I think I need to rephrase the question. I’ll post again in a few days.

The replies so far have generally been very polite, given the subject. I was nervous about that. Thanks everyone!


… Hear me out, okay?

Back in 2000 I took my first solo, out of state trip, to meet an online friend. When I got off the bus, she greeted me, and let me know that we had to go stop by her friends house on the way back.

She was Wiccan and needed some Spiritual guidance because the night before she saw a black portal open up in the corner of her room that was giving her really bad vibes.

It wasn’t my thing, but I never discounted it. Maybe it was real, and if nothing else it’s just how her mind is rationalizing things.

But I guess my question is: Does the Scientific Method rule out the possibility that a “real” portal appeared in her room?

Taking wave function probability into account and the absense of data from the room, is it fair to say that the scientific method doesn’t rule out the black portal being real?

Looking for black and white answers if possible, but I’d also love to hear your reasoning~

  • Famko@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Problem is that the burden of proving that the black portal exists is upon the person who saw it. So you’d need data of the room before and after the portal opening.

    Otherwise, this is like arguing that something exists when there is only anecdotal evidence to back up it’s existence.

    • GardenVarietyAnxiety@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 month ago

      I’m mainly just curious about its potential for existence. However unlikely, could a wave function “cascade” cause the appearance of something perceived as a black portal to the observer? Or even an actual “portal” whatever that would be.

      • Famko@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I don’t think so? Portals are a very… unexplored field of study and the sighting could have been a hallucination or something. Spiritually minded people are prone to those, for whatever reason.