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Fortean Internet

GNC

King-Sized Canary
Joined
Aug 25, 2001
Messages
33,634
How seriously do you think fortean cases on the internet are taken? Are there any cases that have arisen on the internet (apart from urban legends, maybe) that investigators would take as seriously as they would in a well-researched book?

Just wondering, because sometimes "I read it on the internet" can be interpreted as "It's all made up"!
 
Re: Forteana and the Internet

GNC said:
...sometimes "I read it on the internet" can be interpreted as "It's all made up"!
Let's face it: about 90% of the time that would seem to be about right.
 
Yeah, I suppose there's that joke about "I read it on the internet, so it must be true."
 
Actually, you should discard 100% of what you read on the internet as lies and nonsense. Including this statement.
 
Well, there are scientific papers published on the Internet now, for researchers to do peer-review stuff. Not really Fortean, but just as a contrast to some of the more far-out websites that are more for people to spout personal philosophies or upload anecdotes of how they saw a ghost or were abducted by aliens, etc.
 
Internet devils smite virtual church

Internet devils smite virtual church
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent






THE world’s first cyber pulpit has been shut down after a large number of online worshippers logged in as Satan and shouted expletives.
The internet Church of Fools, opened last week at churchoffools.com, is sponsored by the Methodist Church, which takes a strong line against profanity. It allowed online visitors to kneel to pray, cross themselves and perform an arm-raising “hallelujah!”.

Church wardens are on duty with “smite buttons” to consign blasphemers to virtual hell. But some of the worst offenders are from the US and Australia and visit in the middle of the night, when the wardens are asleep. Hackers have broken in disguised as wardens, sworn at the congregation or greeted newcomers by saying “Satan loves you”.

The organisers have now closed the pulpit and apse to visitors. They have also removed the “shout” button so that worshippers can whisper to those closest to them without the whole church hearing. The number of wardens is also to be increased.



Virtual parishioners reacted defiantly. One message on the site’s internet chat room yesterday said: “It’s just a load of sad individuals playing ‘wind up the Christians’.”

Since it was announced at the Christian Resources Exhibition last week, the site has attracted 20,000 visits a day. Stephen Goddard, a spokesman for the cyber chapel, said: “We obviously use the ‘smite’ button where we can. But we have very few resources to police it 24 hours a day.”

He drew an analogy with John Wesley, the 18th-century founder of Methodism: “When Wesley went out in the early days, people swore at him, made braying noises like a donkey and spat on him. At least we know we are not preaching to the converted.”


link
 
I know it shouldn't make me laugh but... <G> what did they expect????
 
:laughing:

:rofl:

Stop it, stop it!
 
Gosh this is my church on the internet! VR religion! Who said we couldn't keep up with the times!
 
http://affirmingcatholicism.org.uk/home.asp

has more on virtual parishes... and, declaring an interest, this sect within the episcopalian church is what I am! :D

I guess I just don't find trolling funny regardless of who it's aimed at. One of the good things about this site is the the mods and the mods' systems keep the PsITA away. But it's rare!

Don't know if the churchoffools expected it or not - but should other communities /not/ explore the possibilties of the net because they don't have the resources or know-how to have our safeguards?

and even if they did expect it then I suppose they could actually be trying to live up to the principles of looking for the best in people LOLOLLLL :rofl:

Kath
 
I tried to get into the Church Of Fools site but it took so long to load.

Serves them right for making something that takes so long to load...
 
Bunny(pro web builder) got sent the link back when it first started, and he reckons that what they haven't mentioned is that their bandwidth was probably getting rinsed as well, due to the numbers logging on after it was publicised. Not quite so exciting or newsworthy that, is it?
;)
 
StellaBoulton said:
Bunny(pro web builder) got sent the link back when it first started, and he reckons that what they haven't mentioned is that their bandwidth was probably getting rinsed as well, due to the numbers logging on after it was publicised. Not quite so exciting or newsworthy that, is it?
;)

that would explain why I couldn't get anywhere near it when I tried...
 
The Virgin Queen said:
that would explain why I couldn't get anywhere near it when I tried...

It's a bloody miracle! :blah: Proof the He does work in mysterious ways!!
 
Philo T said:
It's a bloody miracle! :blah: Proof the He does work in mysterious ways!!

The server looked into my soul and said 'Bloody hell she's an agnostic!'
 
Multi-dimensional space & the Net

A thought struck me today whilst driving to work:

We live in a largely 4 dimensional world which, according to a growing number of scientific theories may have a number of additional dimensions attached.

The number of additional dimensions varies with theory and I was wondering whether the Internet or 'Cyberspace' (being the archaic name for the hypothetical 'space' where all on line interactions occur) could be classed as one of these additional dimensions.

Going one step further, could the Net be the materialisation of Carl Yung's Collective Unconscious?
We can, at the touch of a button 'tap into' this 'space' and gain knowledge, wisdom & experience from our contemporaries and those who have gone before.

Though not spiritual in nature, could we be fashioning a fast-track way for humans to gain enlightenment through communication of knowledge?
 
considering that gatesys concept came to him while he was off his chops on LSD...anything is possible.
 
Re: Multi-dimensional space & the Net

Mr_Eamcat2 said:
The number of additional dimensions varies with theory and I was wondering whether the Internet or 'Cyberspace' (being the archaic name for the hypothetical 'space' where all on line interactions occur) could be classed as one of these additional dimensions.

No. Those higher dimensions are more in the field theoretical physics and don't really apply to the Internet:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20336

Mr_Eamcat2 said:
Going one step further, could the Net be the materialisation of Carl Yung's Collective Unconscious?
We can, at the touch of a button 'tap into' this 'space' and gain knowledge, wisdom & experience from our contemporaries and those who have gone before.

Its an interesting one - it is certainly full of just about anything that has dropped out of people's heads. It reall is an insight into people's thoughts and dieas and dreams that they probably wouldn't tell their family and friends ;)

Mr_Eamcat2 said:
Though not spiritual in nature, could we be fashioning a fast-track way for humans to gain enlightenment through communication of knowledge?

It'd be a tricky one because, as it is full of anything that fell out of people's heads, you'd need some way to filter it. Its a bit like aliens decided to get all the information on mankind by scooping up the Library at Alexandria but not haivng a way to tell the difference between the great works and anything else they grabbed including graffiti on the toilet walls, tabloid newspapers and half-written love letters as well as a whole rnage of jottings, doodles and scribbles that might have also been lying around.

Information is power and by giving it away, largely for free, it is certainly a massive boost to the human race - the main problem is being able to trust your sources.
 
Yes there is that.

Certainly my life has been changed for the positive by the Net.

I dont know about you
 
Re: Multi-dimensional space & the Net

Mr_Eamcat2 said:
Going one step further, could the Net be the materialisation of Carl Yung's Collective Unconscious?

Even weirder!
Could it be that we're collectively building a superhuman entity - call it Uebermensch or Leviathan or The 666-Beast - that will one day gain real intelligence and self-knowledge and then take over the world?
Isn't the Internet compareable to a huge nervous system already? :shock:
 
emps

you put that so nicely...im more of a go for the jugular myself...

the internet may be freedom of infomation,but its also freedom of bullshit..you just have to sort out the shit from the strawberry jam..
:lol:
 
wombat103 said:
emps

you put that so nicely...im more of a go for the jugular myself...

the internet may be freedom of infomation,but its also freedom of bullshit..you just have to sort out the shit from the strawberry jam..
:lol:

Indeed - which is why in some ways it may in fact reflact our interests and desires far better than any survey - although that in itself may be slightly depressing.

It is just another layer of communication that we have been putting in place since we first started slapping pigment on cave walls - in some ways its closest to the self-publishing deals/scams but with the barriers dropped to the level that a chimp could put up a web page (and some of the examples I've seen suggest they've been doing so).

The good thing is that it positively encourages critical thinking as there is so much obious BS when other mediums are more insidiuous. Nowadays you can't believe everythin you read or your brians would melt. However, it also means that there is so much information out there you can probably join the dots to prove any wild idea you have.

I do think the pluses outweigh the minuses by a long chalk though.
 
This thread makes me think of The Number of the Beast by Robert Heinlein which, as any fule kno, suggest that there are six basic dimensions of space/time, and that they are wholly interchangeable.
This allowed for a huge number of parallel universes, since you could take any three of the six as your space coordinates, and any one of the others as your time axis. Clearly, Heinlein was a better writer than me, and a better scientist too, for that matter, so he wove the above into a far more coherent narrative than I have managed.
This was the very epitome of entertaining SF, as it made the story thought-provoking as well as fun. If I remember, his hypothesis was that the Number of the title was not six hundred and sixty six, but six to the power of six to the power of six, and that this was the number of possible versions of reality.
Makes the Matrix look a bit modest!
 
Peripart said:
... but six to the power of six to the power of six, and that this was the number of possible versions of reality.
Makes the Matrix look a bit modest!

Sounds like a very interesting book. I should read up on the SF classics.

IIRC if you can choose 4 out of 6 available dimensions, then the number of different universes is 6*5*4*3/1*2*3*4 = 15

AFAIK the fearsome number 666 is a piece of Jewish humor that's generally misinterpreted. The author of the Apocalypse put that number on the forehead (?) of the beast to say: "It may be a fearsome beast, but he is terribly imperfect and will never become really powerful." In the Jewish tradition the number 777 would be a very perfect, powerful number, but the beast gets only to 666.

(This was told to me by a very capable theologian who can read both greek and hebrew.)
 
Re: Multi-dimensional space & the Net

Mighty_Emperor said:
Mr_Eamcat2 said:
Going one step further, could the Net be the materialisation of Carl Yung's Collective Unconscious?
We can, at the touch of a button 'tap into' this 'space' and gain knowledge, wisdom & experience from our contemporaries and those who have gone before.

Its an interesting one - it is certainly full of just about anything that has dropped out of people's heads.

Are you sure you're not thinking of the simian typing pool that is wikipedia, Emps..? ;)
 
Re: Multi-dimensional space & the Net

WhistlingJack said:
Mighty_Emperor said:
Mr_Eamcat2 said:
Going one step further, could the Net be the materialisation of Carl Yung's Collective Unconscious?
We can, at the touch of a button 'tap into' this 'space' and gain knowledge, wisdom & experience from our contemporaries and those who have gone before.

Its an interesting one - it is certainly full of just about anything that has dropped out of people's heads.

Are you sure you're not thinking of the simian typing pool that is wikipedia, Emps..? ;)

Hmmmmm as I have started and editted numerous entries over there (including Dr. David Sutton's -I'm still miffed about the Henry Root one and not so proud of the tentacle rape one but its all important contributions) I wish to defend my monkey typing skills ;)

That said Wikipedia is interesting in that it is largely a self-correcting system. Once it reaches a critical mass problems are spotted and dealt with. It does mean the informaiton is almost guanranteed to be slightly flawed (as it can only ever be iterations towards the actuality - whatever that is but we'll avoid debating the nature of Truth). However, it still needs intervention from editors to shut entries down -like the GW Bush one during the US elections.

The Net is less controlled and so can't be quite so useful but it does provide interesting windows into what we are into as a species (largely screwing anything we can get our hands on).
 
Its a good idea.

Philosophy is a good thing too but imagine how bad things would be if `everyone` did it?
 
Re: Multi-dimensional space & the Net

uair01 said:
Could it be that we're collectively building a superhuman entity - call it Uebermensch or Leviathan or The 666-Beast - that will one day gain real intelligence and self-knowledge and then take over the world?
Isn't the Internet compareable to a huge nervous system already? :shock:


In which case all you'd have to do is pull the plug out :roll:
 
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