "Scientists now believe we only use 7% of our brain" Then immediately closed it. If everything he said in the video could be disputed, i would have continued. Humans use 100% of our brains, just not all the time.

silverquiver Wrote:It is so easy to say that something does or does not exist. But it is far more difficult to back either side up with evidence.
You may say that mental abilities lack the evidence to be true. But I say you lack the evidence to prove that it isn't true.