Psychic Abilities

[Speedlimits]

Have scientists ever scrutinizied the concept of psychic powers? I know for myself I have had some occurences that led me to know the future before it actually happened, is there a scientific explanation for this or is it still a mystery?

One explanation I can think of is alternate dimensions but I am calling on any scientific minded folks to chime in.

[Magic_Man]

The James Randi Educational Foundation (http://www.randi.org) does just this. They have a million dollar prize for anyone who can prove under scientific analysis that they have some sort of superhuman powers. They have never had to award the prize to anyone.

[ QUOTE ]
I know for myself I have had some occurences that led me to know the future before it actually happened, is there a scientific explanation for this or is it still a mystery?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not a mystery at all. The scientific explanation is that you were almost certainly fooling yourself. Perhaps you employed selective memory, ignoring those cases when you were wrong, or perhaps you placed far too much significance in some random coincidence. I'm sure that if you go back and look critically at these events where you "knew the future before it actually happened," you will find that you got lucky or misinterpreted the facts.

~MagicMan

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
The James Randi Educational Foundation (http://www.randi.org) does just this. They have a million dollar prize for anyone who can prove under scientific analysis that they have some sort of superhuman powers. They have never had to award the prize to anyone.

[ QUOTE ]
I know for myself I have had some occurences that led me to know the future before it actually happened, is there a scientific explanation for this or is it still a mystery?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not a mystery at all. The scientific explanation is that you were almost certainly fooling yourself. Perhaps you employed selective memory, ignoring those cases when you were wrong, or perhaps you placed far too much significance in some random coincidence. I'm sure that if you go back and look critically at these events where you "knew the future before it actually happened," you will find that you got lucky or misinterpreted the facts.

~MagicMan

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I am sure the majority of people that claim to have psychic abilities did in fact misinterpret the data at hand, but I am not one of those people. I am a very critical thinker and I am familiar in the psychological phenomenon of "counting the hits but ignoring the misses."

I can give examples etc. but I do not know if that would prove anything. I could never "predict" the future on command it is just an occurence that happens every few months and it has been happening to me since high school.

[CityFan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The James Randi Educational Foundation (http://www.randi.org) does just this. They have a million dollar prize for anyone who can prove under scientific analysis that they have some sort of superhuman powers. They have never had to award the prize to anyone.

[ QUOTE ]
I know for myself I have had some occurences that led me to know the future before it actually happened, is there a scientific explanation for this or is it still a mystery?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not a mystery at all. The scientific explanation is that you were almost certainly fooling yourself. Perhaps you employed selective memory, ignoring those cases when you were wrong, or perhaps you placed far too much significance in some random coincidence. I'm sure that if you go back and look critically at these events where you "knew the future before it actually happened," you will find that you got lucky or misinterpreted the facts.

~MagicMan

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I am sure the majority of people that claim to have psychic abilities did in fact misinterpret the data at hand, but I am not one of those people. I am a very critical thinker and I am familiar in the psychological phenomenon of "counting the hits but ignoring the misses."

I can give examples etc. but I do not know if that would prove anything. I could never "predict" the future on command it is just an occurence that happens every few months and it has been happening to me since high school.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're talking about deja vu, right?

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The James Randi Educational Foundation (http://www.randi.org) does just this. They have a million dollar prize for anyone who can prove under scientific analysis that they have some sort of superhuman powers. They have never had to award the prize to anyone.

[ QUOTE ]
I know for myself I have had some occurences that led me to know the future before it actually happened, is there a scientific explanation for this or is it still a mystery?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not a mystery at all. The scientific explanation is that you were almost certainly fooling yourself. Perhaps you employed selective memory, ignoring those cases when you were wrong, or perhaps you placed far too much significance in some random coincidence. I'm sure that if you go back and look critically at these events where you "knew the future before it actually happened," you will find that you got lucky or misinterpreted the facts.

~MagicMan

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I am sure the majority of people that claim to have psychic abilities did in fact misinterpret the data at hand, but I am not one of those people. I am a very critical thinker and I am familiar in the psychological phenomenon of "counting the hits but ignoring the misses."

I can give examples etc. but I do not know if that would prove anything. I could never "predict" the future on command it is just an occurence that happens every few months and it has been happening to me since high school.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're talking about deja vu, right?

[/ QUOTE ]

No I am talking about knowing what will happen (not necessarily in detail) before it does in fact happen. Not that I feel like I've been somewhere before, that is deja vu. I am claiming that in some situations I knew the outcome before it came to fruition.

[FortunaMaximus]

Psionics...

I think there were some Duke studies in the seventies. Fuzzy on the details, but I generally am.

Yeah, it's credible, just not calculable.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
The James Randi Educational Foundation (http://www.randi.org) does just this. They have a million dollar prize for anyone who can prove under scientific analysis that they have some sort of superhuman powers. They have never had to award the prize to anyone.

[ QUOTE ]
I know for myself I have had some occurences that led me to know the future before it actually happened, is there a scientific explanation for this or is it still a mystery?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not a mystery at all. The scientific explanation is that you were almost certainly fooling yourself. Perhaps you employed selective memory, ignoring those cases when you were wrong, or perhaps you placed far too much significance in some random coincidence. I'm sure that if you go back and look critically at these events where you "knew the future before it actually happened," you will find that you got lucky or misinterpreted the facts.

~MagicMan

[/ QUOTE ]

This test is pretty ridiculous. In the preliminary test they ask you to read someone's mind, and correctly identify an object that is obstructed from your view. So if you claim to have some precognitive abilities sometimes, it would be impossible to pass even the preliminary test. Pretty close minded of the website I must say.

[CityFan]

Like when I just KNEW my opponent had aces?

Sorry, I'm a cynic. Confirmation bias.

[Sephus]

[ QUOTE ]
I am claiming that in some situations I knew the outcome before it came to fruition.

[/ QUOTE ]

i knew my mom would cry at my sister's wedding. i knew curtis granderson would strike out at least once in game 4. i knew that waxing my ass would hurt like hell. WTF supernatural!

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
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I am claiming that in some situations I knew the outcome before it came to fruition.

[/ QUOTE ]

i knew my mom would cry at my sister's wedding. i knew curtis granderson would strike out at least once in game 4. i knew that waxing my ass would hurt like hell. WTF supernatural!

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty funny you should try standup. On a more serious note, I am not talking about "guesses," or even educated guesses like the ones you used in your examples. I am talking about when you are driving down a road and for no rational reason slow down because you sensed someone was going to dart into the road.

I am talking about when you come home from school and are walking up the stairs thinking, does my dad have a black eye? 10 seconds later your dad has a black eye and til this day I have never seen him with another one.

Or how about when your giving blood and you go to put your watch in your pocket and think, "my watch is going to break if I put it in my pocket." 5minutes later your giving blood and faint and fall down on the side your watch was on.

damn coincidence man right?

[Sephus]

[ QUOTE ]
I am talking about when you come home from school and are walking up the stairs thinking, does my dad have a black eye? 10 seconds later your dad has a black eye and til this day I have never seen him with another one.

[/ QUOTE ]

most likely explanation: you remember thinking "does my dad have a black eye?" before you saw him, but it never actually happened.

other explanation: you go around making random predictions like that subconsciously all the time. when your dad doesn't have a black eye or your mom didn't get a haircut or your brother didn't get suspended from school you never remember thinking anything, but when you're right the prediction pops into your consciousness.

other: very big coincidence.

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I am talking about when you are driving down a road and for no rational reason slow down because you sensed someone was going to dart into the road.

[/ QUOTE ]

you saw the animal in your peripheral vision and instinctively slowed down before it ran across the road.

or maybe you slow down for "no rational reason" while you're driving a lot more often than you think, but when no animal darts across the road you speed back up and forget it happened 30 seconds later.

or maybe it was a big coincidence.

[ QUOTE ]
Or how about when your giving blood and you go to put your watch in your pocket and think, "my watch is going to break if I put it in my pocket." 5minutes later your giving blood and faint and fall down on the side your watch was on.

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe you remember thinking "my watch is going to break" but it never actually happened.

if you never carry your watch in your pocket, "my watch is going to break if i put it in my pocket" is not an entirely unreasonable thing to think. then you happened to faint.

if you put your watch in your pocket all the time and that time you happened to think that, then it seems like a big coincidence.

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
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I am claiming that in some situations I knew the outcome before it came to fruition.

[/ QUOTE ]

i knew my mom would cry at my sister's wedding. i knew curtis granderson would strike out at least once in game 4. i knew that waxing my ass would hurt like hell. WTF supernatural!

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty funny you should try standup. On a more serious note, I am not talking about "guesses," or even educated guesses like the ones you used in your examples. I am talking about when you are driving down a road and for no rational reason slow down because you sensed someone was going to dart into the road.

I am talking about when you come home from school and are walking up the stairs thinking, does my dad have a black eye? 10 seconds later your dad has a black eye and til this day I have never seen him with another one.

Or how about when your giving blood and you go to put your watch in your pocket and think, "my watch is going to break if I put it in my pocket." 5minutes later your giving blood and faint and fall down on the side your watch was on.

damn coincidence man right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you know how many potential chances for coincidence there are?

If things like this did not happen randomly, I'm pretty sure that would be statistical evidence of the supernatural, e.g. angels preventing interesting coincidences from happening.

[Prodigy54321]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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I am claiming that in some situations I knew the outcome before it came to fruition.

[/ QUOTE ]

i knew my mom would cry at my sister's wedding. i knew curtis granderson would strike out at least once in game 4. i knew that waxing my ass would hurt like hell. WTF supernatural!

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty funny you should try standup. On a more serious note, I am not talking about "guesses," or even educated guesses like the ones you used in your examples. I am talking about when you are driving down a road and for no rational reason slow down because you sensed someone was going to dart into the road.

I am talking about when you come home from school and are walking up the stairs thinking, does my dad have a black eye? 10 seconds later your dad has a black eye and til this day I have never seen him with another one.

Or how about when your giving blood and you go to put your watch in your pocket and think, "my watch is going to break if I put it in my pocket." 5minutes later your giving blood and faint and fall down on the side your watch was on.

damn coincidence man right?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had several of these types of things as well.

there are a lot of reasons why things happen...

if you really are having these thoughts beforehand...

you could mark them down when you have them, then see if they come true...

my guess it that you have lots of those thoughts, but simply have a selective memory...

you have the thought, you don't remember it..but when something happens, you are suddenly reminded of it because of it's relationship to what just happened...any thoughts that don't come true you will not be reminded of.

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]

if you really are having these thoughts beforehand...

you could mark them down when you have them, then see if they come true...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, they're not that unusual both in the sense of the type of event predicted is common and that lots of people have similar tales to tell. The only way one could do a self-test that would have some useful verification value would be to write them out in detail date stamped. The detail is critical and the time frame of the predicted event also. Writing, "mom's going to break her left leg in a house fall." has almost no value compared to "she's going to break her left leg just above the ankle in a fall in the livingroom next february".

A few like the latter could get a book deal, worth a shot. Naturally not rigorous enough to pass scientific muster but what the hey, a bucks a buck.

luckyme

[CityFan]

[ QUOTE ]


Pretty funny you should try standup. On a more serious note, I am not talking about "guesses," or even educated guesses like the ones you used in your examples. I am talking about when you are driving down a road and for no rational reason slow down because you sensed someone was going to dart into the road.



[/ QUOTE ]

You saw them running out of the corner of your eye.

[ QUOTE ]


I am talking about when you come home from school and are walking up the stairs thinking, does my dad have a black eye? 10 seconds later your dad has a black eye and til this day I have never seen him with another one.



[/ QUOTE ]

You saw him in the window.

These are cynical explanations of course, and the exact circumstances might mean they're impossible (maybe there are no windows in your house?). Still, the point is that your subconscious can pick up details like that that you don't consciously register.

[ QUOTE ]


Or how about when your giving blood and you go to put your watch in your pocket and think, "my watch is going to break if I put it in my pocket." 5minutes later your giving blood and faint and fall down on the side your watch was on.

damn coincidence man right?

[/ QUOTE ]

You were right, it was stupid to put your watch in your pocket.
/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am talking about when you come home from school and are walking up the stairs thinking, does my dad have a black eye? 10 seconds later your dad has a black eye and til this day I have never seen him with another one.

[/ QUOTE ]

most likely explanation: you remember thinking "does my dad have a black eye?" before you saw him, but it never actually happened.

other explanation: you go around making random predictions like that subconsciously all the time. when your dad doesn't have a black eye or your mom didn't get a haircut or your brother didn't get suspended from school you never remember thinking anything, but when you're right the prediction pops into your consciousness.

other: very big coincidence.

[ QUOTE ]
I am talking about when you are driving down a road and for no rational reason slow down because you sensed someone was going to dart into the road.

[/ QUOTE ]

you saw the animal in your peripheral vision and instinctively slowed down before it ran across the road.

or maybe you slow down for "no rational reason" while you're driving a lot more often than you think, but when no animal darts across the road you speed back up and forget it happened 30 seconds later.

or maybe it was a big coincidence.

[ QUOTE ]
Or how about when your giving blood and you go to put your watch in your pocket and think, "my watch is going to break if I put it in my pocket." 5minutes later your giving blood and faint and fall down on the side your watch was on.

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe you remember thinking "my watch is going to break" but it never actually happened.

if you never carry your watch in your pocket, "my watch is going to break if i put it in my pocket" is not an entirely unreasonable thing to think. then you happened to faint.

if you put your watch in your pocket all the time and that time you happened to think that, then it seems like a big coincidence.

[/ QUOTE ]

I write down all of my "predictions" but they always happen 5-10 seconds before the actual event so I don't have time to consciously think ok lets write this down.

I don't usually predict stuff, I have a physical feeling in my mind when I predict things as well.

Other examples:

I was walking down a hall in high school and sensed that someone is going to trip, I turn the corner and a kid trips someone. I have never thought this thought before.

From my observations almost all of my predictions have come after long periods of silence, almost a calming of the mind.

Like I said I have a physical feeling that accompanies these "predictions." One time I was in a college class and their was a girl in front of me, she had a crumpled piece of paper in her hand (I did not know this at the time) and dropped the piece of paper right when I predicted she would drop a piece of paper. It literally within 2 seconds of when I got the feeling.

These may seem like really trivial things but I am not claiming they are important. I am claiming that SOMETIMES not most of the time though but SOMETIMES, it is possible to predict the future.

Other example: I am at school and their is a person sitting next to me listening to his headphones. I had my back to him because I was listening to the teacher and sensed that he was going to grab me. Almost immediately he grabbed me and said, hey man listen to this song.

He had not laid a hand on me all year. I have written all these down in my journal but I do not tell anyone because I know this is the kind of reaction I will get. I chose to do it on the internet because of its anonymity.

Does everyone think I'm full of sh.it?

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
Does everyone think I'm full of sh.it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't. I think you're reporting exactly what you believe happened. ( you happen to have a low belief requirement but so what).

Unfortunately for you, you haven't devised a method of testing for false memory ( a well studied phenomenom) or other suggested causes to rule them out. After the fact reports of anything like this are not much value even on a personal level.

You need to find a way of taking it from the 'I feel it happened this way' to "here's the evidence", then you can accept or reject it.

luckyme

[alphatmw]

which is more likely?

1. the "predictions" you describe are the result of confirmation bias, memory bias, distorted memory, conicidence, or the possibliity that you're making it up.

2. psychic powers exist and you, of all people, have been given the gift of predicting when pieces of paper will fall and watches will break.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
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Does everyone think I'm full of sh.it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't. I think you're reporting exactly what you believe happened. ( you happen to have a low belief requirement but so what).

Unfortunately for you, you haven't devised a method of testing for false memory ( a well studied phenomenom) or other suggested causes to rule them out. After the fact reports of anything like this are not much value even on a personal level.

You need to find a way of taking it from the 'I feel it happened this way' to "here's the evidence", then you can accept or reject it.

luckyme

[/ QUOTE ]

So are you saying I don't exaimine the evidence and just go based on my feeling of what happened? Also this is not consistent with my personality, I am very skeptical by nature and have always questioned things. You say I have a low belief requirement yet it is not seen in any other aspect of my life. If someone is a logical person and values logic like I do. It seems illogical for you to assume that I do not "examine the evidence."

Also when you use words like "believe happened," it implies that it did not happen the way I said it happened. I'm not trying to impress anyone which is why I don't normally tell people about this. It is not reported after the fact, it is written down after the fact because it happens RIGHT before it comes to fruition.

I make a mental note that is happens then it materializes. With your logic it would be impossible for me to ever place any significance into it because I do not report it before it happened. If a person is otherwise logical in day to day activies it doesn't make sense from a consistency point of view to label them illogical in this certain category. I write down everything I "predicted" right after it happens, it is physically impossible for me to do it before. I cannot write that fast.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
which is more likely?

1. the "predictions" you describe are the result of confirmation bias, memory bias, distorted memory, conicidence, or the possibliity that you're making it up.

2. psychic powers exist and you, of all people, have been given the gift of predicting when pieces of paper will fall and watches will break.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly. This is why I don't believe in God.

I agree that scenario is #1 is much more likely. I do not claim to be psychic, just to have moments where I have predicted the future. I cannot do this on command, it simply comes to me.

I 100% agree it is more probable for me to be making this up but I have no reason too. I'd say the exact same thing if the roles were reversed. Maybe one day i'll be able to prove it but thanks for replying.

[alphatmw]

apparently these events have happened a lot, right?

how many times has someone been with you, and you've mentioned the feeling before you see it come to fruition?
ex.
"dad, do you have a black eye? for some reason i have a feeling you do".
"-why are you slowing down, man? -i dunno, i just have a feeling..."
"dude i think someone's gonna trip around the corner..."

etc. obviously writing down everytime you have this feeling would be too slow. but verbally voicing your thoughts wouldn't be. in fact, if you really had this feeling so many times, the next time it came and you were walking with a friend, i would imagine your first instinct would be to say what you feels about to happen right away.

this is why i'm always skeptical of single accounts of the supernatural. everyone has ghost sightings, but how many times have a group of 10 people all seen the same ghost? do ghosts avoid crowds? or is it more likely that the one person is someone flawed in what he believes he saw?

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
apparently these events have happened a lot, right?

how many times has someone been with you, and you've mentioned the feeling before you see it come to fruition?
ex.
"dad, do you have a black eye? for some reason i have a feeling you do".
"-why are you slowing down, man? -i dunno, i just have a feeling..."
"dude i think someone's gonna trip around the corner..."

etc. obviously writing down everytime you have this feeling would be too slow. but verbally voicing your thoughts wouldn't be. in fact, if you really had this feeling so many times, the next time it came and you were walking with a friend, i would imagine your first instinct would be to say what you feels about to happen right away.

this is why i'm always skeptical of single accounts of the supernatural. everyone has ghost sightings, but how many times have a group of 10 people all seen the same ghost? do ghosts avoid crowds? or is it more likely that the one person is someone flawed in what he believes he saw?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm glad you brought this up because it helps my case a bit. My last "prediction" had a witness. My best friend and I were walking into walmart, we were walking down the aisle
and I stopped for a second. I looked down one of the aisles and say to my friend, Is that Megan? (My best friends ex girlfriend, I have only met her TWICE in my life). He looks and I proceed to say, Oh no it's not her my bad. As soon as I say that, literally right at that moment. Megan and her friend walk by us and my friend cannot believe it. He's like "Brett (me) just thought he saw you.

Now again this could be a coincidence like, a certain % of girls look like my friend EX girlfriend. Or it was just a lucky guess but here is my case.

I rarely talk about this girl, I have only met her twice in my life. Why would I even think about her? She has no siginificance in my life nor my friends. Yet at the EXACT moment (I'm talking less than 2 seconds) I conclude that it is not her, she walks right by us.

If it happened like later in the day I would not give much credence to it at all. Like ok it was just a lucky guess. But it seems to be to much of a coincidence that I point out a girl, verbalize my feelings, have a witness, then the girl I am talking about walks right by us (out of all the aisles). And I barely know the girl so it is not like my wife or something that I would be thinking about on a consistent basis.

That's my latest one, it happened a few weeks ago.

[alphatmw]

that one's easy to chalk up to coincidence. and it's inconsistent from your other accounts. this one, you had no "feeling". you just saw someone you thought you knew. turns out it wasn't her, but she happened to be in the same place. a coincidence if i ever heard one.

for example, all the time i'll randomly think about a futurama episode or something and then it'll be that exact episode on tv. these things will happen every now and then.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
that one's easy to chalk up to coincidence. and it's inconsistent from your other accounts. this one, you had no "feeling". you just saw someone you thought you knew. turns out it wasn't her, but she happened to be in the same place. a coincidence if i ever heard one.

for example, all the time i'll randomly think about a futurama episode or something and then it'll be that exact episode on tv. these things will happen every now and then.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fair enough but I did have the same physical feeling for whatever it's worth.

I'll post one more which I think illustrates what I am talking about a bit more than my last example.

This is my earliest recollection of my "predictions." I was in 9th grade at a catholic boarding school and my french teacher was teaching class. I was sitting at my desk, kind of day dreaming when I sensed seamen. The funny thing is I hadn't even hit puberty at age 14 (late bloomer) so I didn't even know what seamen "sensed" or smelt like. I concluded that the seamen was actually inside my french teacher and that she was pregnant. Later on in that same class she announced to the class that she was in fact pregnant.

I would have verbalized that one but I thought it might be inapproriate.

[Insp. Clue!So?]

This phenomena has been researched, by many, many sources, including independent academia and the militaries of at least two superpowers, for well over a century. The few positive results turn out to have severe testing problems if not outright fraud, or are never replicated in controlled settings. Physics in general, despite vast advances on several fronts, never seems to discover phenomena that would allow for these "powers". And there are more than ample human psychological explanations to explain what you experienced. So chalk it up to what it is...selective memory and coincidence.

[CityFan]

So you see Megan out of the corner of your eye coming towards you, or you hear her voice, or whatever. Then you glance down the aisle and see a girl - could be any girl, might or might not look like Megan.

Finally your brain catches up with the fact that you DID just see/hear Megan and your brain lights up like a xmas tree: MEGAN.

You think to yourself "Where did I just see Megan? Must've been down that aisle..."

You can see where this is going...

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
I concluded that the seamen was actually inside my french teacher and that she was pregnant.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was it french seamen? They can stink.

luckyme

[alphatmw]

also, i want to point out that the fact that you believe you have this power will make these accounts occur more frequently.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
This phenomena has been researched, by many, many sources, including independent academia and the militaries of at least two superpowers, for well over a century. The few positive results turn out to have severe testing problems if not outright fraud, or are never replicated in controlled settings. Physics in general, despite vast advances on several fronts, never seems to discover phenomena that would allow for these "powers". And there are more than ample human psychological explanations to explain what you experienced. So chalk it up to what it is...selective memory and coincidence.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would but it happens to often for me to accept that. The reason for me at least, it couldn't be replicated in a controlled environment is because you don't have control over it. Also my memory is far from selective, in fact I've been complimented quite a bit for my ability to remember certain things. So again, another inconsistancy with my personality and abilities. I'm not trying to claim I'm superhuman or something because I know I'm not. I am telling you what I experienced, I try to be as logical as possible but I cannot accept that every single thing to be a concidence. I have never heard of anyone else have what has happened to me. I have told my friends and I have had 2 witnesses for 2 separate events.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
So you see Megan out of the corner of your eye coming towards you, or you hear her voice, or whatever. Then you glance down the aisle and see a girl - could be any girl, might or might not look like Megan.

Finally your brain catches up with the fact that you DID just see/hear Megan and your brain lights up like a xmas tree: MEGAN.

You think to yourself "Where did I just see Megan? Must've been down that aisle..."

You can see where this is going...

[/ QUOTE ]

No I was walking vertically and she came out of a horizontal aisle up ahead. Not possible for me to see her. You can keep trying to discredit me though. Your whole premise is that I saw her, which is false.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
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I concluded that the seamen was actually inside my french teacher and that she was pregnant.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was it french seamen? They can stink.

luckyme

[/ QUOTE ]

haha maybe. She was the wife of a militairy man.

[alphatmw]

what was your 2nd witnessed account?

[FortunaMaximus]

Huh. Vertical or at another horizontal angle...

Baffling but waffling.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
Huh. Vertical or at another horizontal angle...

Baffling but waffling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok you're right. Another horizontal angle. Doesn't change the fact that it is physically impossible for me to see her because the aisles are over my head, which is what his premise is predicated upon.

[FortunaMaximus]

Hey. I agree where psychic abilities are concerned.

Found that statement a little amusing though.

Carry on.

[kurto]

[ QUOTE ]
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Huh. Vertical or at another horizontal angle...

Baffling but waffling.

[/ QUOTE ]

He already said you could have heard her... you could have seen her 2 minutes earlier and you didn't consciously take note.

Haven't you ever found yourself singing a song but you don't know why? You think it just popped into your head. Suddenly your friend/brother/wife whatever starts singing it and you think, "That's weird. I was just singing that song in my head." Later you realize that the song is used in a commercial that was on TV that you weren't really paying attention.

Two things:
1) pretty much all your stories are easily explained and not really even that extraordinary.
2) its clear you want to believe. So confirmation bias is an issue for you.

Ok you're right. Another horizontal angle. Doesn't change the fact that it is physically impossible for me to see her because the aisles are over my head, which is what his premise is predicated upon.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
what was your 2nd witnessed account?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to find my journal to give you a detailed description.

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not trying to claim I'm superhuman or something because I know I'm not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for clearing that up. I've been reading this as if you thought you could predict the future, and/or that it was very unusual to be able to do that. me bad.

So you are just trying to find out what natural causes there are for such memories and/or experiences. There have been several good suggestions in this thread already. It's a well studied field.

You mentioned you'd think differently about it if the roles were reversed. Why? Being skeptical and analytical doesn't stop at the other guy, does it?

luckyme

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Huh. Vertical or at another horizontal angle...

Baffling but waffling.

[/ QUOTE ]

He already said you could have heard her... you could have seen her 2 minutes earlier and you didn't consciously take note.

Haven't you ever found yourself singing a song but you don't know why? You think it just popped into your head. Suddenly your friend/brother/wife whatever starts singing it and you think, "That's weird. I was just singing that song in my head." Later you realize that the song is used in a commercial that was on TV that you weren't really paying attention.

Two things:
1) pretty much all your stories are easily explained and not really even that extraordinary.
2) its clear you want to believe. So confirmation bias is an issue for you.

Ok you're right. Another horizontal angle. Doesn't change the fact that it is physically impossible for me to see her because the aisles are over my head, which is what his premise is predicated upon.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok let me try to explain this. We had just walked into Walmart, I was in there for approximately 15 seconds. Then all this happened. They weren't talking when they passed us and in fact we didn't even talk to them at all. I understand it is still possible for me to have overheard them but Walmart is very busy and she tends to talk soft so again unlikely.

Your two things leave no room for what I say to be legitimate. According to you I am either making this up or it is just easily explainable, yet I am bias? The irony.
I'm very aware of how psychology works. Your two claims, that I heard her is most likely false. Because I had no verbal contact with her and neither did my friend. They weren't talking when they walked by us.

Also I am attributing a feeling to these occurences. Of course everyone has sung a song and it played on Tv. I have had coincidences like that happen but I do NOT attribute it to psychic powers. I am attributing this to a certain power because I have a physical feeling that comes over me, and I am very accurate in my predictions.

[David Sklansky]

"which is more likely?

1. the "predictions" you describe are the result of confirmation bias, memory bias, distorted memory, conicidence, or the possibliity that you're making it up.

2. psychic powers exist and you, of all people, have been given the gift of predicting when pieces of paper will fall and watches will break."

A question for Jesus

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not trying to claim I'm superhuman or something because I know I'm not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for clearing that up. I've been reading this as if you thought you could predict the future, and/or that it was very unusual to be able to do that. me bad.

So you are just trying to find out what natural causes there are for such memories and/or experiences. There have been several good suggestions in this thread already. It's a well studied field.

You mentioned you'd think differently about it if the roles were reversed. Why? Being skeptical and analytical doesn't stop at the other guy, does it?

luckyme

[/ QUOTE ]

When I say I'm not superhuman I mean I could not predict the future often enough for it to be consistently useful. And yes I believe there is a natural cause because it is in my nature for me to have this happen. I'm sure it can be explained but the question I am asking is if as a race we are at the level to explain it. Everyone that has posted has claimed either I am a fraud or I am delusional. It's impossible for me to prove 1st hand unless you are there. I have a journal but again that is 2nd hand information.

I'd think differently because if I can't do it and it hasn't been proven, most likely it hasn't been done.

My friend is in the same boat as you, I have told him some of these "predictions" and he writes them off as a coincidence. That seems like the natural response if you cannot relate to what I am talking about. Honestly I don't know if I can or will ever prove it, only time will tell I am still young.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
"which is more likely?

1. the "predictions" you describe are the result of confirmation bias, memory bias, distorted memory, conicidence, or the possibliity that you're making it up.

2. psychic powers exist and you, of all people, have been given the gift of predicting when pieces of paper will fall and watches will break."

A question for Jesus

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I already stated I am an atheist if you read the entire thread. I can't prove that this is true, the best I can do is provide a witness and journal.

[tolbiny]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So you see Megan out of the corner of your eye coming towards you, or you hear her voice, or whatever. Then you glance down the aisle and see a girl - could be any girl, might or might not look like Megan.

Finally your brain catches up with the fact that you DID just see/hear Megan and your brain lights up like a xmas tree: MEGAN.

You think to yourself "Where did I just see Megan? Must've been down that aisle..."

You can see where this is going...

[/ QUOTE ]

No I was walking vertically and she came out of a horizontal aisle up ahead. Not possible for me to see her. You can keep trying to discredit me though. Your whole premise is that I saw her, which is false.

[/ QUOTE ]

No the premise is only that there was a trigger that sparked your memory and amde it more likely for you to think that someone else was her. Perhpas you saw her out of the corner of your eye in the parking lot or in another part of the store a min ago, or heard her voice, or smelled her perfume (smells can be very strongly tied to memory).

[ QUOTE ]


I would but it happens to often for me to accept that

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you tried to quantify how often something like this should happen? Say you go to a grocery store in your neighboorhood twice a week (about 100 times a year) and you go during average flow hours, how often do you think you will run into someone you know there? Once a month would be once every 8 trips. If you walked by 50 people each time, from your car in, around the store, to the register and out again to your car you would run into 1/400 people, or 0.25% of the people in a store in your neighboorhood. 12 times a year you randomly run into someone you know. And that just the store, add in gas stations, restaruants, concerts and every other place you go on a daily weekly or month basis and eventually you will run into someone you were just tinking about, or just talking about. The fact that you have a good memory will only serve to reinforce these isolated incidents. When you were driving and slowed down just before an animal jumped out, how many other things could this have been? If you had slowed down and then passes a speed trap (or any cop car) or a chunk of blown out tire in the road (or any debris) or gotten a phone call, or passed a sign with the name of a friend who died in a car accident. All of these would make you feel a little bit psychic.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So you see Megan out of the corner of your eye coming towards you, or you hear her voice, or whatever. Then you glance down the aisle and see a girl - could be any girl, might or might not look like Megan.

Finally your brain catches up with the fact that you DID just see/hear Megan and your brain lights up like a xmas tree: MEGAN.

You think to yourself "Where did I just see Megan? Must've been down that aisle..."

You can see where this is going...

[/ QUOTE ]

No I was walking vertically and she came out of a horizontal aisle up ahead. Not possible for me to see her. You can keep trying to discredit me though. Your whole premise is that I saw her, which is false.

[/ QUOTE ]

No the premise is only that there was a trigger that sparked your memory and amde it more likely for you to think that someone else was her. Perhpas you saw her out of the corner of your eye in the parking lot or in another part of the store a min ago, or heard her voice, or smelled her perfume (smells can be very strongly tied to memory).

[ QUOTE ]


I would but it happens to often for me to accept that

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you tried to quantify how often something like this should happen? Say you go to a grocery store in your neighboorhood twice a week (about 100 times a year) and you go during average flow hours, how often do you think you will run into someone you know there? Once a month would be once every 8 trips. If you walked by 50 people each time, from your car in, around the store, to the register and out again to your car you would run into 1/400 people, or 0.25% of the people in a store in your neighboorhood. 12 times a year you randomly run into someone you know. And that just the store, add in gas stations, restaruants, concerts and every other place you go on a daily weekly or month basis and eventually you will run into someone you were just tinking about, or just talking about. The fact that you have a good memory will only serve to reinforce these isolated incidents. When you were driving and slowed down just before an animal jumped out, how many other things could this have been? If you had slowed down and then passes a speed trap (or any cop car) or a chunk of blown out tire in the road (or any debris) or gotten a phone call, or passed a sign with the name of a friend who died in a car accident. All of these would make you feel a little bit psychic.

[/ QUOTE ]

I totally agree with you that something sparked the memory of Megan. Subconsciously something had to of because I thought of her. All of these predictions occur in my subconscious and then my conscious interprets the data.
Let use your calculations. What are the odds I think of someone that I have only met twice, and as soon as I think of this person, this person appears. Like I said I would give less credence to it if it happened like 10-15 minutes later. But my subconscious thought of it, my conscious became aware of this thought and I verbalized this thought. Immediately after the thought is verbalized the person is walking past you.

By the way I could not have seen her in the parking lot because she was LEAVING, when I came in. I can debunk all of these rationlizations pretty easily.

[alphatmw]

it was wrong of anyone to debunk that particular story by trying to assume you saw/heard/smelled her beforehand, cause to me, it's pretty clear that that one is simply a coincidence.

obviously, the think that sparked your memory of megan was the fact that you saw a girl that looked like her.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


Pretty funny you should try standup. On a more serious note, I am not talking about "guesses," or even educated guesses like the ones you used in your examples. I am talking about when you are driving down a road and for no rational reason slow down because you sensed someone was going to dart into the road.



[/ QUOTE ]

You saw them running out of the corner of your eye.

[ QUOTE ]


I am talking about when you come home from school and are walking up the stairs thinking, does my dad have a black eye? 10 seconds later your dad has a black eye and til this day I have never seen him with another one.



[/ QUOTE ]

You saw him in the window.

These are cynical explanations of course, and the exact circumstances might mean they're impossible (maybe there are no windows in your house?). Still, the point is that your subconscious can pick up details like that that you don't consciously register.

[ QUOTE ]


Or how about when your giving blood and you go to put your watch in your pocket and think, "my watch is going to break if I put it in my pocket." 5minutes later your giving blood and faint and fall down on the side your watch was on.

damn coincidence man right?

[/ QUOTE ]

You were right, it was stupid to put your watch in your pocket.
/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

1. It was night time and no street lights.

2. I didn't even see him that day. You are arguing for me it seems, I totally agree that your subconscious picks up details and your conscious interprets it. I am saying that on occassion my subconscious can interpret details to the point that I can predict an event in the very near future.

3. Let's see how many coincidences are in my "watch prediction"

1. The fact that I take off my watch to give blood is illogical. I had just started wearing a watch then and would normally put it in my pocket because one of the hands did not work.

The important point is that me putting my watch in my pocket triggered a fear of it being broken. I thought to myself at the time why would I think that?

2. I am giving blood and faint. Another coincidence I have never fainted from giving blood before. I have given blood dozens of times. 1 out of 24 chance is a fair statistic.

3. I fall on the side my watch is on. 1/2 chance.

All in All it seems pretty unlikey especially since I had a feeling not a just a random guess. Is it also a coincidence that whenever I have a feeling I am much more accurate than when a non feeling coincidence comes up ?

[alphatmw]

its not at all a coincidence that you took your watch off and had a fear it would break. it was a new watch right? everyone's wary of new possessions. if i bought a new car and drove it to the grocery store, i'll bet you i would have a sudden fear of a shopping cart hitting it as i parked it in the grocery store.

another instance of flawed logic: take everyone who's ever won the lottery. i bet you lots of them "felt" like they were going to win it as they bought the ticket. what are the odds that they would think they would win the lottery, then win it? pretty damn low. coincidence? obviously.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
it was wrong of anyone to debunk that particular story by trying to assume you saw/heard/smelled her beforehand, cause to me, it's pretty clear that that one is simply a coincidence.

obviously, the think that sparked your memory of megan was the fact that you saw a girl that looked like her.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. People are trying to discredit me on my other predictions and every time I have given a reasonable explanation that defends my positon.

I suppose the best example I can give to illustrate my ability is either the "pregnant prediction." or the "watch prediction."

In my mind the pregnancy prediction is probably my most impressive one to date. For anyone that is interested, I just called my folks at home and had my mom get my journal. Unfortunately I cannot give you anymore detailed occurences until I re-read my journal. The predictions I have illustrated in this thread are the ones that are either recent/the most vivid in my mind. I have at least 10 more that I felt important enough to record on paper.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
its not at all a coincidence that you took your watch off and had a fear it would break. it was a new watch right? everyone's wary of new possessions. if i bought a new car and drove it to the grocery store, i'll bet you i would have a sudden fear of a shopping cart hitting it as i parked it in the grocery store.

another instance of flawed logic: take everyone who's ever won the lottery. i bet you lots of them "felt" like they were going to win it as they bought the ticket. what are the odds that they would think they would win the lottery, then win it? pretty damn low. coincidence? obviously.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes your argument would be correct if the watch was new. It was my friends who had had it for awhile and decided to give it to me because he had gotten a new one. One of the hands didn't work so I had no fear (before this time) of it being broken since I wore it mainly for looks. That is my point, I didn't even use the watch to tell time but yet somehow knew it was in danger when I put it in my pocket.

Also I noticed no one has addressed the pregnancy prediction, probably because there is no logical explanation for it?

[guesswest]

Dude, check this out. Just yesterday I was thinking about my friend Jenny. Then right when I was thinking about her the phone rang, and it was Jenny! OMG!!!!!111one

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
Also I noticed no one has addressed the pregnancy prediction, probably because there is no logical explanation for it?

[/ QUOTE ]

You've been given the logical explanation about a dozen times. You just don't like it.

[Nielsio]

lol

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
Dude, check this out. Just yesterday I was thinking about my friend Jenny. Then right when I was thinking about her the phone rang, and it was Jenny! OMG!!!!!111one

[/ QUOTE ]
That's amazing. I know someone called Jenny and I have a phone.

chez

[alphatmw]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes your argument would be correct if the watch was new. It was my friends who had had it for awhile and decided to give it to me because he had gotten a new one. One of the hands didn't work so I had no fear (before this time) of it being broken since I wore it mainly for looks. That is my point, I didn't even use the watch to tell time but yet somehow knew it was in danger when I put it in my pocket.

Also I noticed no one has addressed the pregnancy prediction, probably because there is no logical explanation for it?

[/ QUOTE ]even if the watch wasn't new, you just started wearing it. so even if it was an old watch, it was new to you and you might be more protective of it than if it were a few weeks later.

i didn't address the pregnancy because it made no sense to me. what do you mean you "sensed" semen? you were sitting in the class and all of a sudden, SEMEN popped into your head? you'd never seen it before, but you knew insemination causes pregnancy?

and you said this was your first experience with this feeling. why would you conclude that "sensing semen" meant that your teacher was pregnant? before you thought that you had the ability to predict the future, you should have only wondered why the hell you were sensing semen, not predicting what this sense meant. if i was in 9th grade and i suddenly started thinking about zebras, i would think along the lines of "why the hell am i thinking about zebras" and not "i must conclude that we're watching an video about africa in social studies today".

[CityFan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So you see Megan out of the corner of your eye coming towards you, or you hear her voice, or whatever. Then you glance down the aisle and see a girl - could be any girl, might or might not look like Megan.

Finally your brain catches up with the fact that you DID just see/hear Megan and your brain lights up like a xmas tree: MEGAN.

You think to yourself "Where did I just see Megan? Must've been down that aisle..."

You can see where this is going...

[/ QUOTE ]

No I was walking vertically and she came out of a horizontal aisle up ahead. Not possible for me to see her. You can keep trying to discredit me though. Your whole premise is that I saw her, which is false.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I said you could have heard her voice. G_d knows, maybe you smelt her perfume and it triggered a memory.

OR, as others have said, it could be genuine coincidence.

Ever heard the saying that starts "Speak of the devil..."?

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Also I noticed no one has addressed the pregnancy prediction, probably because there is no logical explanation for it?

[/ QUOTE ]

You've been given the logical explanation about a dozen times. You just don't like it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Both explanations dismiss my claim entirely. These are the explanations of logical people that cannot explain this phenomenon.

So for me to predict someone was pregnant, and during that 40 minute window for her to announce that in fact she was pregnant is just a coincidence according to you. Also you are dismissing the physical feeling I get when making these predictions, but I guess that doesn't fit into your pre-made explanation.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes your argument would be correct if the watch was new. It was my friends who had had it for awhile and decided to give it to me because he had gotten a new one. One of the hands didn't work so I had no fear (before this time) of it being broken since I wore it mainly for looks. That is my point, I didn't even use the watch to tell time but yet somehow knew it was in danger when I put it in my pocket.

Also I noticed no one has addressed the pregnancy prediction, probably because there is no logical explanation for it?

[/ QUOTE ]even if the watch wasn't new, you just started wearing it. so even if it was an old watch, it was new to you and you might be more protective of it than if it were a few weeks later.

i didn't address the pregnancy because it made no sense to me. what do you mean you "sensed" semen? you were sitting in the class and all of a sudden, SEMEN popped into your head? you'd never seen it before, but you knew insemination causes pregnancy?

and you said this was your first experience with this feeling. why would you conclude that "sensing semen" meant that your teacher was pregnant? before you thought that you had the ability to predict the future, you should have only wondered why the hell you were sensing semen, not predicting what this sense meant. if i was in 9th grade and i suddenly started thinking about zebras, i would think along the lines of "why the hell am i thinking about zebras" and not "i must conclude that we're watching an video about africa in social studies today".

[/ QUOTE ]

Like I said my subconscious isn't working on a logical level only my conscious is. I knew insemination caused pregnancy at the age of 14 yes. It is pretty common knowledge by then. I sensed seamen and felt my teacher was dirty. I then concluded that she was pregnant. I can't explain all of this from a pure logical standpoint because I didn't use logic to arrive at this conclusion. Perhaps that is why no one to this date has ever confirmed it?

[tolbiny]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Dude, check this out. Just yesterday I was thinking about my friend Jenny. Then right when I was thinking about her the phone rang, and it was Jenny! OMG!!!!!111one

[/ QUOTE ]
That's amazing. I know someone called Jenny and I have a phone.

chez

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, my parents dog was named jenny and she was put down a year and a half ago, and i made a post about it in OOT.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So you see Megan out of the corner of your eye coming towards you, or you hear her voice, or whatever. Then you glance down the aisle and see a girl - could be any girl, might or might not look like Megan.

Finally your brain catches up with the fact that you DID just see/hear Megan and your brain lights up like a xmas tree: MEGAN.

You think to yourself "Where did I just see Megan? Must've been down that aisle..."

You can see where this is going...

[/ QUOTE ]

No I was walking vertically and she came out of a horizontal aisle up ahead. Not possible for me to see her. You can keep trying to discredit me though. Your whole premise is that I saw her, which is false.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I said you could have heard her voice. G_d knows, maybe you smelt her perfume and it triggered a memory.

OR, as others have said, it could be genuine coincidence.

Ever heard the saying that starts "Speak of the devil..."?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure and I have said it many times. Meaning I have had many coincidences that I have NOT attributed to any ability. The majority of the coincidences are simply just that coincidences.

The only ones I attribute to an ability are the ones that give me a physical feeling, ie. I feel much different and ideas/concepts/people pop into my head. I then say what is popping into my head and then whatever I said comes to fruition.

I have made a distinction between coincidences and my predictions. I am a logical person. The explanations everyone has given comes down to basic human psychology.

Truth is even if I made an even more impressive prediction it would still be dismissed as a coincidence. Even if I had one witness? It still would be dismissed because I could not "prove" it on a consistent basis, in a controlled environment I could not replicate what happened.

Although no one knows the underlying reason for my predictions, you claim to know based on other people's failures/delusions that I am simply a product of the same delusions.

Every case should be treated based on its own merits and not by past frauds.

[CityFan]

By the way, I am not trying to "discredit" you, because I don't believe you have any credit to dis!

I believe you're genuinely curious about this, and I've tried to offer alternative explanations for some of the things you've described.

[ QUOTE ]
I write down all of my "predictions" but they always happen 5-10 seconds before the actual event so I don't have time to consciously think ok lets write this down.

[/ QUOTE ]

What this shows is that you've taken it upon yourself to actively seek out evidence that you have psychic abilities. Even more likely then that you'll fool yourself into thinking you predicted things.

Some things you've experienced may be pure coincidences. Just because you're aware of and understand things like confirmation bias and selective memory, doesn't make you immune to them.

Other things you may simply have made up. I don't mean you made them up deliberately to lie to people, I mean that your memory of what you were thinking just a moment ago is not necessarily accurate. Ever had that thing where you can't for the life of you remember what you were thinking about a few seconds ago? Why not fill the gap with a prediction? The mind plays powerful tricks.

I'm not an expert on the brain, but I do know that it is a complex and little-understood organ. If I were you I'd just stop thinking about your psychic episodes. Smile at them when they occur, but don't make notes, don't keep tallies and don't keep wondering about them. Then one day you might wonder where they went...

[tolbiny]

[ QUOTE ]

So for me to predict someone was pregnant, and during that 40 minute window for her to announce that in fact she was pregnant is just a coincidence according to you

[/ QUOTE ]

false memories. (http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm) . Memory of events is highly unreliable and its possible (some would say easy) to convince someone of detailed events that never happened. Slight altering of memory is even easier and more common. For all we know your stories may be true, but given that there is a much more likely, simplier and scientifically studied alternative explanation there is no real reason to believe that you are psychic beyond the polite acknowlegement that there are things we don't fully understand and pyschic powers might be one of them.

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
By the way, I am not trying to "discredit" you, because I don't believe you have any credit to dis!

I believe you're genuinely curious about this, and I've tried to offer alternative explanations for some of the things you've described.

[ QUOTE ]
I write down all of my "predictions" but they always happen 5-10 seconds before the actual event so I don't have time to consciously think ok lets write this down.

[/ QUOTE ]

What this shows is that you've taken it upon yourself to actively seek out evidence that you have psychic abilities. Even more likely then that you'll fool yourself into thinking you predicted things.

Some things you've experienced may be pure coincidences. Just because you're aware of and understand things like confirmation bias and selective memory, doesn't make you immune to them.

Other things you may simply have made up. I don't mean you made them up deliberately to lie to people, I mean that your memory of what you were thinking just a moment ago is not necessarily accurate. Ever had that thing where you can't for the life of you remember what you were thinking about a few seconds ago? Why not fill the gap with a prediction? The mind plays powerful tricks.

I'm not an expert on the brain, but I do know that it is a complex and little-understood organ. If I were you I'd just stop thinking about your psychic episodes. Smile at them when they occur, but don't make notes, don't keep tallies and don't keep wondering about them. Then one day you might wonder where they went...

[/ QUOTE ]

I try not to make a big deal about them. I simply came to this forum for a explanation/history of this phenomenon. Everyone seems to have come to a similar conclusion and I respect that. I don't let these predictions run my life or anything, I simply write them down when they occur. My predictions probably will never be proven as legitimate predictions. Just a coincidence that inevitabley will happen in my life.

I can acknowledge that from a logical standpoint, but for me personally I will continue to document this if and when it occurs. If nothing for my own entertainment.

[CORed]

I'm just going to quote Stephen Wright here:

"Anyone who believes in telekinesis, raise my hand."

[Speedlimits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

So for me to predict someone was pregnant, and during that 40 minute window for her to announce that in fact she was pregnant is just a coincidence according to you

[/ QUOTE ]

false memories. (http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm) . Memory of events is highly unreliable and its possible (some would say easy) to convince someone of detailed events that never happened. Slight altering of memory is even easier and more common. For all we know your stories may be true, but given that there is a much more likely, simplier and scientifically studied alternative explanation there is no real reason to believe that you are psychic beyond the polite acknowlegement that there are things we don't fully understand and pyschic powers might be one of them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting link. I agree it is more likely that I am not psychic than that I am. I agree it is nearly impossible to prove that these were legitimate predictions. False memories
are an interesting phenomenon but as for my situation. Rarely have I constructed a memory that I believed to be true, then later finding out it was just my imagination.

If that statement is true that it is more likely for me personally to not have false memories than it is for me to have false memories. Since a physical feeling is accompanied with each of these occurences I remember the predicitons much more clearly than I would normally.

Would you agree to these statements?

[vhawk01]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

if you really are having these thoughts beforehand...

you could mark them down when you have them, then see if they come true...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, they're not that unusual both in the sense of the type of event predicted is common and that lots of people have similar tales to tell. The only way one could do a self-test that would have some useful verification value would be to write them out in detail date stamped. The detail is critical and the time frame of the predicted event also. Writing, "mom's going to break her left leg in a house fall." has almost no value compared to "she's going to break her left leg just above the ankle in a fall in the livingroom next february".

A few like the latter could get a book deal, worth a shot. Naturally not rigorous enough to pass scientific muster but what the hey, a bucks a buck.

luckyme

[/ QUOTE ]

Not only should these sorts of things happen fairly frequently, but out of the billions of people on Earth, there should probably be a few people to whom these things happen a LOT.

[FortunaMaximus]

Yes. They learn fairly quickly to keep their mouth shut 'cause they don't like the places they end up going.

[vhawk01]

Haha, they almost certainly wouldn't keep their mouth shut. Whether from naivete or not, the desire for fame and fortune would bring them all out of the woodwork.

[FortunaMaximus]

Food for them. I adhere to the canned tuna maxim. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Wouldn't be believed anyway, so it's a wash.

[vhawk01]

Right, but the idea that these people would be locked up by the SS as an excuse for why there aren't more of them is absurd. They wouldn't be believed, perhaps, although all they would have to do is stack up the improbabilites in their favor. If they can do something or a series of somethings that make it more likely there is some heretofore unknown mechanism at work than that they are simply lying/mistaken/coincidences, then I, for one, would certainly be ok with accepting it. We aren't tautologically defining psychic visions as impossible.

[sightless]

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Yes your argument would be correct if the watch was new. It was my friends who had had it for awhile and decided to give it to me because he had gotten a new one. One of the hands didn't work so I had no fear (before this time) of it being broken since I wore it mainly for looks. That is my point, I didn't even use the watch to tell time but yet somehow knew it was in danger when I put it in my pocket.

Also I noticed no one has addressed the pregnancy prediction, probably because there is no logical explanation for it?

[/ QUOTE ]even if the watch wasn't new, you just started wearing it. so even if it was an old watch, it was new to you and you might be more protective of it than if it were a few weeks later.

i didn't address the pregnancy because it made no sense to me. what do you mean you "sensed" semen? you were sitting in the class and all of a sudden, SEMEN popped into your head? you'd never seen it before, but you knew insemination causes pregnancy?

and you said this was your first experience with this feeling. why would you conclude that "sensing semen" meant that your teacher was pregnant? before you thought that you had the ability to predict the future, you should have only wondered why the hell you were sensing semen, not predicting what this sense meant. if i was in 9th grade and i suddenly started thinking about zebras, i would think along the lines of "why the hell am i thinking about zebras" and not "i must conclude that we're watching an video about africa in social studies today".

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Like I said my subconscious isn't working on a logical level only my conscious is. I knew insemination caused pregnancy at the age of 14 yes. It is pretty common knowledge by then. I sensed seamen and felt my teacher was dirty. I then concluded that she was pregnant. I can't explain all of this from a pure logical standpoint because I didn't use logic to arrive at this conclusion. Perhaps that is why no one to this date has ever confirmed it?

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Maybe you over heard someone spreading rumors about your teachers pregnancy weeks ago…WHO CARES? STOP BEING RIDICULOUS.

Just because you don’t want to accept there is MOST likely a rational explanation for every occurrence, doesn’t mean that you have a 6th sense.

[FortunaMaximus]

It isn't visions as much as it's a concurrent effect with reality. And it's uncontrollable at times.

Meh. Maybe it's a effect that shades into schizophernia at times. I don't hear voices or believe that the world's coming to an end, but I've always had an odd initution for pattern recognition.

It's not what they say, moreso the self-destructive actions and potential harm to others that get the mentally ill locked up.

After awhile, you look around and realize even if it's a perceptive reality and isn't congurent with what everybody sees anyway, you realize that perception is a joke and go with the flow.

But that's just my personal bias. And I've never suffered from delusions where my own objective view of my intelligence is concerned. It's a couple SD's above, and I never bothered with a Stanford-Binet assessment. I can make a decent guess at it.

Not that it matters. The physical universe is stranger than we can perceive and it isn't solvable as far as early 21st century science is concerned. There might be an explanation for everything, but once you do that, what next?

GIGO, enjoy the simple things.

[untouchable]

Speedlimits,

I've been reading a bit about some well-known spiritual teachers from India (Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj>>both dead now). I won't explain who they are or what they teach, because it would be off topic and would probably be mocked even more than psychich abilities. BUT when those guys are asked about psychic powers, they both say that intense spiritual practice may cause psychic powers. They also say that it's nothing special and should just be ignored by the student. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Most people's minds are completely burned into a certain pattern, and blindly assume that everything they believe is true and view everything else as false. In stead of all fighting over who is right, it would be much better if everybody would spend all their time investigating their own beliefs. But whatever.

[luckyme]

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In stead of all fighting over who is right, it would be much better if everybody would spend all their time investigating their own beliefs.

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Why bother.. just have it and enjoy it. Unfortunately for some of us we're stuck with not wanting to investigate our beliefs but to investigate and find out what there is we can have confidence in.
The fact that most people prefer your approach does not mean the rest can acheive that mindset, there are lots of posts on this forum about those that have tried to 'switch' to the 'belief first, investigate second' style.

luckyme