Bill Nye Explains Why He Doesn’t Believe in Ghosts and the Afterlife

[rug]

August 27, 2016
by Hemant Mehta

Bill Nye, in a video for Big Think, answers the age-old question about whether ghosts and the afterlife exist.

The answer is no, obviously — there’s no evidence for either one — but it’s interesting to hear how he gently explains his answer to the mother and son who asked the question.

It looks like to me this life is all you get. This is it. There’s nothing afterwards. So what you’ve got to do is live this life as best you can. That’s the way to go.
And if it does turn out there’s an afterlife and we all turn young again and can play rugby or whatever it is we want to do, so much the better. But I see no evidence for it.
And for your son, there are no ghosts. Sorry. And your friends who believe in ghosts, you can outwit them. You’ll be ahead of them because you will not waste energy running around looking for ghosts. Instead you’ll close the window to keep the candle from blowing over or whatever made your friend believe in a ghost.

No mockery. No cruelly popping the hopeful bubble of people who really want to believe. Nye just tells them he’s searched for the same things and the evidence leads him in the other direction.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/08/27/bill-nye-explains-why-he-doesnt-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-afterlife/

[safeinOhio]

1. The afterlife is the same as

the beforelife.

[PJMcK]

2. Excellent!

That is one of the best thoughts I've ever heard on this subject, safeinOhio! I intend to use it.

Enjoy your weekend with pride! (wink)

[cpwm17]

3. And what did the before-life lead to?

Last edited Sat Aug 27, 2016, 10:18 AM - Edit history (1)

[safeinOhio]

4. Your Hard Drive

wiped clean.

[cpwm17]

5. Next time I'll get a Mac.

[rug]

10. Next time I hope someone asks him to explain those brackets.

[goldent]

6. I once read on DU that belief in ghosts

was similar in Atheists as to the general population (in term of the percent of people who believe in ghosts). That seemed very odd and hard to believe to me, but it was defended (I believe) that Atheists are the same as anyone else, except in matters of belief in God.

[cpwm17]

7. I did hear Bill Maher support the possibility of ghosts.

He may be an agnostic though, and he has a history of supporting woo.

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

8. How is "belief" being determined?

I'm an atheist whose views are really quite close to Bill Nye's quoted statement. I actually tried to explain my views to a relative recently, and used much the same language. I do not believe ghosts exist. But... I am scared of the ghosts. Oh, man. Ghost stories spook me out like crazy.

A different relative tried to convince me that my irrational fear reveals that I actually do believe in ghosts, and therefore an afterlife and all the essentials of spirituality or religion. I disagreed, arguing that "belief" is not visceral, but intentional. We can choose and shape our beliefs, although we may not be able to change (easily or, in some cases, at all) our reflexive, irrational responses. In that relative's religion, one can be damned for all eternity for failure to believe the right things, so surely belief is a decision rather than a reflex. The relative was not convinced. Ah, well.

I'm also scared as heck of Slender Man. So, umm.

[goldent]

9. I imagine belief was determined by what people said in a poll

and so it was up to the individual. I googled around a little bit but couldn't find this article, and I'm not sure how well I remember it.

But it made me think at the time that atheists who believe in the existence of ghosts clearly don't have a problem with the supernatural, so what is different about religion? Well, religion is a more well-defined type of supernatural than plain old ghosts (which is much more vague as far as I know), so they could believe in one type and not the other.

But also, I wondered whether with some atheists, it wasn't a matter of belief in the supernatural, it was just that they disliked or were uncomfortable with other aspects of religion. And that puts them in the atheist bucket, whether or not that is the best word to describe their position.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. I think there's genetic aspects to it.

I'm similar to Bill Nye, but I started very early.

My older brothers couldn't scare me with stories about monsters under my bed or in my closet.

I also wasn't fooled by stories about Santa Claus. I have a sister who is 21 years older than me, and she had a daughter just months younger than me. I spent the night at their house when I was about 5 years old and discovered that my niece believed in Santa Claus. That irked me for whatever reason. My niece ended up locking herself in their bathroom as I yelled that Santa Claus wasn't real. My sister, who looked like she was ready to kill us over the noise, asked what was happening. My niece screamed that I said Santa Claus wasn't real. Sister looked fed up and yelled back, "Santa Claus isn't real! We've been lying to you the entire time, and we're the ones putting all of those gifts under the tree! Okay?!" My niece WAILED. My sister bent over and yelled at me, "Are you happy now?!" before she stomped off. I went into their basement and lamented that I kept pushing the issue on my niece and making her cry so much. Years later, I also wondered what the heck was stuck up my sister's butt that day.

My niece is deeply religious today and I'm not. That's just one example, but there's been similar patterns among other family members. If they were prone to believing in things they couldn't see or which didn't make much sense in the grand scheme of things when they were young, they retained vestiges of supernatural beliefs when they were older too.