what if humans in the outside world started believing in youkai and magic again

[darkhero]

I already said it once in this thread, I'll say again: Shadowrun

that commit was directed at that user I am well aware of your openion

[Starxsword]

Besides, most of them technically don't exist at all. If they tried to prove they did, they'd disappear in a puff of logic. Which is why they're in gensokyo in the first place.

That is only true for some of them. For example, this is true for the Ibis or whatever they are called.
An example, in which this is untrue is Mamizou, Remilia, and others that came from the outside world.
This belief sample includes objects as well, like Gameboys and Communication Towers, which appear in Gensokyo because people forgot about them.

Now, as for the Hakurei Barrier, I don't don't how belief or the lack their of affects the barrier at all. What it does is just a barrier between Gensokyo and the Outside world. The space inside the barrier is completely different from the space outside the barrier. You may as well think that it is in a separate dimension.

[Cosmosis]

First, I have to assume youkai are born from human fears. With your question, I think you are trying to induce someone into saying "youkai would be born in the outside world" which I do believe would happen. However, as I believe the outside world is dominated by a belief in science, people are far less probable to fear any unknowns, and more likely to want to find the answers to them. Since everything can be explained through equations and logic, there would be no reason to fear anything. Thus, no new youkai would ever be created.

The interesting part raised by everyone else is when you mix a logical society with part of an illogical one, or Gensokyo with the outside world. Say Yukari goes into the outside world and starts killing a lot of people. There would be no logical explanation for why and how Yukari can tear boundaries apart like paper. As she is powerful enough to overwhelm the most advanced war technology humans have (nuclear bombs), everyone would live in fear of Yukari. Then, in the blink of an eye, she leaves the outside world and goes back to Gensokyo, never to be seen again. People in the outside world still fear her... but their fears may become corrupted over time to create new youkai, which can then terrorize the outside world. Imagine a normal game of Telephone - by the end of the sequence, the original message gets distorted and has little resemblance to the original. Again, people will retaliate with nuclear bombs. If the bombs do the job, people believe in science. If the youkai are stronger than these bombs, people fear youkai.

The war between fiction and science can only be won by one side. Even in the real world, you can see the decreasing effect of religion (yes, I believe religion is fake) as people begin to believe in scientific theories. I believe ZUN is trying to mix the two worlds together, although he seems to be siding with fiction a lot more than science. The only thing I know about the Seihou project is the main character is a robot, so maybe the balance is inverted in those games.

[Irate Researchers]

The war between fiction and science can only be won by one side. Even in the real world, you can see the decreasing effect of religion (yes, I believe religion is fake) as people begin to believe in scientific theories. I believe ZUN is trying to mix the two worlds together, although he seems to be siding with fiction a lot more than science. The only thing I know about the Seihou project is the main character is a robot, so maybe the balance is inverted in those games.

Not only that, the robot in question defeated Marisa and Reimu.  And that was the obsolete version.

Personally, I hope the Seihou series becomes active again.  More so if it interacts with the main series in more obvious ways...

[darkhero]

First, I have to assume youkai are born from human fears. With your question, I think you are trying to induce someone into saying "youkai would be born in the outside world" which I do believe would happen. However, as I believe the outside world is dominated by a belief in science, people are far less probable to fear any unknowns, and more likely to want to find the answers to them. Since everything can be explained through equations and logic, there would be no reason to fear anything. Thus, no new youkai would ever be created.

I think your view of humans is a little off, humans aren't perfectly logical creatures, and I'm actually trying to get some ideals for a story I'm working on and it's also a great opportunity to debate. I already know how I'm gonna get humans in the story to believe in youkai again without bringing about the ideal of them all being little more than aggressive monsters. i just want to know what kind of effects would such an event have on the world. The effects it would have on the world governments, on the world economy, would there be wars between the countries as a resalt, etc etc etc.

to get humans to believe in youkais as they are, there simply must be a battle between two youkais in a town or city that has a news station. one youkai trying to distroy the town and the other trying to protect it. Than one of the youkai must die and have it's body left behind for the humans to study. once the humans are unable to logically explain the creature's specially abilities even after multiple autopsies they'll begin to turn to the illogical.

it's kind of like what happened in world war 2, when the soldiers couldn't explain why their planes broke down they blammed in on a creature they created called a grimlin that likes to brake machines

too top it all off there are certain things science has never been able to explain such as the fallowing

http://www.cracked.com/article_19442_8-simple-questions-you-wont-believe-science-cant-answer.html
http://www.cracked.com/article/161_6-things-your-body-does-every-day-that-science-cant-explain/
http://powertochange.com/discover/life/five-things-science-explain/

[Nekomata-chan]

I still believe in magic and Youkai

Humankind often finds itself needing proof/evidence/further information in order to fully understand or begin to believe things. Therefore when science struggled to find a decent explanation for magic and/or Youkai, it instigated a small chain which almost totally annihilated the belief.
Of course there are a select few that still have that belief, but it is no longer a part of mainstream society to burn a witch because of her "magical plans".

Besides, that would be a very interesting Touhou game. Dodging nukes and actual metal bullets, not to mention cars.

[Irate Researchers]

Besides, that would be a very interesting Touhou game. Dodging nukes and actual metal bullets, not to mention cars.

Seihou.

Anyhow, hasn't a youkai already proven her existence outside?   I am, of course speaking of yuuka.

[Starxsword]

The war between fiction and science can only be won by one side. Even in the real world, you can see the decreasing effect of religion (yes, I believe religion is fake) as people begin to believe in scientific theories.

I hope you are not seriously saying this? In the real world, many people are dying because of religion. These are real people who truly believe their religion is fact. This case is true everywhere. If you live in the US and think religion has little effect, then I am really confused.

First, I have to assume youkai are born from human fears. With your question, I think you are trying to induce someone into saying "youkai would be born in the outside world" which I do believe would happen. However, as I believe the outside world is dominated by a belief in science, people are far less probable to fear any unknowns, and more likely to want to find the answers to them. Since everything can be explained through equations and logic, there would be no reason to fear anything. Thus, no new youkai would ever be created.

That said, if we are talking about Touhou, then you assumption is only partially true.
First, just because something is created by a effect, let's say your example of fear, the opposite is not necessarily true. What I mean is removing fear does not necessarily remove what fear created.
Let's use a very concrete example, a mother gives birth to a child. If you remove the mother from existence, it does not mean the child is also removed.

Now second, we know for a fact that some youkai do not disappear after being forgotten. This is the theme of Immaterial and Missing Power. No one remembers who Oni are, which is why Suika was up there causing a ruckus to get the oni to come up from the underground.

[Tengukami]

I hope you are not seriously saying this? In the real world, many people are dying because of religion. These are real people who truly believe their religion is fact. This case is true everywhere. If you live in the US and think religion has little effect, then I am really confused.

You're confused alright - he said it's having a decreasing effect. Which is also up for debate, but still not at all the same as saying it has little effect.

[Ibaraki Ibuki]

Assuming that everyone in the outside world started believing in youkai and magic again, I would say the Hakurei Barrier would simply disappear and youkai would start wandering in the outside world once again.
On that note, I believe most of the resistance would come from not the scientists who can't prove that magic exists but rather from fanatical atheists who refuse to acknowledge it even exists.