Psychic Abilities: Mumbo Jumbo or Something Else? Scientific Discussion Only Please!

I have no dout that telekinesis is real I'm actually practicing it but befor you attempt this beware that you powers come from heaven or hell think about it first and be carfull

How many are able to perform telekinesis in the forum ? Raise my hand ! LOL

Starting point to have your ability recognised:

When you have a dream that you recognise as precogniscent, write it down in as much detail as possible as soon as you wake. Focus on indicators to time, date and location. Date and sign the document, then lodge it with a dis-interested third party (such as a lawyer).

Come the pre-cog event occuring, write it down again, again in as much detail as possible, without referring to the original dream-notes. If possible, get a reliable co-witness to independently write their own account of the event.

Take both accounts to the lawyer, and, in his presence, compare the three. If there are any commonalities that cannot be accounted for by mere coincidence or foreknowledge, and they happen regularly, then you can contact either the CIA or James Randi.

For the record, though, it's all woowoo.

I figure it this way, all true psychics should be rich out of their minds (stock market, lottery, being able to pick the horses, cards about to be played in poker, etc & etc. )...

Only one occurrence I give credence to in my life. I was about ten and dreamed that I had climbed a ten foot tall flower, fallen off, bit my tongue, and looked to my left to see a boy in a yellow and black football jersey with the number 33. As my dreams don't usually involve strange things, other than flying, I told my mom about it. About two weeks later, we went camping with some family friends who'd brought their nephew I had never met. The campground had a park with large metal flowers for climbing. I did not recall the dream until I had fallen from one of the flowers, bit my tongue, and looked over to the see the nephew aforementioned in his 33 yellow football jersey. Quite strange.

I know these things are completely made up, and I'm not going to repeat anyone here...

However, what about "harnessing" (Boy do I sound New-Aged now!) the "power of our mind" (I'm scaring myself here...) Basically, if RedNeckOreo knew that that guy was psycho, smart, and his sister was sick, he didn't put it together consicously, but, I guess, his sub.c. did.

Looking back, its obvious, so is it obvious for Mr. Sub.C looking forward?

Again, there's accuracy problems. This phenomenon might be once-a-decade (maybe more, the more dreams you can remember, my friend remembers 3 dreams on a daily basis), so there's a bit of luck involved.

Basically what I'm saying is premonitions are technically possible, and they happen, but they're too rare to be called psychic. Its just taking what you know, and having your sub.c. ponder over it for 5 hours.

There are many psychics plying their trade, often for quite respectable organisations ("Police call in psychic..."), yet none of them actually have any evidence for their ability.

Some will advertise the fact that they "helped the police when they were looking for Child X". When you ask them if they actually found Child X, then sorry, no, the vibrations were bad, or the spirits were quiet that day.

One of the main excuses used by psychics who fail under proper scrutiny is that the sceptic attitude of the scientists interfered with their abilities somehow, and that they always succeed when surrounded by believers. Yeh...

One of the best-documented psychic events is the Out of Body Experience (OBE) during surgery. Patients claim to be able to describe surgical theatres, and surgeons accurately, even naming the music being played during the op.

Quite impressive at first glance, so a UK hospital did a simple test. When the procedure meant that the patient was unconscious before entering the theatre, they stood a large gaudy sign in the corner with a random message on it, or one of the staff wore something strange.

When patients later claimed to have had an OBE during the op, they took a statement describing the experience. None of the accounts included the oddities.

The incongruities then had to be dealt with. What about the patients who gave accurate descriptions of equipment or procedures? It turned out they either watched lots of medical dramas, or were the sort of people who liked to know what would be done to them, and had researched it beforehand. They were merely dreaming stuff they already knew.

What about the patients who could name the music being played? Hearing is the last sense to fade under anaesthetic, and sometimes doesn't go at all - they merely heard it and incorporated it in their dreams.

Well, I never really believed in the whole psychic thing, but recently I had what you would call a "premonition." I won't go into details, but my sister was getting a divorce from a psycho (not psychic) husband. She had been sick, so he said, and couldn't even come to the phone. She had been laid up a day or so, when I had a dream one night that he was poisoning her. I didn't know how, just sensed something was wrong. I ignored this as one of my crazy dreams, of which I have many. A few days later, I get woken up, my mom says to watch my nephews, my sister has to go to ER, and they think her husband tried to poison her. True story, I don't lie about things as serious as that. Karma. Anyway, she's fine now, and he's two states away. So, I think premonitions are entirely possible, but talking to deceased people and spirits? Nah.

Several "offers" have stood the test of time, from Houdini's to several others starting a trust fund for someone, anyone, that could scientifically demonstrate psychic abilities.

I once saw such a demonstration on TV years ago, where the "psychic" turned pages of an open book "with his mind alone" but when the one offering the money put a few light and fluffy packing peanuts in front of the book, he could no longer do it (he had been blowing on the pages).

Balancing a pencil on the edge of a table, he "supposedly" rotated it with his mind, but again, it was demonstrated that anyone could rotate the pencil like he was doing it, bringing their hands close and using the very very slight air disturbance to move the pencil.

It was all very informative, and certainly frustrating for the "psychic".

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The persons named below ("challengers") will pay the sum of $12,000 ("the challenge prize") to any person ("claimant") who can demonstrate any psychic or paranormal power or ability under scientifically valid observing conditions. Prior to any demonstration or test, challengers and claimant will enter into a complete, written agreement called "the protocol", which will set out what power or ability is to be demonstrated, how it is to be tested, and what test results will constitute success or failure. These instructions and conditions alone are not an offer. No contract to pay the challenge amount is made with any claimant until the claimant and challengers have negotiated and entered into the protocol. The protocol must incorporate the following terms and conditions:

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A scientific discussion of psychic abilities inevitably concludes: MUMBO JUMBO! But nevertheless, it works. You know it does by your self. Why ask?

. I think Vendigroth and Goodhart are on the right track. . How good is the brain at "lying"? Put on a pair of those orange sunglasses and wear them for 5-10 minutes. Now, look at the sky. What color is it? It looks blue! And the bottom light on a traffic signal will still look green (a little darker than usual, but still green). . The brain does a pretty good job of seeing things the way it thinks they should be. I've read of experiments where they will have ppl wear glasses that turn everything upside down and after a few days the brain flips the scene over and ppl see everything rightside up again, even though the image on the retina is upside down. Take the glasses off and they see the world upside down for a while, until the brain re-adjusts. I tried searching for some sources, but can't remember what the effect is called. . Memory is terribly inaccurate. Not only do we remember things wrong, but the brain will fill in details (usually incorrectly) that we didn't even experience. Search for papers by Elizabeth Loftus (heehee helping my ex study for her PhD Psych finally paid off). Don't know, but am assuming that memories of dreams would be even more inaccurate. . I'm not gonna say that psychic phenomena such as premonition, thought transference, telekinesis, &c don't exist, but I've never seen any credible (to me) evidence. Just like UFOs. . For your particular situation, my guess is that several things could be happening, maybe more than one. You had more than one dream about the judging, only one was was in the forefront when you awoke, but you quickly recalled the most correct dream and it became the right one. I'll bet your notes are not very detailed and would fit many situations. You may actually have known more about the situation, beforehand, than you realize. Or, as Vendigroth said, you may have just been having an epiphany (I claim deja vu works in much the same way).

deja vu? look at this, specifically deva vecu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu

if only you could hone your skills, then the government could use you for remote viewing. too bad they canceled the stargate project.

it's half-ironic, half spooky that i was looking at your page when this came up.... I'm a scientist, and accept that there are things i don't know. What i do know is that sometimes i reach to pick up the phone before it rings. A freind of mine picked up her mobile, then promptly recieved a text. There have been times when i'e seen something happen in my head, then, a fraction of a second later, it happens in real life, so, yes, i do believe it's real What i don't believe is that it's ghosts or god or the devil. I'll follow this topic and chip in where i can. I've got a lot to say.