Am I a Psychic?

[Cpt. Red]

Something I used to be able to do when I couldn't remember some things was to ask someone about it and then remembering the full answer just before they were able to say half a syllable. It used to lead me to answer at the same time as them and people got quite annoyed by it.

And to answer your question: nope and neither am I.
My example is easily explained by how the brain stores information and that the little cue I got from barely half a syllable was enough for me to find the answer inside my little crazy brain.

 

[TimbukTurnip]

Of course you're not a bloody psychic, theres no such thing.
Stuff like that happens to everybody. Happened to me earlier. At school earlier I randomly remembered theres an episode of scrubs with the guy from The Mummy in it, and later, here at home, it was on TV.
Am i psychic? of course not. Simple chain of thought led me to remembering about that episode, and the fact that same episode was on later was simple coincidence.
It's happened many times before to me, and to many other people I'm sure. Please don't be a numpty by believing yourself to be psychic. Especially seeing as theres no such thing.

 

[Hobonicus]

No. There's no such thing as psychics

You're amazing!
How can you know that? You must have looked into the future to a time where science has actually disproved psychics. But then... wouldn't that make you a psychic? Maybe you're a time traveler.

Either that or you're arrogant enough to claim as fact something that is actually opinion or belief.

Haha... oh the irony in pretending to be so edgy and logically open-minded. Ye be ignoring that important thing called common sense.

Oh the irony in citing common sense as a supporting argument against being logically open-minded.
Common sense to me would suggest being open minded unless a claim was disproven or in some way ludicrous or illogical. So until science can say how psychics can tell us previously unknown details of crimes you don't get to make unsupported claims.

Yes there are a lot of kooks out there, claiming or pretending to be psychic for money or to make themselves feel special. There are also instances of paranormal activity that science can't explain... yet.
If you want to lump all psychics in the first category go ahead, but that's called ignorance. I'd be very careful suggesting someone's a pretender or trying to be "edgy" when the best argument you can come up with is an unjustified "its common sense".

Science can never technically prove anything, even gravity is just a theory. The reason we consider it to be "proven" is because we've seen it demonstrated a lot. There are instances of paranormal activity that science cannot explain only because there wasn't a scientist around to document it. Those "paranormal activities" themselves only exist because of a lack of contextual evidence that would have proven them false was it available at the time. So paranormal activities are built on ignorance of data and speculation without evidence. You think that the unexplainable without evidence is acceptable but when given a chance and proven false in far more circumstances than otherwise it should be ignored in favor of a "if I can imagine it, it could still be possible"?

When given the chance, yes science will always show that things like psychic powers are not real, because there are millions of other tediously explainable forces involved. Similar gravity, we've seen often enough through various means that these mystical powers don't exist, and so they are "proven" to be false.

For example, I am confident in saying that God doesn't exist; he's a fictional creation that we made. There are hundreds of references to this in history and if you've pursued even a little bit of religious history studies you'd see where I'm coming from in the whole not believing thing. So would you say I'm arrogant to assume God doesn't exist, something I can't possibly know 100%? Am I certain that gravity is caused by mass and not by some divine being that wants us to think it's caused by mass? Am I arrogant because I believe in gravity?

See, we're humans, not robots. We operate with a certain level of restraint and assumption. We have to. Pretending that you're so open-minded you'd accept the possibility of anything is ridiculous.

 

[Cyberius]

It happens all the time for me. I've yet to figure out why :/

 

[Darkenwrath]

no, psychic powers don't exists, you might as well pray.

/thread

 

[the Dept of Science]

Being able to predict television programs would be the worst X-Men power ever. I think even if it was magic (its not), I would be pretty pissed off that my power, unexplainable by physics, had a utility equal to that of a TV guide.

 

[fenrizz]

No. There's no such thing as psychics

You're amazing!
How can you know that? You must have looked into the future to a time where science has actually disproved psychics. But then... wouldn't that make you a psychic? Maybe you're a time traveler.

Either that or you're arrogant enough to claim as fact something that is actually opinion or belief.

Haha... oh the irony in pretending to be so edgy and logically open-minded. Ye be ignoring that important thing called common sense.

Oh the irony in citing common sense as a supporting argument against being logically open-minded.
Common sense to me would suggest being open minded unless a claim was disproven or in some way ludicrous or illogical. So until science can say how psychics can tell us previously unknown details of crimes you don't get to make unsupported claims.

Yes there are a lot of kooks out there, claiming or pretending to be psychic for money or to make themselves feel special. There are also instances of paranormal activity that science can't explain... yet.
If you want to lump all psychics in the first category go ahead, but that's called ignorance. I'd be very careful suggesting someone's a pretender or trying to be "edgy" when the best argument you can come up with is an unjustified "its common sense".

Science can never technically prove anything, even gravity is just a theory. The reason we consider it to be "proven" is because we've seen it demonstrated a lot. There are instances of paranormal activity that science cannot explain only because there wasn't a scientist around to document it. Those "paranormal activities" themselves only exist because of a lack of contextual evidence that would have proven them false was it available at the time. So paranormal activities are built on ignorance of data and speculation without evidence. You think that the unexplainable without evidence is acceptable but when given a chance and proven false in far more circumstances than otherwise it should be ignored in favor of a "if I can imagine it, it could still be possible"?

When given the chance, yes science will always show that things like psychic powers are not real, because there are millions of other tediously explainable forces involved. Similar gravity, we've seen often enough through various means that these mystical powers don't exist, and so they are "proven" to be false.

For example, I am confident in saying that God doesn't exist; he's a fictional creation that we made. There are hundreds of references to this in history and if you've pursued even a little bit of religious history studies you'd see where I'm coming from in the whole not believing thing. So would you say I'm arrogant to assume God doesn't exist, something I can't possibly know 100%? Am I certain that gravity is caused by mass and not by some divine being that wants us to think it's caused by mass? Am I arrogant because I believe in gravity?

See, we're humans, not robots. We operate with a certain level of restraint and assumption. We have to. Pretending that you're so open-minded you'd accept the possibility of anything is ridiculous.

I loved that response.

OT:
No, I do not believe you are psychic.

I once thought about a friend, only to have him call me not 5 minutes later.
Several times I have thought about friends, and they did not call.
The one time it happened I remember, because the odds are against it.

 

[fletch_talon]

Science can never technically prove anything, even gravity is just a theory.

I am well aware of this. Science can however disprove something, or at least put forward a more logical theory, in some cases it has done this, in others it has not.

There are instances of paranormal activity that science cannot explain only because there wasn't a scientist around to document it. Those "paranormal activities" themselves only exist because of a lack of contextual evidence that would have proven them false was it available at the time.

So what you're basically telling me is that for scientists to disprove an instance of paranormal activity, they have to be physically present at the time? As I've already said, there are many kooks out there who want attention and money. But there are still instances of people giving accurate predictions, if science could come up with a theory for that then fine.
And no I don't consider people like John Edwards evidence for psychic ability, I have read about the techniques that can be used to replicate his performances and am convinced that they are the more likely occurence.

For example, I am confident in saying that God doesn't exist; he's a fictional creation that we made. There are hundreds of references to this in history and if you've pursued even a little bit of religious history studies you'd see where I'm coming from in the whole not believing thing. So would you say I'm arrogant to assume God doesn't exist, something I can't possibly know 100%? Am I certain that gravity is caused by mass and not by some divine being that wants us to think it's caused by mass? Am I arrogant because I believe in gravity?

I think you're arrogant to claim God doesn't exist. To assume he doesn't exist is perfectly understandable. You just stated that you can't know it 100%, and you also used the words "don't believe" rather than saying God doesn't exist, your own words are (eventually) open minded enough, its just unfortunate that you then take your beliefs and assumptions and claim that they are factual (or close enough to factual that we can claim they are).
We aren't talking about gravity here. I think you'll find most theists will happily agree with the theories put forward for gravity. The only difference is science just says why it happens whilst theists believe that God made it that way.
God, and some paranormal activity aren't like gravity. Gravity has a rather sound theory to it, put forward y science, what we're discussing doesn't always share this. If someone steps forward and claims they are a psychic, then I will say "oh that's interesting" and observe until I:

a) lose interest
b) science provides an alternate theory
c) I observe something which provides fuel for disbelief

Its not belief, but its an unwillingness to disbelieve until given adequate reason.

Pretending that you're so open-minded you'd accept the possibility of anything is ridiculous.

Good thing then that "anything" is not an accurate description of what I accept (and there you go claiming I'm pretending again, trust me, if I was pretending I wouldn't be wasting this much time discussing this. Also you constantly telling me what I do believe and what I "pretend" to believe is also arrogant).

Flying Spaghetti Monster - Its a religion created to mock other religions, its for this reason (amongst others to numerous to count) that I do not believe in it.

Scientology - A religion created by a man who believed he could make more money from religion than writing his science fiction novels... gee I wonder.

Judaism/Christianity - A religion which potentially originated in ancient Egypt during a time when they ditched the whole pantheon idea and went with a single god (Aten I think it was), it was later divided by the appearance of a supposed son of God (Jesus) who historical records show "may" have actually existed. Now while this potential link to Egyptian mythology implies there are probably many inaccuracies in the Bible it also shows that it has links to the real world (the historical records of a massive flood coinciding with the story of Noah being another potential link).
Basically I see no reason to be able to state with confidence that God does not exist, it may be that no living person ever will be able to accurately make that claim (or its counter claim). Because of this, its perfectly acceptable to rely on belief to sway your opinion, so long as you realise that your belief does not equal fact.

 

[elricik]

Wow this thread has way more thought going into than I thought possible. Honestly I know I'm not psychic, and even if I am being able to sometimes predict what simpsons episode is coming on isn't exactly the greatest psychic power. I just wanted to know if this had ever happened to anyone else. But high five escapist users for taking one of my stupid random thoughts and turning it into a serious discussion, oh how I love this community.

 

[person427]

That happens to me to. Do you also have uncontrollable telekinesis? Once I moved a flash drive across the room without even noticing it.

 

[Arcticflame]

I have a weird theory about it. I believe in fate, everything is set in stone. I believe that everyone gets small premonitions but disregard them. Like Deja Vu.

But that's pointless, if everything is set in stone, you cant change it. If you do change it, you can say that change was set in stone.

I have my views, you can have yours. You can debate personal beliefs 'til the sun collapses but you won't get anywhere with it.

Nothing to do with personal belief. My point was that whether or not it's set in stone or not, it's ultimately a pointless debate, as with one eventuality, only one shall occur, with no way of knowing whether it was the only possible occurrence or one of many possibilities.

 

[rabidmidget]

No, you're not, it's just the butter side down phenomenon (whenever you drop a piece of toast you mostly remember the times it falls butter side down, which makes it appear that toast always falls butter side down). In your lifetime, you will watch many episodes of the simpsons and you will often think about individual episodes, sooner or later you will remember an episode and view it later the same day. It's nothing amazing and you are not a psychic.

 

[Jaranja]

I have a weird theory about it. I believe in fate, everything is set in stone. I believe that everyone gets small premonitions but disregard them. Like Deja Vu.

But that's pointless, if everything is set in stone, you cant change it. If you do change it, you can say that change was set in stone.

I have my views, you can have yours. You can debate personal beliefs 'til the sun collapses but you won't get anywhere with it.

Nothing to do with personal belief. My point was that whether or not it's set in stone or not, it's ultimately a pointless debate, as with one eventuality, only one shall occur, with no way of knowing whether it was the only possible occurrence or one of many possibilities.

If there's no way to tell, it comes down to personal belief.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

I have only heard one story that could possible be sign of psychic abilities. Although I have a few theories how that came to be.

You can't make a claim of corrolation if there is none.

 

[Arcticflame]

If there's no way to tell, it comes down to personal belief.

Yep, and a pointless one.

 

[Jaranja]

If there's no way to tell, it comes down to personal belief.

Yep, and a pointless one.

You can think that way if you want.

 

[THR061000]

Man, don't listen to everyone else...

You're straight up legit bro, I mean seriously Alpha male. The thing is, you have to watch out for the government - making this post was a bad idea. They search for keywords like this and they're probably going to be coming after you, in the night - but you won't hear them. You've probably completely doomed your family, they'll be taken out just so there's no witnesses. As for you? Well, I think you should take off now, it'll be rough for awhile - you'll be doing things for money that you never imagined. You know how to whistle right? Put your lips together and blow? Well, you're going to be doing a lot of blowing with the lifestyle you're going to have to live.

You could always stay, but then, they'll get you. Experiment on you. Torture you. Have fun.

 

[Warforger]

If you truly think your psychic, go here.
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/
There is like 1 wannabe psychic post everyday there.

 

[ethaninja]

Three things I don't believe in; coincidences, religion lore, and psychics. No, your not a psychic. Nobody is. There is a science that is dedicated to showing how "psychics" do their "thing". I've never bothered reading up on it because... well I have better things to do However I would recommend it.

 

[ethaninja]

No. There's no such thing as psychics

You're amazing!
How can you know that? You must have looked into the future to a time where science has actually disproved psychics. But then... wouldn't that make you a psychic? Maybe you're a time traveler.

Either that or you're arrogant enough to claim as fact something that is actually opinion or belief.

I wouldn't go so far as to call him arrogant. Did you not realise this could also be his opinion as well?