POLL: ESP

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Yeah, that's right. And then there was the time I was in Pukhet in 1997 - and guess what: just about seven years later the tsunami swept over the very place I had slept back then. It would have killed me, if I hadn't come right back after my vacation. I think it was a sign from God that told me to go there in 1997 and not in 2004.

Those of you that don't believe me: bugger off, if you don't have faith, it is hard for you to see the light.

And then there was the time the premonition was as subtle as it gets: I left my home to visit a friend. Following a sudden impuls I went back into my flat to check the gas and the oven. Believe it or not - all was well, nothing out of the ordinary. Man, this warning from the heavens was so damn subtle that I never found out what it was all about. Amazing...

 

Okay - Joacqin worded that idea far better than I did.

Ruling out things that people claim on the basis of 'Bah! Impossible!' is stupid, ala The Church arresting Galileo, that guy saying that planes were merely a toy and served no practical purpose, and whatever other great minds and ideas that were attacked simply because people couldn't look for evidence before writing it off.

If 500 people claim to have seen a dragon - it is quite reasonable to assume that they have seem *something* - without investigation you can't say for sure that you didn't - and if they really did you're the poorer for not taking the opportunity to look into it and see a dragon.

With ESP a heap of people claim to have it. Some (most?) of them are probably lying and know it. Some at least believe they do, and claim to have seen it in action/done it. To just write that off as 'Bah! Impossible' is really narrow minded unless you have some actual evidence to counter it - evidence that isn't just another way of wording 'Bah! Impossible', that is.

 

Most of the brain is not used anyway. Besides Christains should believe in Dragons, Unicorns, Giants, Magic in general and especially ESP

 

Right, mates, own up: who did it?! Who ruled out dragons on the basis of 'Bah! Impossible!'? We all know that there could be a one to zillion chance that a dragon exists. And, of course, simply because of the existence of this tiny possibility we can surely take it as a matter of fact that a dragon exists.

After all, what would a possibility be good for if it didn't become reality?! It would be pretty useless, right enough. I'm sure God wouldn't allow any such thing!



OK.

Notice the clever way in which you intuitively applied the verb "claim". Meaning: even you do not regard such a statement as evidence. Investigation is in order. And to the astonishment of all in favor of ESP: yes, such investigations have been conducted. Scientifically. Thoroughly. Methodical. Not one claim (I know of) of the possession of ESP lead to evidence of ESP. Feel free to provide some proof and show me the errors of my way.

The thing is: how many times do you have to hear someone shout "There: Dragon!" without your investigations yielding anything at all before you think "Not Again!"? We humans place such importance on this little mechansim that we even introduced a new word for it. It is called "learning". After you shot a bullet in three of your friends heads and all of them died - would you shoot yourself in the head because there's the possibility of surviving and you don't want to be narrow minded?

And as an afterthought: someone claims he has found a prime with seven billion decimals. We doubt that. Now, I'm primitive and narrow minded, so I would ask him to provide this number as evidence. You are open minded and sophisticated, you would try to proof that there is no prime with seven billion decimals. Do you see the difference there? Then welcome to my world!

 

Okay - methinks I'm getting pwned here

*Goes back to his hole*

Edit: Right, this supports your view more than the one I was throwing out, but it's interesting anyhow: http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/natasha.html

 

Yes to all three questions.

 

Can some of you people who say that you know others/are able to do/have this stuff yourself give some examples or something? (outside of the Holy Spirit examples, there doesn't seem to be much else...)

 

That's a slippery slope there RuneQuester, 5 billion people claim that they have free will, but there is no observation of that.

[ May 12, 2005, 14:27: Message edited by: Morgoth ]

 

I guess thats my call? Hmm... do I dare...

Oh well.

People who claim to be able of 'doing' something dont sound very credible to me. If my experiences are anything to go by one doesnt have an active part in esp-phenomenons. Rather it will happen uncalled and unexpected. For the most part one doesnt even realize that it happens. Which will make any sort of research that much more difficult.

My grandmother woke crying and trashing having had a dream of her twinbrother the night he died in Stalingrad. She said she knew he had died. Who knows.

I myself had a number of premonitions sensed in the form of dreams or hunches. The death of a neighbour, my mother losing her job, me getting mugged were the more outstanding ones. It all came to pass within minutes, hours or days respectively.

A few years ago I played this game with two friends of mine. Close friends. We scribbled names of celebrities on pieces of paper, stuck it to the forehead of the next - and then the wild guessing could start. We took turns asking a question as to who the person might be... a question only to be answered with yes/no. After a few rounds of this it happened: In a straight row the three of us guessed our celebs correctly (mine was Mother Theresa ). It was like a current moving through us... I could almost physically feel it happening. The oddest of experiences I have ever had, leaving us speachless and baffled for a minute or two. We did not continue. To us it was a special moment.

Nonetheless I reserve a bit of scepticism towards all of this, as well as open-mindedness. Possibly it were just coincidences with a little wishful thinking thrown in there. Or not. I cannot tell. No one can.

And now... I will kiss my 'credibility' on SP good bye.

 

Voted "Yes" to the first question and "No" to the other two. Not going to explain my reasoning or respond to anybody else's because my blood pressure's already really high at the moment and I don't want to raise it further by getting into an argument.

 

Considering the number of people who answered "yes" to question number one, I don't think you have anything to worry about .

 

Here's what emode.com says:

Luke, you have an unusually strong psychic talent in the area of Precognition

This means you have an uncanny ability to look into the future and anticipate what is going to happen. By knowing something's going to occur, you can even change the outcome of events for the better.

Luke, our in-depth analysis also shows you have other hidden psychic strengths including retrocognition (the ability to know what has happened in the past), telepathy (the ability to sense people's true thoughts) and clairvoyance (the ability to see the unknown).

Yeah, and I don't even believe in the things.

 

Chev, you're not the son of some guy with lung problems, black outfit, ruler of the universe, red lightsaber and listens to the name of Darth Vader?

Right?