This is apparently a clip from a Brazilian prank show. It's damn creepy, and if it's for real, it's in very poor taste and even sadistic. Scaring people like this is dangerous.
Nonetheless, I post the video...
Nonetheless, I post the video...
I blame Bush.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have one of these pranks played on me so I could demonstrate how a confident rational skeptic is immune to silly fears. Well before the lights went out I would have been aware that the elevator was not accelerating, and seeing the floor indicator moving, I would have known something was up. I’m sure I would have been startled when the little girl showed up, but I’m confident the rational part of my mind would have put it all together in a second or two. Unfortunately clips of adults acting rationally don’t make it onto these kinds of shows. Mayby if I cried out “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” I’d make the cut.
ReplyDelete-KW
KW is my hero... brave, logical, and cool as Mr Spock on muscle relaxants. A ninja skeptic with a vestibular system tuned like the navigational gyroscope on the space shuttle.
DeleteWhy thank Gabalot, you are so nice.
DeleteFunny you should mention my Vestibular system as I will be using it when I take my dirt bike out in the snow this afternoon, after which I will be using it to position my petite little sugar baby in all kinds of interesting ways. I truly am living the dream.
-KW
Good heavens, you're nothing but a child. Maturationally, anyway. If you're over 21, your parents must be terribly disappointed. Unless, of course, they neotenized you deliberately.
DeleteThe producers of this show defiantly put that girl in harms way. Put a professional killer like CrusaderRex in there and it could have gone very badly indeed.
ReplyDelete-KW
Crusader would have given her a cookie and have been very polite. There is much chivalry in him.
DeleteI think I would have taken the little girl in my arms and asked her what was wrong?
DeleteBien sûr, Pépé!
DeleteI’m quite sure Pepe that you would have screamed louder than the little girl while you peed yourself.
Delete-KW
I would have been scared as hell.
ReplyDeleteAlthough atheists are far more likely than serious Christians to believe irrational things (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178219865054585.html)
Um, Christians believe irrational things by definition.
DeleteI would have proposed the girl to have a coffee in my hotel room.
I agree with Troy, 100% of Christians believe irrational things.
DeleteAll kinds of people People believe in all kinds of crazy things. When I lived in New Hampshire my circle of friends included a Reiki Master and a wealthy woman who had Native American spiritualists flown in to cleans her house of evil spirits. The wealthy woman used to have dinner parties whose guests represented a smorgasbord of crazy beliefs, and I was her resident skeptic. My association with these people led me to consider a side career as a paranormal investigator, but after a few clients it became apparent that people weren’t looking for rational explanations or null results, they wanted to pay a professional to give a stamp of legitimacy to their crazy beliefs.
-KW
... says a "rational skeptic" who believes that everything came from nothing, stuff happens explains laws of nature, objective moral law doesn't exist, and living things are what the are because survivors survived.
DeleteA Reiki Master and a spiritualist wouldn't be that dumb.
Obviously, the world did not beat a path to your door, anxious to reap the benefits of your razor-sharp analytical powers.
Delete"Um, Christians believe irrational things by definition."
DeleteAre you once again suggesting that reason and/ or rations are the only means to define experiential reality, KW?
Do you believe in π ?
You must.
After all, your logic is perfectly circular.
It was troy that you are quoting. You really do obsess about me don’t you?
Delete-KW
Look up "strawman", Egnor.
DeleteMy mistake, KW.
Delete**Troy**
Obsess?
Don't flatter yourself. You're just not that tasty.
My obsessions are usually found in a kitchen or on a sizzling on a grill...preferably a charcoal grill ;)
LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike.
:) I appreciate that.
I actually have actually said things like that before!
Did you see the 'scary girl' pranks where they had a little girl dressed in black and soaked walking about in hotels (Japan or S. Korea?) and everyone ran away terrified?
It went viral at the time. I can recall saying to my wife that if I had seen an agry sulky looking little girl who appeared to be drenched in a hotel hallway, I would have given her a towel and asked where her mum and dad are and offered my help.
I really don't see what is so horrific about a little girl. In fact I find something strangely insidious about the whole 'meme'.
But, as for this prank
Actually I think I would have attempted to pass my hand through her projection, perhaps at shoulder level - and I would have apologized if I had made contact with anything physical.
I am quite familiar with holography techniques. We've had stuff much better than this for over a decade in the forces. Failing all that, you're right. Cookie time.
KW,
What makes you think I would react violently to a child? Do you mean I would somehow hurt the people pulling the prank? I would have told them off, and probably reported them to the authorities - but I do not and have not ever killed in anger and would do anything I could to avoid children being hurt in anyway - in or out of the womb.
I actually HAVE children of my own and the rest of the kids in the family (cousins and nephews) sure like to 'hang out' with me when visiting. I feel, often times, like the Pied Piper when they are over. I have a queue of kids and dogs following me about the house and garden asking me all sorts of crazy questions and begging for goodies.
You slander me openly once again - and the strange thing is, I think you probably see it as a compliment.
I am trained in a lot more than killing, my nerdy friend.
Anyway,
I think Dr Egnor's point is that someone with say a heart condition or some form of hyper tension could have suffered a very bad reaction.
I also thought that, and the same thing again with the disappearing elevator floor prank.
What makes you think I would react violently to a child?
DeleteI wouldn’t, if you perceived it to be a child and not a suddenly appearing ghost. Perhaps you where in quiet areas when you where deployed, but my Battle of Fallujah buddy can be quite scary when startled. I should have known that you would be magically immune to any sort of conditioning.
I’m glad you take my ribbing as a compliment.
-KW
KW,
DeleteQuiet areas?
LMAO!! I WISH.
I was field intelligence. Something like what you guys call 'recon'.
I was behind the lines for most of my tours and literally on them in the remainder. All of it was in some of the most dangerous and deadly regions on Earth.
No cakewalk. No quiet tours for me. Rather the stuff nightmares are made of, quite literally.
My command was often a very small group of professionals, not a large assault force.
So, I can understand your buddy's jumpy-ness. Big targets in extremely hostile zones are not cool places to be.
But, I think you do him a disservice (I hope you do) implying he would react to a child's presence in an elevator in Brazil with violence.
He may well have jumped out of his skin and assumed a defensive posture if it had happened immediately upon his return from duty. But, I would sincerely hope he would not have responded in such a way as to harm that kid. If so, and I say this with all due respect, the guy needs caring help and a LOT of R&R.
As to your point about conditioning, I suspect you are referring to muscular conditioning and response. Such conditioning is physical. Sure, I was trained in that way years ago and continue to work on the efficiency of that training.
It was of some use in the field, but certainly not what I would credit (at least entirely) with my unit's survival or successes. It was cohesion and the exploitation of opportunity I would hand the lion's share of credit to.
The conditioning was an essential physical tool to be used in close quarters and improved the efficiency of weapons at my disposal, it is/was not a mental state that prevails over my every move in life. If I ever felt it was becoming a mental state, I would resign or take a leave and seek a VERY long rest period somewhere very quiet indeed.
So far, so good.
Lastly, I am not so sure I believe in 'ghosts'. I do believe, for good reason, in Evil - but I do not fear it as I once did.