skeptic almost considering going for reading

maccored

what I'd like to know is why 'skeptics' concentrate solely on mediums, palm readers and psychics. Easy pickings maybe, as fraud will always exist.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Oryx wrote: »

Regarding Dave!s comment.. I dont expect you nice scientific people are foolish enough to post up a recording of anyone without their permission, so I dont even have to say how stupid that would be, do I?

Please do, I'd be interested. Obviously it's perfectly legal to record the conversation. So the issue is with publishing it? Given that it's not being used commercially I'd be interested to know what laws would be broken.

Oryx

It is illegal to publish a recording without consent. Ask any journalist. Also it would not go down well with the admins of boards if we were to allow such a recording to be hosted. People tend to forget boards is not simply a place to air whatever they please.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Oryx wrote: »

It is illegal to publish a recording without consent. Ask any journalist.

Do you know what laws cover this, I don't know any journalists

I'm doubtful about it to be honest given that there are loads of TV shows based on secretly recording people and then publishing the recordings. Think prime time undercover or BBC Rogue Traders - do you think these guys give their consent?

Wibbs

Wicknight wrote: »

If it happens again ask for next weeks Lotto numbers :pac:

Oh that was exactly what I was thinking afterwards Wickers . Well they did look wealthy and had lots of shopping bags so........ I have to admit though what she told me and how she told me defo made me wonder. Like I said unusual foreign(to her) name, with an unusual background and it did turn out she was bang on the money about a third party involved too. A third party you wouldnt link into the story. Plus short sharp "name, situation what to look out for" no questions asked of me, in a foreign language and with no money asked for.

Now I can read people very well. Its a skill like any other. As a social animal we have to know to some degree how to read others in social situations. Just as an ability like running helped us catch or run away from animals. And like running some are just better at it. I was always pretty good at it even as a kid and I did practice it later on. Now Ive had hippie type exes claim that even though a sceptic I was "psychic". Im as psychic as a housebrick, I just pick up unconscious nuances and some obvious ones too and wrap em up and get a result, which most of the time comes across and is pretty accurate. A client of mine is a shrink and she's been surprised at how fast I can make an accurate enough assessment of someone and she's waaaayyy smarter than me and has been practicing for 20+ years.

Another reason is that IMHO and IME 90% of people will act 90% true to form 90% of the time. We're pretty predictable though people like to think they're not. So if say a 30 year old woman* came to me as a psychic, just based on that description alone I can assume that shes been in love, she's had her heart broken, she's been betrayed, she's lost someone close to her to death and that she's likely to be coming to me in my role as a psychic to know mostly about relationships and family, probably a recent event if Ive not seen her before. If I look at her I can find out even more. How's she's dressed, how she sits, how she holds herself, has she any obvious marks, tattoos scars etc, does she get her hair done regularly, how much makeup she wears etc. All this before she even opens her mouth. Then when she speaks I can peg more things on her. The questions she asks will lead me down all sorts of different avenues. Cold reading basically.

kylith wrote: »

Really? You don't think that the fact that a sizeable prize has gone uncollected for decades says a lot about the non-existence of supernatural abilities? We can talk for pages and pages, as we already have, about the Fourer effect, confirmation bias, cold and hot reading, and the whole shebang without getting through to anyone; the fact remains that anyone who can prove their ability gets a prize large enough to make me wish I were psychic, and yet it's still sitting in a bank vault.

Yes I would agree except that the prize in question has so many conditions attached that it would be almost impossible to win it. It has so much wriggle room and so many outs the money is safe. Its designed for failure.

*EDIT* This http://www.dailygrail.com/features/the-myth-of-james-randis-million-dollar-challenge explains it better.


* I say woman BTW because in general a larger proportion of women believe in psychics and horoscopes, fate, other levels etc than men(inc some of the most intelligent people Ive ever known). I knew a woman who did this psychic readings thing for a living and she told me that men did come to her but were rarer and all her psychic buddies, male and female, said the same. Personally I think its because many women may approach a problem differently to many men. There is a more multilayered approach. You hear more women sayig they rely on their "gut" on top of their "logic". It's a more nebulous thing. Its actually another good way to approach life and Ive tried to bring it to my own thinking.