Do You Know Any Psychics?

[Boojum]

I don't know any psychics.

But I don't associate with liars, cheats and charlatans, so I'm not likely to.

I don't know any spiritualists, fortune tellers or astrologists either.

Nor do I know any crystal readers.

And I certainly don't know any homeopaths.

[Eddiesilence]

Here's the man who literally wrote the book on cold-reading and mentalism. Reputedly a mentor to Derren Brown, Ian Rowland wrote "The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading." It's quite brilliant, and unravels the illusions behind the belief that "the psychic couldn't have known that."

h ttp://www.ianrowland.com/

Edited January 16, 2012 by Eddiesilence

[Guest bazzad9]

Here's the man who literally wrote the book on cold-reading and mentalism. Reputedly a mentor to Derren Brown, Ian Rowland wrote "The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading." It's quite brilliant, and unravels the illusions behind the belief that "the psychic couldn't have known that."

h ttp://www.ianrowland.com/

Seconded ,any doubts about pyschics read that book

[Guest bazzad9]

Another good link

h ttp://www.projectbarnum.co.uk/

[Hughie Green]

I'm 50/50 on this, I was at a mates house and they were having their fortunes told by a Tarot reader, someone didn't turn up and since it was paid for I took their place, before the reading started I commented on the style of her cards which was a Rider Waite deck

and said I preferred the Crowley Harris deck to wind her up, anyhoo the reading was crap and I disagreed with her interpretation of

the lay of the cards and the fact she would right cards that were upside down, apparently I should by now be married with three daughters living in California and working in computing?, epic fail,

the other side of it is the fact that I have had experiences and premonitions that came true some nice and some nasty, I was once scoring in a pub for three mates that were with me, something wasn't right and as soon as I had the gear in my hand I walked straight out the door knowing my mates would come after me, sure enough we were mere yards from the door when van loads of cops screeched round the corner and piled into the pub, 100 in total that was the Royal Stewart pub bust in Worthing, they had container lorries parked up round the corner to do the strip searches in, big news at the time, the old spider senses paid off that time.

[Eddiesilence]

Bazza:

He simply doesn't care about disproving psychic phenomena, and refuses to enter the fray!

One thing I love about Ian Rowland is his sheer diplomacy. His stance on psychics is deliberately conciliatory, for both political and practical reasons. Here's a section from his 2011 lecture 'Mind Twists', in which he offers even the skeptic a refreshing neutrality. It's very inclusive, even if objective reality strictly disagrees.

The talk is available on PDF from here

h ttp://www.ianrowland.com/index.php?p=MindTwists:

Psychic Readings: Why?

All of you have either been for a psychic reading or you know someone who has. Some psychics read tarot cards or palms. Some offer astrological or clairvoyant readings, while others say they can relay messages from the dead. (Reading tea leaves was very popular at one time. You don’t see it much these days due to the emergence of that great dark nemesis of psychic powers: the teabag.)

The psychic industry is one of the oldest in the world. In one form or another, it is found in every society, all over the world, throughout history.

It’s also one of the most profitable industries. Let’s put it this way: it’s more profitable than oil. To make money from oil, you have to find it, drill it, refine it, distribute it and sell it. To make money from readings… you just talk to people and they give you money.

So, how does persuasion work in this context?

It’s clearly not based on an appeal to reason. There’s no scientific evidence for psychic powers, as the sceptics never tire of telling us. Then again, not everything is a scientific question. There’s no scientific evidence I ate two biscuits last Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a real phenomenon.

However, even setting aside the science issue, common sense tells you that a few tarot cards – some pretty pictures printed on card stock – can’t have any specific connection to you or events in your life.

So why do people pay for readings? You already know the answer. It’s because readings offer a 'PEG', a perceived emotional gain.

We all get frustrated sometimes by the fact that we can’t see the future. It’s nice to think someone can see some of what the future holds. It’s even nicer when they say, as they always do, that the signs are generally positive.

Some people go to see psychics because they’re looking for hope, comfort and reassurance of a kind they can’t obtain any other way. Some people just go for fun. It’s a pleasant, relaxing experience where you get told that you’re basically a good person and your future’s going to be mostly okay. Many people happen to think that’s worth paying to hear.

Okay, so that’s the ‘why’. Now let’s look at the ‘how’.

Psychic Readings: How?

How do psychic readings work?

It’s a big subject and I can’t cover it in detail, but let’s take an example. Let’s say John [someone called John happened to be in the front row - IR] goes to see a psychic and says: ‘She told me all sorts of things that she couldn’t possibly have known. For example, she knew that my brother moved to New York last year, and I got a call from him yesterday!’

It sounds impressive. However, if you could go back and be a fly on the wall at that reading, you would see that’s not quite what happened.

The psychic says something like, ‘I’m seeing a connection with overseas, I’m getting the letter A for some reason, can you understand this connection?’

Let’s consider this. Many countries contain the letter A, and two very big ones start with it: America and Australia. The psychic hasn’t said whether this connection is past, present or future. She hasn’t said whether it’s personal, social or professional. She hasn’t said whether it pertains to real events or just dreams. The ‘connection’ could in fact be anything at all.

Here’s the point: the psychic provides the statement, but the client provides the significance. In this example, John might say, ‘Well, my brother moved to America last year, to New York, could that be it?’

The psychic says, ‘Yes, that’s what I’m sensing, a family connection with New York. I’m also seeing communication – maybe quite recently?’ What does ‘communication’ mean? It could cover dozens of different possibilities. Once again, the psychic has offered a statement, but the client provides the significance.

‘Well,’ says John, ‘as it happens he phoned yesterday’.

The psychic says, ‘Yes, that’s what I was sensing, a recent call from him.’ It can all feel very convincing. After the reading, John will talk about it in a way that makes it sound far more impressive than it really was at the time.

This process can never fail. If John can’t find any connection, of any kind, with any country containing the letter ‘A’, the psychic just says, ‘Well, if that doesn’t mean anything to you now, it will do soon… will you look out for that? It’s going to be quite a promising opportunity.’

This process is called cold reading and this is just one quick example. There is a lot more to it! See the notes at the end of this document.

A Digression On Sceptics, Believers And Conflict

Having mentioned psychics and readings, I want to digress for a moment.

There are many believers who are certain that psychic powers do exist.

There are many sceptics who are certain that psychic powers do not exist – or at least we don’t have any credible evidence. Sceptics even have their own magazines, societies and conferences. I’ve been to several and performed at a few. I even went to Italy to perform at the World Sceptics Congress – yes, there really is such a thing!

These arguments about whether psychic powers are real or not have been going on for a long time. They never achieve anything and never will.

Here’s the truth. I can give it to you in eleven words: psychic powers are as real as you want them to be.

When we’re talking about psychic powers, we’re not talking about something like that glass of water – something that either does or doesn’t exist. We’re talking about something that is a reality in terms of someone’s emotional perception.

If you want or need psychic powers to be real, they are real for you. If you don’t, then they aren’t. That’s all there is to it.

The same goes for many other things in life: the brilliance of Manchester United, the merits of drinking beer, the desirability of buying clothing from a particular designer. All these things are as real as you want them to be.

It’s the same with your relationship with a god of some description. If you want or need him to be real, he’s perfectly real to you. To the rest of us, not so much.

It would be great if we could all just learn these words: it’s as real as you want it to be.

Then we can all be friends, we can all love one another (which is more important than anything else), get on with our lives, learn from one another, help one another and stop re-hashing the same old arguments.

When I look at the world around me, I honestly don’t feel we need more conflict. I think we need more people to relax, smile, shake hands and say,

‘Well, I guess it’s as real as you want it to be. Let’s just leave it at that.’

(By the way, if there is a god, I believe he has a plan for me. It’s a plan that involves eating a lot of biscuits.)

Edited January 16, 2012 by Eddiesilence

[Guest bazzad9]

Reading that reminded me of something I heard /read the other day regarding expensive wines

In a blind test people couldn't tell the expensive from the average ,but knowing they had the expensive beforehand enhanced the experience because of the anticipation .

Maybe not relevant but it reminded me of it.

The problem I have is how do you know the frauds from the genuine without some sort of blind test

Hope your well Eddie

[Eddiesilence]

The problem I have is how do you know the frauds from the genuine without some sort of blind test

Hope your well Eddie

Yeah man! Doing good. Sorry to snip your post, but I just wanted to answer the question of how we tell the difference between the fraudsters and the real deal. We had a legal instrument to do it for us but the law was, alas, repealed in 2008.

The Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 prohibited anyone from being allowed to make money by falsely claiming to be a psychic, medium, or other spiritualist. I guess it would fall to the discretion of the arresting officer as to whether the powers were real or not. Fraudsters were, however, invited to advertise their services 'for the purposes of entertainment'. Shame it was repealed when it worked so well.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Eddiesilence

[Comrade Stoker]

I can't remember if I posted this or not but my mum went to a psychic in the late 1970's and the old bint told her "Watch your second son, something terrible will happen". It pretty much fucked my childhood up that, she used to scream running after me, fearing I would be knocked over by a car, stabbed, battered, injected with drugs.

I hope the woman who told her is burning in hell.

[Guest bazzad9]

The problem I have is how do you know the frauds from the genuine without some sort of blind test

Hope your well Eddie

Yeah man! Doing good. Sorry to snip your post, but I just wanted to answer the question of how we tell the difference between the fraudsters and the real deal. We had a legal instrument to do it for us but the law was, alas, repealed in 2008.

The Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 prohibited anyone from being allowed to make money by falsely claiming to be a psychic, medium, or other spiritualist. I guess it would fall to the discretion of the arresting officer as to whether the powers were real or not. Fraudsters were, however, invited to advertise their services 'for the purposes of entertainment'. Shame it was repealed when it worked so well.

I guess everyone they caught was a fake ,the real ones would know the old bill where coming

[Boojum]

The problem I have is how do you know the frauds from the genuine without some sort of blind test

How do you tell a real charlatan from a fake charlatan

[Boojum]

Mary loves dick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uD0dPhr9cQ

[Eddiesilence]

Acorah was fed the name of a dead contactee 'Kreed Kafer' by a skeptic posing as a local historian. It's an anagram of Derek Faker.

[Guest bazzad9]

The problem I have is how do you know the frauds from the genuine without some sort of blind test

How do you tell a real charlatan from a fake charlatan

Not my best quote

[Boojum]

Sorry. Can't resist