Do you believe in the sixth sense?

[DividedUnity]

I posted this in a duplicate thread already but there are more than five senses anyway. Apparently between 9 and 21 is the correct number.

 

[Plurralbles]

I mean come on haven't you guys ever gone to a room and you know you would here bad news when you just entered it?

You mean those times where everyone is staring at their shoes with tears coming from their eyes?

I don't consider that to be a "sixth sense", more like "common sense".

No I mean whenever you step inside of your house and there's no one there, but you feel like your gonna get bad news.

And haven't you ever felt that someone was staring at you in class even when you never made eye contact.

The human mind is much more powerful than people think. Everyone has a sixth sense, but some are more stronger than others.

Walking into the house, never had that situation happen. The bad news I receive is typically something I've known is coming for a while... Not by some "sixth sense", but because it was predictable and bound to happen.

Someone staring at me, that has happened, but because of Peripheral vision, not because my mind was sensing it. If it was when my back was turned, I think they looked at me because I turned to face them, not because they were staring previously.

Meh I can feel when someone is staring at me, without peripheral vision and I'm always right since I ask others if that person was staring at me which they always respond yes.

And haven't you never entered a room whether it be in your house or in school when two people are at each others throat and you can feel the "weight" of the atmosphere?

Everything you describe is easily explained away by empathy. Everyone has it but it is simply a combination of your past experience working with your senses.

as for the staring, I think you should stop bothering because it's making you sound like you thin kyou're the center of the universe. No one can help if you're strange enough to have someone commonly finding a need to look at you.

 

[Giest4life]

hypnosis is very real.

also many other weird things.
*watch the uri geller show, freaky shit there*

Hypnosis isn't a sense and if you watch Uri Geller a bit more closely he really sucks at sleight of hand. Just saying. It was that or make a joke about The sixth sense being an alright movie and going "oh wait".

Anywho, you haven't told me what you mean by sixth sense aside from something vaguely approaching the description of a 'gut feeling' which I consider less of a 'sense' as an instinctive conclusion based on input from your other senses. If for example you walked into the same room with your eyes closed you probably wouldn't have gotten any feeling of 'bad news'.

Similarly 'sensing doorways and walls' is called memory. as in I'm familiar with this room and can vaguely estimate the location of solid objects within it due to having seen it.
Again, walk into a completely unfamiliar room with your eyes closed and then try sensing the furniture.

If you're referring to some form of telepathy and being able to glean thoughts and feelings from the minds of others using means undetectable to any form of medical science, then I don't believe that either. The human brain has no structures that resemble transmitters or receivers of any form of electromagnetic radiation such as radio waves, the skull insulates any bioelectric field it does produce and no accounts of psychic abilities follow any of the laws of physics, such as distance based falloff or being able to be blocked by dense objects.
Compound that with the fact that if something was happening we would certainly be able to detect it, build our own receivers or at least form a theory that predicts it's existance.

The fact that every so called psychic who ever lived has either been shown to be a fraud or has refused to be tested does not give me confidence in such a phenomona's existance.
Even if one of them was a psychic, they all follow methods indistinguishable from stage magic techniques (such as cold reading and sleight of hand) and nine times out of ten an honest magician can do them better, meaning that any effect that there is would be utterly useless in any practical sense.

Finally it makes no sense from an evolutionary standpoint - we don't see chimps having the beginnings of telepathy, and if it was a real trait, it would provide significant evolutionary advantage and large numbers of people would have it. we'd also be able to track the gene's progression geographically via it's frequency of expression and all that cool stuff.

In summary, no, there's no as of yet undiscovered 'sixth sense', psychic or otherwise and there's no plausible mechanism that could explain it's existence and that is also compatible with the laws of physics.

Oh dear. I'd hate to go in a debate with you. So many lies--my head just might explode

 

[PurePareidolia]

Oh dear. I'd hate to go in a debate with you. So many lies--my head just might explode

As far as I can tell I'm explaining things exactly as I understand them to be, could you elaborate on why or how you think I'm trying to deceive you?

 

[Sikachu]

A sixth sense? Well, I 'believe' in the existence of equilibrioception, thermoception, proprioception, and nociception. But then I usually read wikipedia before making ignorant threads about 'sixth' senses.

It would help if you all updated your conceptions of how humans interact with the world a bit from that espoused in the 4th Century BCE.

 

[Marter]

And haven't you never entered a room whether it be in your house or in school when two people are at each others throat and you can feel the "weight" of the atmosphere?

Not really. I can tell that they are fighting because they are usually yelling or worse, actually getting physical with one another. It doesn't have anything to do with the atmosphere to me.

 

[Ridonculous_Ninja]

Considering I read my mother's mind when I was little, and occasionally see useless bits of the future, let's go with yes.

I'm disappointed in the lack of mind reading now though, only worked when I was 5. =(

Edit: Holy crap 1000 posts. Hell ya!

 

[Marik2]

Everything you describe is easily explained away by empathy. Everyone has it but it is simply a combination of your past experience working with your senses.

as for the staring, I think you should stop bothering because it's making you sound like you thin kyou're the center of the universe. No one can help if you're strange enough to have someone commonly finding a need to look at you.

Sorry if what I said sounded narcissist, but people have stared at me cuz they wanted something from me like, asking me a question. It's only happened to me a coulple of times not like everyday of my high school life.

And haven't you ever felt that a teacher was gonna call on you to solve a problem? Even when you were doing your work and paying attention to the lecture?

 

[Marik2]

And haven't you never entered a room whether it be in your house or in school when two people are at each others throat and you can feel the "weight" of the atmosphere?

Not really. I can tell that they are fighting because they are usually yelling or worse, actually getting physical with one another. It doesn't have anything to do with the atmosphere to me.

Alright then as I said before everyone has different levels of the sixth sense. No I'm not being snobbish for saying that.

 

[Plurralbles]

Everything you describe is easily explained away by empathy. Everyone has it but it is simply a combination of your past experience working with your senses.

as for the staring, I think you should stop bothering because it's making you sound like you thin kyou're the center of the universe. No one can help if you're strange enough to have someone commonly finding a need to look at you.

Sorry if what I said sounded narcissist, but people have stared at me cuz they wanted something from me like, asking me a question. It's only happened to me a coulple of times not like everyday of my high school life.

And haven't you ever felt that a teacher was gonna call on you to solve a problem? Even when you were doing your work and paying attention to the lecture?

How often do you have that same feeling but NOT get called on? I think people who believe in a sixth sense have selective memory.

 

[Marter]

And haven't you ever felt that a teacher was gonna call on you to solve a problem? Even when you were doing your work and paying attention to the lecture?

That has happened to me, but only because I actually look at the teacher when they are talking. They look back and then decide it's a good idea to call upon me. >_>

 

[Marik2]

Everything you describe is easily explained away by empathy. Everyone has it but it is simply a combination of your past experience working with your senses.

as for the staring, I think you should stop bothering because it's making you sound like you thin kyou're the center of the universe. No one can help if you're strange enough to have someone commonly finding a need to look at you.

Sorry if what I said sounded narcissist, but people have stared at me cuz they wanted something from me like, asking me a question. It's only happened to me a coulple of times not like everyday of my high school life.

And haven't you ever felt that a teacher was gonna call on you to solve a problem? Even when you were doing your work and paying attention to the lecture?

How often do you have that same feeling but NOT get called on? I think people who believe in a sixth sense have selective memory.

Well I only had that feeling a couple of times with different teachers, but I don't get that feeling all the time, maybe once a month in the class. And yes every time I have that feeling I get called on by the teacher, even when he's not looking at me and I was doing my work.

 

[Plurralbles]

Everything you describe is easily explained away by empathy. Everyone has it but it is simply a combination of your past experience working with your senses.

as for the staring, I think you should stop bothering because it's making you sound like you thin kyou're the center of the universe. No one can help if you're strange enough to have someone commonly finding a need to look at you.

Sorry if what I said sounded narcissist, but people have stared at me cuz they wanted something from me like, asking me a question. It's only happened to me a coulple of times not like everyday of my high school life.

And haven't you ever felt that a teacher was gonna call on you to solve a problem? Even when you were doing your work and paying attention to the lecture?

How often do you have that same feeling but NOT get called on? I think people who believe in a sixth sense have selective memory.

Well I only had that feeling a couple of times with different teachers, but I don't get that feeling all the time, maybe once a month in the class. And yes every time I have that feeling I get called on by the teacher, even when he's not looking at me and I was doing my work.

Whatever, guy. I assure you, most likely there was a tell that got you in an uncomfortable feeling, something that's been wired into you throughout your life, and that triggered an involuntary response that caused you to pick up on something coming your way and it jus thappens to be the teacher calling on you.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

and I refer to the sixth sense of course as anything that you sense that isn't from your eyes/ears/nose etc.
Like for example I can feel people staring at me, and even if everything is completely silent and I have my eyes closed I can still 'sense' doorways and walls and people around me.
You guys?

Sixth sense? You mean besides balance, kinesthetic sense, pain, and temperature? (The last two are distinct from tactile touch.)

No. You can navigate doorways from memory or through your other mundane senses. You can recognize when someone is staring at you because the human mind is most concerned with the intent of other people, and you may subconsciously recognize signs that you're being watched (someone behind you gets quiet, whispered talking, peripheral vision, paranoia, only noticing the times you glance backwards and someone's staring at you while forgetting the times when they aren't).

If you can demonstrate psychic or otherwise supernatural powers, find a man named James Randi. He has a million dollars waiting for you.

 

[Marik2]

Everything you describe is easily explained away by empathy. Everyone has it but it is simply a combination of your past experience working with your senses.

as for the staring, I think you should stop bothering because it's making you sound like you thin kyou're the center of the universe. No one can help if you're strange enough to have someone commonly finding a need to look at you.

Sorry if what I said sounded narcissist, but people have stared at me cuz they wanted something from me like, asking me a question. It's only happened to me a coulple of times not like everyday of my high school life.

And haven't you ever felt that a teacher was gonna call on you to solve a problem? Even when you were doing your work and paying attention to the lecture?

How often do you have that same feeling but NOT get called on? I think people who believe in a sixth sense have selective memory.

Well I only had that feeling a couple of times with different teachers, but I don't get that feeling all the time, maybe once a month in the class. And yes every time I have that feeling I get called on by the teacher, even when he's not looking at me and I was doing my work.

Whatever, guy. I assure you, most likely there was a tell that got you in an uncomfortable feeling, something that's been wired into you throughout your life, and that triggered an involuntary response that caused you to pick up on something coming your way and it jus thappens to be the teacher calling on you.

Okey dokey then as the old saying goes "We may never know".

 

[Ridonculous_Ninja]

and I refer to the sixth sense of course as anything that you sense that isn't from your eyes/ears/nose etc.
Like for example I can feel people staring at me, and even if everything is completely silent and I have my eyes closed I can still 'sense' doorways and walls and people around me.
You guys?

Sixth sense? You mean besides balance, kinesthetic sense, pain, and temperature? (The last two are distinct from tactile touch.)

No. You can navigate doorways from memory or through your other mundane senses. You can recognize when someone is staring at you because the human mind is most concerned with the intent of other people, and you may subconsciously recognize signs that you're being watched (someone behind you gets quiet, whispered talking, peripheral vision, paranoia, only noticing the times you glance backwards and someone's staring at you while forgetting the times when they aren't).

If you can demonstrate psychic or otherwise supernatural powers, find a man named James Randi. He has a million dollars waiting for you.

If only we had a way to record my dreams and everything I see through a span of a month or two, they could catch one of my 5 second glimpses of the future and I would be rich!

Except setting all that up for something that only happens to me maybe a few times a year would probably cost more than the million... Plus I never know when the premonition is for until it happens.

*sigh*

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

hypnosis is very real.

also many other weird things.
*watch the uri geller show, freaky shit there*

Hypnosis isn't a sense and if you watch Uri Geller a bit more closely he really sucks at sleight of hand. Just saying. It was that or make a joke about The sixth sense being an alright movie and going "oh wait".

Anywho, you haven't told me what you mean by sixth sense aside from something vaguely approaching the description of a 'gut feeling' which I consider less of a 'sense' as an instinctive conclusion based on input from your other senses. If for example you walked into the same room with your eyes closed you probably wouldn't have gotten any feeling of 'bad news'.

Similarly 'sensing doorways and walls' is called memory. as in I'm familiar with this room and can vaguely estimate the location of solid objects within it due to having seen it.
Again, walk into a completely unfamiliar room with your eyes closed and then try sensing the furniture.

If you're referring to some form of telepathy and being able to glean thoughts and feelings from the minds of others using means undetectable to any form of medical science, then I don't believe that either. The human brain has no structures that resemble transmitters or receivers of any form of electromagnetic radiation such as radio waves, the skull insulates any bioelectric field it does produce and no accounts of psychic abilities follow any of the laws of physics, such as distance based falloff or being able to be blocked by dense objects.
Compound that with the fact that if something was happening we would certainly be able to detect it, build our own receivers or at least form a theory that predicts it's existance.

The fact that every so called psychic who ever lived has either been shown to be a fraud or has refused to be tested does not give me confidence in such a phenomona's existance.
Even if one of them was a psychic, they all follow methods indistinguishable from stage magic techniques (such as cold reading and sleight of hand) and nine times out of ten an honest magician can do them better, meaning that any effect that there is would be utterly useless in any practical sense.

Finally it makes no sense from an evolutionary standpoint - we don't see chimps having the beginnings of telepathy, and if it was a real trait, it would provide significant evolutionary advantage and large numbers of people would have it. we'd also be able to track the gene's progression geographically via it's frequency of expression and all that cool stuff.

In summary, no, there's no as of yet undiscovered 'sixth sense', psychic or otherwise and there's no plausible mechanism that could explain it's existence and that is also compatible with the laws of physics.

Oh dear. I'd hate to go in a debate with you. So many lies--my head just might explode

What lies? Show me a study in a peer reviewed medical journal that demonstrates the remote possibility of psychic abilities (not just a book, but a peer reviewed medical study).

Go ahead, I'll wait. http://scholar.google.ca/

I'd hate to get in a debate with you. You make accusations without providing any reasons or support.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

and I refer to the sixth sense of course as anything that you sense that isn't from your eyes/ears/nose etc.
Like for example I can feel people staring at me, and even if everything is completely silent and I have my eyes closed I can still 'sense' doorways and walls and people around me.
You guys?

Sixth sense? You mean besides balance, kinesthetic sense, pain, and temperature? (The last two are distinct from tactile touch.)

No. You can navigate doorways from memory or through your other mundane senses. You can recognize when someone is staring at you because the human mind is most concerned with the intent of other people, and you may subconsciously recognize signs that you're being watched (someone behind you gets quiet, whispered talking, peripheral vision, paranoia, only noticing the times you glance backwards and someone's staring at you while forgetting the times when they aren't).

If you can demonstrate psychic or otherwise supernatural powers, find a man named James Randi. He has a million dollars waiting for you.

If only we had a way to record my dreams and everything I see through a span of a month or two, they could catch one of my 5 second glimpses of the future and I would be rich!

Except setting all that up for something that only happens to me maybe a few times a year would probably cost more than the million... Plus I never know when the premonition is for until it happens.

*sigh*

Plus, if you just keep guessing randomly, eventually you'll get something close enough to an actual "real" event that you'll mistake it for psychic powers. You know, like how horoscopes are always vague enough to apply to you, regardless of when you were born.

 

[Rakun Man]

The movie? Yes, it exists.
The actual sixth sense, no. Just no.
That feeling that people are watching you, that's called paranoia. Go see a psychiatrist.

 

[AMMO Kid]

For some reason I always glance behind me when someone is looking at me from behind, as if I know that they are staring at me, so yes, I do believe in a sixth sense.