What is the “paranormal”, really?

As the name suggests, it’s something that’s unusual, strange, or simply not normal. The word “paranormal” most often refers to ghosts, spirits, or anything ethereal.

There’s a reason why most people have superstitions about the paranormal: it “shouldn’t” exist. When we were young, our minds could fathom basic things, like “if the stove is red, then it is hot,” or “the sun’s shining outside, it’s warm outside.” We couldn’t yet fathom why magnets attracted to each other, or how salt “disappears” in water. We would think of these as “weird”, “paranormal”, and “supernatural.”

Philosophy gone wrong

If 5 o’clock sharp and 5 o’clock flat mean the same thing, then why isn’t a sharp the same thing as a flat?

and

If going UP to Seattle means the same thing as going DOWN to Seattle, then why isn’t UP the same as DOWN?

Or maybe UP is the same as DOWN, which means:

How do I decide when a post is ready to publish?

Given the enormously little amount of time I have to write to my blog these days, this is no longer something I’m concerned about. At this point, I just want to get my ideas out there, almost like a stream of consciousness.

In the past, I would write out my ideas in paragraph form, save it, go to sleep, revise it the next day, and publish it. If I think the post is going to be something that a mass audience will read, I will revise it several times and add pictures, etc. to it before it gets published.

Furthermore, I’m not looking for a career in writing or journalism, I just enjoy doing it as a hobby.

What is a friend?

I have been asked this question many many times. Ironically, I’ve never known the answer, but I’ve thought so much about this.

Does a friend have to stay with you forever? If so, how long? And what distinguishes between a “best friend”, “friend”, “acquaintance”, “random person”, and “enemy”?

One of my life’s toughest questions

Do you believe everything happens for a reason? Why or why not?

When I look at this question, and the word “reason,” I think that the thing that happens had an intended purpose. From my point of view, I would definitely say everything happens for a reason. After all, I am a Christian, and I believe that God makes everything, from the little interactions between particles to the big news stories, happen for a reason.

On the other hand, if I were arguing from a global point of view, the answer would be more complex. First off, I would immediately say that the unimportant things don’t happen for a reason; for example, tying your left shoe before your right. Does this really affect the rest of your life? The obvious answer would be no… or does it?

Evolution and the Ship of Theseus

While I was pondering about evolution vs. creation the other day, a paradox came into mind. It’s called the Ship of Theseus. The paradox goes like this -

One of the oldest of all thought experiments is the paradox known as the Ship of Theseus, which originated in the writings of Plutarch. It describes a ship that remained seaworthy for hundreds of years thanks to constant repairs and replacement parts. As soon as one plank became old and rotted, it would be replaced, and so on until every working part of the ship was no longer original to it. Source: TopTenz.net

In the same way, Darwin said that living this go through random mutations (like old parts being replaced with new parts) and gradually become another species. Here’s where the Ship of Theseus comes in:

If a fish evolves into a lizard, at what point does the fish become not a fish but a lizard? And if evolutionists say we came from fish, then why aren’t we still called fish? Aren’t all animals in the world just fish with all the “old parts” (fins, scales, etc.) replaced with new parts?

Likewise, creation states that God made all organisms unique. Zebras are zebras, not refurbished fish.

The Ship of Theseus and Evolution are ready for a big conflict.

The answer to “If humans evolved from monkeys then why are there still monkeys?”

Earlier this month I asked this question on my blog to see if anyone would be able to answer it. One person wrote and guessed that humans evolved smart enough to preserve monkeys, and that this was a rare instance. But that’s not the answer.

The answer is simple enough: humans didn’t evolve from monkeys!

So yes, this was a trick question, and it took me 30 seconds to realize that.

Humans and monkeys shared a common ancestor as they are both hominids. That doesn’t mean they evolved from each other. It’s like saying “if I evolved from my cousins, then why are my cousins here?”

“If humans evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?”

I was reading Science News and came upon this very interesting question. It took me about an hour to get the answer from what I knew. Now it’s your turn. Answer this question by posting a comment.

UPDATE: Apparently no one knew the answer. See this post for the answer.

Should I Categorize?

On WordPress, I get two options: tags, and/or categories. So far, I’ve stuck with tags and the largest category is “uncategorized”. However, the entries in this blog can be easily sorted out (i.e. “reviews”, “opinion”, etc). This should also make it easier for readers to find content of their interest.

If anyone objects to this and still likes my blog to be tag-only, please leave a comment.

UPDATE: I will be categorizing the posts on my blog, including the ones I have already written. This should make it easier for readers of my blog to find articles of their interest.

UPDATE: Ok, all my posts have been categorized. Now I only need to fix the category cloud so it’s similar to the tag cloud.