I don't know if this has been done before, but I thought I'd bring up an issue that is at the back of some people's minds: Psychics. And I'm talking about the non-phony psychics, the ones that have solved murder crimes and all that. Share your opinions/stories about psychics here. I'll just say that my mum went to a psychic, and was told that something would happen to her right leg. A few weeks later, she is hit by a car and breaks her right leg.
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Psychics
- Thread starter Krul
- Start date
I have a story,this happened in my own fammilly!My aunt went to a cardlayer when here daughter was pregnant.The cardlayer predicted death for the baby or the mother(he wasn't sure who would die),the baby was born dead...At the same time my father had a constant bad feeling about the whole thing.
Ran into an internet friend of mine at a video game con. I consciously imagined him not to look nerdy at all given his internet persona, but in reality he looked rather nerdy and much different from how I imagined him.
The weird part? About 2 days before this I had a strange dream in which I was in some kind of theater with a few friends and I ran into him. In this dream, he looked EXACTLY THE SAME he really looked like - yet because I had seen no photos of him until that point I was not to know this until I later met him. Ironically, when I woke up, I thought "Wow, he totally doesn't look like that."
... No, I don't usually have dreams like this. Shut up.
The weird part? About 2 days before this I had a strange dream in which I was in some kind of theater with a few friends and I ran into him. In this dream, he looked EXACTLY THE SAME he really looked like - yet because I had seen no photos of him until that point I was not to know this until I later met him. Ironically, when I woke up, I thought "Wow, he totally doesn't look like that."
... No, I don't usually have dreams like this. Shut up.
Haha this is funny, I was watching 'Psych' only a minute ago. Anyway, We don't really have psychics here but there are similar people who are more based off astrology. Thing is, sometimes they can be so accurate that you start questioning everything. The guy my mom goes to basically told me my whole life up till that point including what my habits are and everything. He even said a lot of stuff not many people knew, not even my parents.
Stuff like that makes you believe that it is actually a science. Over here we have 'kundlis' or basically a document which has all the details of your birth (no, not the birth certificate, this is not official stuff) but it has relevant information like what sunsign you were born under and basically after going through that they can tell you so much about your life its not funny.
There are also face and palm readers and some can be really accurate. For example, this face reader told a friend of mine about his family, their business and a ton of other stuff. I'm basically saying that there is some science or whatever to it and if the person is actually knowledgeable about it, they can tell you things to a very scary detail.
Stuff like that makes you believe that it is actually a science. Over here we have 'kundlis' or basically a document which has all the details of your birth (no, not the birth certificate, this is not official stuff) but it has relevant information like what sunsign you were born under and basically after going through that they can tell you so much about your life its not funny.
There are also face and palm readers and some can be really accurate. For example, this face reader told a friend of mine about his family, their business and a ton of other stuff. I'm basically saying that there is some science or whatever to it and if the person is actually knowledgeable about it, they can tell you things to a very scary detail.
I'm very skeptical about these sort of things, with my mum believing in them quite strongly, we often have quite conflicting views :x
I just don't understand how it is physically or scientifically possible to contact the dead/see into the future.
I just don't understand how it is physically or scientifically possible to contact the dead/see into the future.
Shiv, that's pretty interesting because if you look at it from another angle, maybe your society/culture behaves in such a way that it 'encourages' the things that were written on this document. For example, if a baby is supposed to be intelligent then the parents will pay more for better schooling and the kid will actually turn out more intelligent just because of that. Something to think about, anyway.
I've always held the firm belief that all all psychics are bogus; every single case about a psychic being "right" with a prediction falls under the category of the "Barnum Effect", or the idea that people want to be fooled.
Sure, a psychic said something would happen to her right leg, and she broke it... but many a number of things could've happened. She could have gotten a pimple on her leg, and the psychic would've technically been right. Now, if the psychic had said she would break her leg in a car crash on the date of _____, then my eyebrow would be raised a bit.
Also, if some psychics are real, why is it you never see the following on the front page of a newspaper:
"Psychic wins the lottery."
Sure, a psychic said something would happen to her right leg, and she broke it... but many a number of things could've happened. She could have gotten a pimple on her leg, and the psychic would've technically been right. Now, if the psychic had said she would break her leg in a car crash on the date of _____, then my eyebrow would be raised a bit.
Also, if some psychics are real, why is it you never see the following on the front page of a newspaper:
"Psychic wins the lottery."
Maya Fey is the only one that comes to mind.
I don't know that this is necessarily a good argument, as I don't think that's how it's actually supposed to work, theoretically. But in general I agree with your post, most of the time you can get away with giving someone a really "accurate" prediction by being just vague enough.
I've had lots of people tell me all about how scarily accurate psychics can be and that sort of stuff, but I have never actually been given any examples that really demonstrate it.
And stuff like this:
The thing is, when you're predicting stuff, you're going to get it right sometimes, and those are the cases where it stands out so everybody goes OMG THEY PREDICTED IT! But for every case like this I guarantee there are loads of cases where the prediction is flat out wrong and you simply never hear about it because it's not extraordinary.
Besides, if there were psychics, they'd be here at smogon winning tournaments left and right. "OMG, how'd you know I was going to make that switch?!" "I... predicted it!"
The only reason people continue to believe psychics is confirmation bias.
Renowned psychic Jeane Dixon predicted that world war three would start in 1958, cancer would be cured in 1967, and world peace would be achieved in the year 2000. Obviously, nobody mentions those, but are quick to show that she correctly "predicted" (i.e. guessed) that Kennedy would die in office (after having previously predicted that Nixon would win the 1960 election, not Kennedy). Basically, even the broken clock is right twice a day.
Renowned psychic Jeane Dixon predicted that world war three would start in 1958, cancer would be cured in 1967, and world peace would be achieved in the year 2000. Obviously, nobody mentions those, but are quick to show that she correctly "predicted" (i.e. guessed) that Kennedy would die in office (after having previously predicted that Nixon would win the 1960 election, not Kennedy). Basically, even the broken clock is right twice a day.
Quoted for truth. Psychics are hardly taken seriously and therefore whatever they say that ends up wrong tends to be shoven aside quickly by the psychics themselves (so it ends up with practically no attention to them at all). But when they do make an accurate prediction, they throw a hell of a party.
Well... I sometimes can kind of imagine what will happen in future, I can't control it anyway, and sometimes I ignore it. It happens pretty rarely, maybe once or twice a month, but it happens. Also, it isn't about things like "You will win the lottery", but rather a certain actions and simple things like for example playing football and scoring a goal (But i can see exactly how i will do it). Call me a liar or a weirdo, I don't care.
I believe in science and reality. If any strange things happen I just call them coincidences. Its not science if you can't repeat it.
I'm really skeptical when it comes to psychics/mediums/hand readers/etc., but both of my parents guarantee to me that there are such people. I don't see how it's physically possible to predict the future and that kind of shit, but I guess there are some things that can't be explained. I don't deny the possibility that such things might be possible.
I have one of those really close families, so you hear stories and things all the time. They've told me countless stories about hand readers, and other people making many correct predictions within my own family.
I plan to visit one of these soon, and see for my self what exactly goes on in there. Once I get my predictions, I'll keep pushing the person to see how descriptive they'll get and I'll make my own judgements on them.
I find this weird, but I too dream of certain things happening and they happen to me sometimes a few weeks or a few days later to every last detail. That's what makes me question all of this, and I'm not 100% sure I'm dreaming this. I could just be thinking I dreamt of these things when they actually happened in real life.
I don't know lol, this is a weird subject, but I really want to see one of these mediums, and make my own judgement.
I have one of those really close families, so you hear stories and things all the time. They've told me countless stories about hand readers, and other people making many correct predictions within my own family.
I plan to visit one of these soon, and see for my self what exactly goes on in there. Once I get my predictions, I'll keep pushing the person to see how descriptive they'll get and I'll make my own judgements on them.
I find this weird, but I too dream of certain things happening and they happen to me sometimes a few weeks or a few days later to every last detail. That's what makes me question all of this, and I'm not 100% sure I'm dreaming this. I could just be thinking I dreamt of these things when they actually happened in real life.
I don't know lol, this is a weird subject, but I really want to see one of these mediums, and make my own judgement.
okay let me make it more clear. for example, this guy predicted like 10-12 years back that I would be smart, would be having foreign travel from 2007-2011, would be doing something in computers, have a problem of being lazy at times and basically described everything to the minutest detail. I could tell you more and more but I think you get the idea. Its not only just basic shit but it goes pretty in-depth at times.
These aren't psychics, they're astrologers. There's a science using the planets which can basically tell you how your life is going to be, its not set in stone and there are variables but still, it can be pretty damn accurate.
So you see this psychic, and he says to you, "Your child will be arrested for possession of illegal substances" but you're like "You're crazy!" and forget about the whole thing. A few years later, your kid is arrested for that very reason, and you remember this event, and write a report to Psychics Weekly.
A psychic tells you that your wife's life will be cut tragically short. In two weeks she is diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer and has months to live. You tell your friends and family about this accurate prediction.
A psychic tells you that your status at your job is about to improve greatly. Next week, your boss calls you into his office and tells you that you're fired. You are amazed at the psychic's incorrect prediction and post about it online.
Wait a second, there's something wrong here... No one reports the hundreds of predictions that don't come true because a false prediction is a) not noteworthy and b) not memorable. It's like throwing darts and drawing bullseyes around where they hit; psychics are always right when they aren't wrong.
There's also what I call the "Nostradamus fallacy". If you never set a date, or even a range of dates on when something will happen, then, by sheer chance, something is bound to happen. This is especially true if you use vague language like
A psychic tells you that your wife's life will be cut tragically short. In two weeks she is diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer and has months to live. You tell your friends and family about this accurate prediction.
A psychic tells you that your status at your job is about to improve greatly. Next week, your boss calls you into his office and tells you that you're fired. You are amazed at the psychic's incorrect prediction and post about it online.
Wait a second, there's something wrong here... No one reports the hundreds of predictions that don't come true because a false prediction is a) not noteworthy and b) not memorable. It's like throwing darts and drawing bullseyes around where they hit; psychics are always right when they aren't wrong.
There's also what I call the "Nostradamus fallacy". If you never set a date, or even a range of dates on when something will happen, then, by sheer chance, something is bound to happen. This is especially true if you use vague language like
Say I'm a psychic and, for whatever reason, choose not to use obscure language. I say, "You will die of malaria." You can never prove me wrong, because to do so requires that you are alive, so I can just said, "Oh, give it time... give it time..." If you die of something else, you won't be around to say anything on the contrary, and no one else will care about what some random person said to you when it turns out they were wrong. I say, "You'll break your leg", and, once again, until you die, there's still a chance that you will, in fact, break your leg. When you die, you can't prove me wrong because you're dead.
Couldn't have put it better myself. Nostradamus is so frequently hailed as a great psychic and etc. because he rarely (if ever) attached dates to his premonitions; people can take an event that vaguely resembles something he wrote about and say, "Well, he was right". When you don't put dates (either absolute or relative) with your predictions, you are preventing yourself from being provably wrong. This is, in my opinion, the trick to precognition.
This isn't in any way unusual, and it's a sign that your subconscious is recognizing patterns before they fully emerge.
I predict that there will be war in the middle east.
Mediums as in those people who "contact the dead"?
You should watch one of the James Randi YouTube videos on such matters. :/
"Contact the dead" is a very generalized and vague term, but yes, that's who I'm referring to. People like the citizens of Lilydale, NY.