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Storm
SFN Regular

USA
708 Posts

Posted - 03/08/2005 :  10:31:27  Show Profile  Visit Storm's Homepage Send Storm a Private Message
One of my favorite things to do, other than ghost research, is to visit antique stores. I especially enjoy looking at Old books on subjects of the Occult, Philosophy, Religon, etc..
While my Son and I came to the conclusion that he was going to try to create a Ghost communicator like that of Thomas Edison, for next years Science project, my husband and I decided to visit Historic Dade City and look at antiques... http://www.floridastateparks.org/dadebattlefield/default.cfm

I found some shelves of old dusty books and began to browse.. It is here that I found a book on Thomas Edison.. Imagine that... What a Coincidence.. yeah right... Anyway.. it is a most excellant book..

Thomas A. Edison..... Benefactor of Mankind.... by Francis Trevelyan Miller... copyright 1931... Did you know that he had up to 3,000 patents...

So now where this thread goes from here is up to you all it might have to be moved as I move on with the discussion...

So Thomas Edison was working on what was called the Spirit Communicator.. A phonograph type machine....Now while he may have been a Spiritualist, one who believed in Conscious life after death, his inventions were none the less Scientific... So what if somehow the dispersed energy theory or imprint theory of Ghost Phenomenon can somehow be recorded... Something like Edison worked on...

Some quotes that I like from Edison...
quote:
Because ideas have to be original only with regard to their adaptation to the problem at hand, I am always extremely interested in how others have used them....I readily absorb ideas from every source, frequently starting where the last person left off.




quote:
Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....

quote:
Its obvious that we don't know one millionth of one percent about anything.



quote:
We have merely scratched the surface of the store of knowledge which will come to us. I believe that we are now, a-tremble on the verge of vast discoveries - discoveries so wondrously important they will upset the present trend of human thought and start it along completely new lines .



quote:
Even though I am nearly deaf, I seem to be gifted with a kind of inner hearing which enables me to detect sounds and noises which the ordinary listener does not hear.




[Moved to General Skepticism - Dave W.]

BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard

3192 Posts

Posted - 03/08/2005 :  11:52:06   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send BigPapaSmurf a Private Message
Unfortunately Edison was not a scientist in a sense that his goal was to uphold the scientific principal while better understanding the universe. His methods in many ways are decidedly not scientific, this case being a prime example. He was a very intelligent businessman with many other very intelligent men in his employ.

He started with a premise (ghosts exist) instead of "Lets see what the data says" trying to prove the premise.

1) There are an infinite number of ways that everything will not work.
2) Clearly we know much more than one millionth of one percent of "anything", unless of course it is an infinite number you are refering too.
3) "He believes" based on...
4) Hes nearly deaf and hears what he is desperatly trying to hear while those who dont desperatly try to hear it cant seem to hear anything, how not strange.

He clearly states that it does not work but I sense that he and yourself cannot intrepret the words in any way but positive.

"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History

"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini
Edited by - BigPapaSmurf on 03/08/2005 11:53:06
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 03/08/2005 :  12:45:52   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
The old thread.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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