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The reason I don't believe in psychics

Miss Chicken

Miss Chicken

Little three legged cat with attitude
Admiral
The ones that predict the future at least.

How many of them predicted that there would be a nationwide search across Canada for two camels and a tiger?

How many of them predicted that Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley would marry?

How many Australian psychics predicted the Newcastle Earthquake which was the only Australian earthquake to claim lives (13 dead)?

How many Australian psychics predicted how Australia's first Winter Olympic gold medal would be won (four of the five finalists falling allowing Steve Bradbury who, up to then, was easily coming last to win?

I think the answers to all these questions is NONE. It seems the more bizarre an event is the less likely it is to be predicted by a psychic, when if such powers existed you would think such things would be more likely to be predicted.

Can anyone give me some more examples of unlikely events that occurred to add to my list.
 
Well, as the old joke goes, when was the last time you saw a headline that read 'psychic wins lottery'?

This might not be what you are after, but you should take a look at this. It's from Cracked, so probably not a good idea to go surfing that site whilst at work.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18553_5-cheap-magic-tricks-behind-every-psychic.html

A look at the predictions section of a wikipedia entry for alleged psychic Sylvia Browne is also illuminating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne#Predictions
 
There's a psychic's storefront not far from my house with a sign in the front window saying that they have gone out of business. You'd think they would have seen that coming! :lol:
 
The Badger said:
Well, as the old joke goes, when was the last time you saw a headline that read 'psychic wins lottery'?

This might not be what you are after, but you should take a look at this. It's from Cracked, so probably not a good idea to go surfing that site whilst at work.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18553_5-cheap-magic-tricks-behind-every-psychic.html

A look at the predictions section of a wikipedia entry for alleged psychic Sylvia Browne is also illuminating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne#Predictions
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links.

I was interested to see that

Browne appeared on CNN's Larry King Live eight days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, but did not predict the event.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne#cite_note-CNN09032001-36
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne#cite_note-CNN09032001-36

but

After the fact she claimed she had disturbing dreams involving a lot of fire in the week preceding the attack.
Click to expand...

I wonder if any psychic does claim to have predicted the 9/11 attack and if they do what wording did they use in the prediction.

To my list I am going to add the massacre of the Nepalese Royal Family though that might not have been that big a story in the USA.
 
I am psychic but I can't predict the future. I have always believed that having prior knowledge of an event changes the flow of things enough that the event will most likely never happen. I will see flashes of things coming up presently but it is always something that is about to happen. For example, I know I will run into someone at a restaurant about an hour before I get to the restaurant. And from time to time I will know when the phone is about to ring and who is on the other end. I get other things also but anything above that is beyond anyone's abilities, or at least in my experience it is.

For the most part I can sense other people's thoughts and emotions. I can also detect ghosts and communicate with spirits. You want to talk to your dead granny who might be lingering around in the kitchen... than I am your guy. I can "cleanse" places of those kinds of things. I also know if someone is sick or is lacking things in their diet. I have this weird "Dr. Dolittle" thing with animals too. I don't talk to them but I can "understand" them.

Of course people think I am bat shit crazy when I talk about this. Most don't believe me. Well they don't until I pick up their car keys and start telling them things about themselves that I couldn't possibly know. It completely wigs folks out. I love doing that. :rommie: I also don't like being referring to as a psychic. I prefer "empathically aware". I am closer to Deanna Troi than gypsy fortune teller.

And one more thing... the famous psychic author Sylvia Browne is a fake. Don't believe a word that woman says about anything. She is about as psychic as my car.
 
For the most part I can sense other people's thoughts and emotions. I can also detect ghosts and communicate with spirits. You want to talk to your dead granny who might be lingering around in the kitchen... than I am your guy. I can "cleanse" places of those kinds of things. I also know if someone is sick or is lacking things in their diet. I have this weird "Dr. Dolittle" thing with animals too. I don't talk to them but I can "understand" them.
Click to expand...

As far as this ability is concerned I am more likely to believe that you are just very good at reading people's body language and assessing situations and behaviour.
 
^My co-worker's granddaughter consistently tells them what family members are doing at a given time. When contacted by phone they almost always corroborate what the little girl (she's seven years old) has said. It's a little odd but her parents are getting used to it.

I do believe precognition does exist but I suspect you could confirm it doesn't work anything like tv says it does . . .
 
AstroSmurf said:
I am psychic but I can't predict the future. I have always believed that having prior knowledge of an event changes the flow of things enough that the event will most likely never happen. I will see flashes of things coming up presently but it is always something that is about to happen. For example, I know I will run into someone at a restaurant about an hour before I get to the restaurant. And from time to time I will know when the phone is about to ring and who is on the other end. I get other things also but anything above that is beyond anyone's abilities, or at least in my experience it is.

For the most part I can sense other people's thoughts and emotions. I can also detect ghosts and communicate with spirits. You want to talk to your dead granny who might be lingering around in the kitchen... than I am your guy. I can "cleanse" places of those kinds of things. I also know if someone is sick or is lacking things in their diet. I have this weird "Dr. Dolittle" thing with animals too. I don't talk to them but I can "understand" them.

Of course people think I am bat shit crazy when I talk about this. Most don't believe me. Well they don't until I pick up their car keys and start telling them things about themselves that I couldn't possibly know. It completely wigs folks out. I love doing that. :rommie: I also don't like being referring to as a psychic. I prefer "empathically aware". I am closer to Deanna Troi than gypsy fortune teller.
Click to expand...

I find that fascinating. I think powers of perception are highly underrated, and have no doubt that you have experienced these things.

And one more thing... the famous psychic author Sylvia Browne is a fake. Don't believe a word that woman says about anything. She is about as psychic as my car.
Click to expand...

I don't know. My car has been known to warn me about running out of gas, and it has happened every. single. time. I don't know about you, but that's a pretty good track record.
 
Way back in the day, I saw a comedian on tv, he had the joke that one day, he was walkin' down the street, and his cellphone went off. The caller yelled, "Duck, fool!"

Saved the comedian from a drive by or something, and the punchline was, "He's my psychic friend network!" or something...
 
Miss Chicken said:
The Badger said:
Well, as the old joke goes, when was the last time you saw a headline that read 'psychic wins lottery'?

This might not be what you are after, but you should take a look at this. It's from Cracked, so probably not a good idea to go surfing that site whilst at work.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18553_5-cheap-magic-tricks-behind-every-psychic.html

A look at the predictions section of a wikipedia entry for alleged psychic Sylvia Browne is also illuminating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne#Predictions
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links.

I was interested to see that

Browne appeared on CNN's Larry King Live eight days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, but did not predict the event.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne#cite_note-CNN09032001-36
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne#cite_note-CNN09032001-36

but

After the fact she claimed she had disturbing dreams involving a lot of fire in the week preceding the attack.
Click to expand...

I wonder if any psychic does claim to have predicted the 9/11 attack and if they do what wording did they use in the prediction.

To my list I am going to add the massacre of the Nepalese Royal Family though that might not have been that big a story in the USA.
Click to expand...

9/11 and other such events are absolute proof that there aren't psychics. Sure, they claim to see something, after the fact. But none did before and if they insist that they did, throw them in jail for the rest of their life. Because if true, they knew people were going to die and did nothing.
 
I used to read a lot of books by Tuesday Lobsang Rampa.

He said that you can't use the occult powers for personal gain, for money. Don't go to a fortune teller or person who can contact the other side, who charges.

The act of exchanging currency negates the power.

I don't know for sure. I haven't accessed the Akashic record or the other side, but didn't Edgar Cayce predict a lot? Didn't a woman predict that there would be a blue eyed president, in 1960? Didn't Nostradamus predict a 'Hister'?

I don't know. Maybe just clever guesses. Maybe Gene Roddenberry was a good guesser. I tend towards pure buddhism, at the moment.

The CIA has used remote sensors, and they're quite hard-headed!
 
Cheapjack said:
I used to read a lot of books by Tuesday Lobsang Rampa.

He said that you can't use the occult powers for personal gain, for money. Don't go to a fortune teller or person who can contact the other side, who charges.

The act of exchanging currency negates the power.

I don't know for sure. I haven't accessed the Akashic record or the other side, but didn't Edgar Cayce predict a lot? Didn't a woman predict that there would be a blue eyed president, in 1960? Didn't Nostradamus predict a 'Hister'?

I don't know. Maybe just clever guesses. Maybe Gene Roddenberry was a good guesser. I tend towards pure buddhism, at the moment.

The CIA has used remote sensors, and they're quite hard-headed!
Click to expand...

Cayce predicted that Atlantis would rise in the 1960s and there would be a pole shift in 1998. Last time I checked, that didn't happen.

Also "Hister" did not refer to a person, it was a geographical region near the Danube.
 
Rampa wrote about the occult, he didn't predict anything.

Some of cayces predictions came true, as did jean hills, when she predicted a blue eyed president.

And Nostradamus drew a picture of a WW2 pilot, a half man half pig.

Maybe they're just guesses. Maybe GR was a white witch?!

And the CIA have used remote sensing.
 
Hmm, well, my thoughts on this...Why do people always seem to assume that these things work on demand, or consistantly? I think it's a given that they don't work like that. Saying "why didn't they predict this specific event?" seems a bit pointless to me. These things happen when they happen. And seeing as we're talking about mind, who knows how minds work? Who knows why sometimes they work in certain ways and sometimes they work in others? And if it's a sensory thing, it's like saying "why didn't you see that bird over there?" Well, because I wasn't facing that way and I wasn't looking. Just because there's an interesting bird doesn't mean my senses are pre-programmed to locate it and zoom in. If people are expecting psychic abilities to be an on-demand future prediction service (as in sci-fi or as some of the quacks and frauds like to claim), then I have no doubt they'll be disappointed. But occasional flashes of future knowledge, or certainty of some event or general state of things, or a seemingly neaningless little detail- sure, it happens quite a bit. I can't explain it with any certainty- though I have my ideas- but it happens.

Relating to these phenomena as though they're consistant or measurable in a standard, controlled manner is, I think, an error. Which is in part why so many people who haven't experienced them are skeptical; because as a society we're trained to relate to phenomena using quantifiable, consistant scientific methodology. Most of the time, that's a good thing. But maybe not everything we need to relate to matches our methodologies. And it doesn't strike me as wise to deny people's experiences and insist certain phenomena don't exist simply because they don't match our expectations or ideologies.
 
The thing about people who do believe is that they only remember the few hits, but not a single one of the misses.

I'm not saying there is no psychic abilities, but we certainly haven't seen any real proof of it yet.
 
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