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Why do sciencey people believe in extraterrestrials but not ghosts?

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All that talk about extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence—or otherwise—misses the point. There is no evidence for either:

A recent profile in Astronomy focused on Abraham Loeb (pictured) a Harvard astronomer who is convinced that closed minds are a key barrier to our finding extraterrestrials. Statistically, he thinks, they must be out there somewhere: …

A prolific thinker, he has, along with collaborators, come up with a number of new ideas about where and how to look, and what to look for. For example, he thinks, based on astronomical calculations, that life is more likely to evolve in the distant future than now. He also uses intriguing forensic approaches to the search for extraterrestrials

News, “Why do people who believe in extraterrestrials dismiss ghosts?” at Mind Matters News

Sure, but none of it has panned out. ETs perform no better than ghosts in the evidence department.

That said, people who have a fully naturalist worldview can believe that there are extraterrestrials but not ghosts. That’s worldview, not evidence as such.

See also: Tales of an invented god

Comments
I think this is what smart aleck-y apologists call a “category error.”chuckdarwin
November 16, 2020
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The existence of ghosts would require the existence of life after death. We have no credible evidence for that.
our existence is evidence that life – or at least life such as we have here on Earth – can exist here in this Universe and we have no reason for thinking that this could not happen elsewhere.
:) Translation : 1. life can exist here in this Universe therefore must be appeared by chance . Non sequitur. 2.If life appeared by chance on Earth ( a philosophic belief:nobody proved that ) then is credible to exist in other places.Apriori argument. 3.The life appearing by chance on Earth(a belief) means there is nothing beyond nature.( another belief) Congratulation you are more religious than a theist.Sandy
November 16, 2020
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Sure, but none of it has panned out. ETs perform no better than ghosts in the evidence department.
I dare you to visit the ten most haunted places in the world. Yet I doubt that anyone who disparages ghosts will ever do so.ET
November 15, 2020
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Sure, but none of it has panned out. ETs perform no better than ghosts in the evidence department.
Quite true.
That said, people who have a fully naturalist worldview can believe that there are extraterrestrials but not ghosts. That’s worldview, not evidence as such.
Not quite. The existence of ghosts would require the existence of life after death. We have no credible evidence for that. However, our existence is evidence that life - or at least life such as we have here on Earth - can exist here in this Universe and we have no reason for thinking that this could not happen elsewhere.Seversky
November 15, 2020
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