Psychic readings

cyantist

reehsetin wrote: »

She may not be deliberately misleading people. but there's still a very good chance she's just 'intuitive' with no psychic ability what-so-ever. If you or she genuinely believe she's real I think you/she have a moral duty to work with scientists to prove it - you single handedly could change the world by proving life after death exists (all she'd need to do is answer questions correctly and perform better than chance) and people can communicate with them. You'd help set a standard so frauds could be identified and stop targeting vulnerable little old ladies - win a prize get all the money and fame in the world.

In summary, put up or sh*t up

But how could that prove life after death? She makes no claims to have any contact with anyone beyond the grave. To don't know much about this admittedly but I think that would be a medium, which is different to a psychic (which she has never claimed to be, as far as I'm aware, though she does think she has some sort of gift).

Maybe "psychics" are just people who are more intuitive than most but as a scientist there are some things she has done that I cannot get my head around and think of a reasonable explanation for.

Also, regarding psychics telling you things you already know. Most things this individual has told my sister are things she didn't know!

NewShadow

no1catman wrote: »

reehsetin wrote: »

Already had it - basically love is all hormones and chemicals

No, that's lust - try again.

The 3 stages of love

Stage 1: Lust
This is the first stage of love and is driven by the sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen – in both men and women.

Stage 2: Attraction
This is the amazing time when you are truly love-struck and can think of little else. Scientists think that three main neurotransmitters are involved in this stage; adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin.

Stage 3: Attachment
Attachment is the bond that keeps couples together long enough for them to have and raise children. Scientists think there might be two major hormones involved in this feeling of attachment; oxytocin and vasopressin.

http://www.youramazingbrain.org/lovesex/sciencelove.htm

NewShadow

cyantist wrote: »

But how could that prove life after death?

She wouldn't have to prove life after death, just work with an independent witness to establish psychic ability in any form.

That could mean giving her 'revelations' in a documentable way which would allow validation she couldn't have known by other means and which permit validation of accuracy - a blind/cold reading on someone she did not know prior the observed meeting, predicting shape flashcards, predicting (with reasonable specificity) something that will happen that later turns out to be verifiable. Anything really.

For the last 50 odd years various groups have been very open to testing methodology. Read the link I posted to the Randi foundation.

cyantist

I think the problem with testing in that way is that sometimes she senses things and sometimes she doesn't. Also to her they aren't necessarily revelations. She called my sister to congratulate her one pregnancy as she somehow knew she was pregnant and she didn't know it was being kept quiet, yet only two other people actually knew. You might say well she isn't really psychic then, otherwise she'd know that. But she gets feelings about certain things, she can't possibly know everything about everyone. And expecting someone who claims to have these gifts to be able to be able to pick up on certain exact facts would be silly regardless of whether they were an actual psychic or not.

Though there are things she has said that there is no way she could have known, and they have been verified by me as they were about me. And other things she would have had no way of knowing, for example when my sister lost something and was going crazy looking for it, and this lady was able to tell my sister where it was

pigpen

cyantist wrote: »

I think the problem with testing in that way is that sometimes she senses things and sometimes she doesn't. Also to her they aren't necessarily revelations. She called my sister to congratulate her one pregnancy as she somehow knew she was pregnant and she didn't know it was being kept quiet, yet only two other people actually knew. You might say well she isn't really psychic then, otherwise she'd know that. But she gets feelings about certain things, she can't possibly know everything about everyone. And expecting someone who claims to have these gifts to be able to be able to pick up on certain exact facts would be silly regardless of whether they were an actual psychic or not.

It is often possible to tell people are pregnant by the way they stand or walk or look.. have you ever tried not looking like youre about to barf your last 3 days dinner on your lap?? It is a subconscious thing that you stand differently.. you cant help it, you just do .. all she had to do was see her for 5 minutes.. and what if she hadnt been? .. She could have said 'ooh my psychic abilities said you are, it will happen soon or someone very close to you is!'.. the back tracking is easy done.

Though there are things she has said that there is no way she could have known, and they have been verified by me as they were about me. And other things she would have had no way of knowing, for example when my sister lost something and was going crazy looking for it, and this lady was able to tell my sister where it was

I've done that several times.. It is called lucky guess/instinct/experience/fluke.. it is not a divine knowledge. The same as thinking of someone seconds before they call, I do that ALL the time.. its really annoying.. often my phone will buzz and I know exactly who it is without looking .. not every time.. I'm not psychic I just know there are times when certain people are most likely to contact me (cue my daughter messaging me lol)

Having known several 'psychics' .. I am yet to see anything which challenges my belief that they are charlatans.

Several years ago .. my dad organised a 'psychic evening' .. half a dozen psychics, couple of hundred people.. you can be amazed at my talent for being a believer for an evening .. Anyeay.. total guess work went on right before my eyes..

very very vague and the (mug) relevant person filled in the details..

One guy.. described a child in an accident with an ice cream van... about 15 people said yes to that.. then it narrowed to a male child.. 3 dropped out etc.. strangely enough it could have been a description of an incident with my cousin..

I don't believe a single word the living say, I sure as hell am not going to believe it came from the dead.

NewShadow

So, hypothetically, during an 'assessment' she could either state an 'intuition' and have it proven accurate, or state she can't 'sense' anything.

The witness would then need to verify no plausible way she could have known, and the accurateness of any statements made.

For example, rather than calling your sister, she could call the witness - tell them she thinks your sister is pregnant. The witness could then ask your sister 'are you pregnant (accuracy) and who have you met recently who might have noticed/published anything on social media (plausibility)'.

The witness would then get in touch with those people to document none of the people who might know have been in contact with your sisters friend to pass on any info (verification).

There are people out there who would (and do) spend thousands of £ and hours checking these things out.

All she would need to do would be verifiable more than 50% of the time.

Hit rate (accuracy) in studies tends to be around 10% - or barnum statements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect#Forer.27s_demonstration

bluelass

Doris Stokes was very famous for her abilities.


However years later many have said she was just a good guesser with the gift of the gab.


Of course we all want to know our deceased loved ones are happy in a better place but until our own day comes its all guesswork.

lovinituk

What I find difficult to understand is why otherwise seemingly intelligent people believe in psychics and similar mumbo jumbo, even when presented with evidence that it's all make believe / a trick / not widely proven / etc. There is plenty of evidence in this thread alone.

NewShadow

There's actually no evidence (scientific or logical) there's no such thing as psychics/ mediums/ esp/ telekinesis...

You can't prove a negative - We've just never been able to prove the verifiable existence of one.

Plus there's a number of very intelligent people out there who would LOVE to be proven wrong about this.

Just as there are a vast number of very intelligent people out there that believe there is no evidence against the existence of God and would love to find evidence to support a deity does exist.

There's a very fine line between being gullible, skeptical, and closed minded.

Personally - I'm a born agnostic/skeptic... I'd love to see any evidence, about anything, either way.

cyantist

pigpen wrote: »

I've done that several times.. It is called lucky guess/instinct/experience/fluke.. it is not a divine knowledge. The same as thinking of someone seconds before they call, I do that ALL the time.. its really annoying.. often my phone will buzz and I know exactly who it is without looking .. not every time.. I'm not psychic I just know there are times when certain people are most likely to contact me (cue my daughter messaging me lol)

Having known several 'psychics' .. I am yet to see anything which challenges my belief that they are charlatans.

Several years ago .. my dad organised a 'psychic evening' .. half a dozen psychics, couple of hundred people.. you can be amazed at my talent for being a believer for an evening .. Anyeay.. total guess work went on right before my eyes..

very very vague and the (mug) relevant person filled in the details..

One guy.. described a child in an accident with an ice cream van... about 15 people said yes to that.. then it narrowed to a male child.. 3 dropped out etc.. strangely enough it could have been a description of an incident with my cousin..

There are some people who are very vague like this, and as you say there will be someone who will be 100% sure it's directed at them. But this person hadn't seen my sister for months, though I accept there is a very small possibility she saw her from a distance. Though even this is unlikely given my sister wasn't really going out much apart from to work and they never crossed paths often anyway.

Also there's a difference between saying "you can't find your passport? check in your coat pocket" to "its in a blue and white striped box underneath a horseshoe at the very back of a warm cupboard". When she has never even been to her house to know what might be in what cupboard and in what box.

It's not that I want to believe blindly but there are things she has said about me that there really aren't reasonable explanations for.