psychics ... skeptics please?

Question

in regards to people like Derren Brown etc who can successfully cold read and emulate psychic readings
does being able to emulate something mean that whatever it is being emulated is not true ?

I am just a little fed up seeing this type of answer in regards to whether or not psychics are real
by all means say that you dont believe or have no reason to believe because you havent had any proof personally
but dont you think saying that because a magician can do it ... it is all fake ... is just a little bit of a cop out ?

that is cool Ray
I would expect everyone to look for their own proof

and to the guys asking about the future ...
you are called Prophet ... I am not
that is not what psychics do

Answer 1

The hallmark of a true psychic is one that can tell you things about your past which only you could possibly know. Their power to do this is demonic.They cannot tell the future but can make a good guess.

Answer 2

Pangel,

I don’t know what answer you are looking for , so I will just relate a personal experience .

I worked in computers for 15 years , Cira 1986 to 2001 . During that time I often found myself being called a Guru / Master or even a ‘ God ‘ ( of my specialised field ) . ‘ Let’s ask God what he Thinks ‘ some People would Joke.

I never met IBM , never had proof they existed , just a Badge of evidence on the pieces of metal I worked with and a Voice at the end of a phone line.

Did IBM exist ? ? ? I merely Emulated an IBM god , all knowing , all seeing , etc etc - YES , I was that good ! ( as per the salary I earned )

I used to get a kick out of my boss calling a Big Big meeting to discuss A problem. Everyone voice their opinion. After the meeting was over , I would quietly announce to my boss that I had already fix the problem.

Sure I was a God , there was no Higher Authority to turn to , I knew more about the machines than the people who built them ! ! ! . I fixed problems that the people who made the machines did not even know existed.

Obviously there was no God of Computers , not even a Guru or Master of computers . Just a Chap doing his job well.

Jesus , Derren and I all did our Job well !

( Pascals wager - Perhaps Jesus' job was to be the son of god )

Answer 3

Derren Brown is an accomplished illusionist of how some so called psychics perform, that's all!
Some people have a genuine psychic ability & some don't!
Like some banknotes are real & some fake!
Until an individual has a personal experience with a genuine psychic they can only speculate!
Most choose the easy option of denial as they can't cope with what they can't understand!
Life still goes on regardless...

Answer 4

I totally agree with you, I don't think there's enough evidence either way to settle it. I've met some psychics who were totally focused on the money and got it all wrong and were obviously cold reading me, but then again there are some who are really nice and fairly accurate. Personally I don't believe in them because I haven't had any proof but also I keep an open mind as one day I might hear something that could only be explained by the presence of real psychic powers. I do feel some psychics think they genuinely have a gift but are sub-consciously reading your signals (i.e. the feeling they get that you're an animal lover comes from a reaction you gave when they mentioned your nan had a pet or something)

But overall I think psychics may or may not have a genuine gift so I keep an open mind.

Answer 5

After experiencing one real phenonemen I can't be a true skeptic (which I would be otherwise). You have to admit there are a lot of con artists and tricksters out there, and some of them don't mind duping people out of their money.
Not everyone has experienced true psychic phenomena, and the best available scientific evidence only shows tendencies toward it. Besides, the thought of some people being able to do certain things is a bit unsettling. It could be more comfortable not to believe it. Not everyone is well intentioned.

Answer 6

I like James Randi a lot. He is perhaps among the top five illusionists ever, and a highly regarded skeptic who takes umbrage at those claiming to have paranormal skills. Some of his friends make their livings as Mentalists, which is the honest form of psychic. They tell their audience this is all for entertainment before and after their shows. Randi will never give away their secrets, because he says it is the tools of their trade and they are honest about NOT being psychics. The same goes for any illusionist/magician. He admires their skills and creativity. You'll never see David Copperfield claiming to have special powers.

Inductive reasoning is the key. I have given online readings in chat where people have told me I am 100 percent right. I am not a psychic. They provide me the answers by their questions. Their willingness to believe is what makes me "right" even though I have the same average as most of the fake psychics: 70 percent wrong. The trick is to ignore the misses and keep fishing for hits.

Every lab experiment has failed. Dr. Gary Schwartz at U. Arizona is a true believer who keeps trying to prove psychics are real and keeps failing. UNLV dropped their own research because they were sick of wasting money and being laughed at.

Answer 7

Oh dear - we all get a 'little fed up' with some answers - but that's the nature of the game - every-ones opinion is valid....
The problem i see is the source of the message - in other words 'deception' - from a false prophet as God's word speaks of - it's the same thing as psychic....
At least Derren Brown knows he's not what some call psychic - he knows he's just clever at what he does.
Like i said to Suz you and i will never agree on this one - so i'll stick with my God.
Does that explain it?

Answer 8

hi there, A Psychic is someone who reads your aura and can pick up on you as a person and your past. It is very nosey and i dont believe it is right to do. everyone has a right to privacy. Everyone is a psychic you just have to learn how to do it. I am a medium and could quite easily use my psychic skills but i wont i would much rather work with spirit and leave the nosey bit to other people because i think its very rude a bit like curtain twitching. god bless xxxxx

Answer 9

no it doesn't but just becouse something looks like magic doesnt make it magic.
if something can be emulated to look exactly the same as what it is emulating then it can show thet the original isn't what it says it is. their are many hefty prizes waiting to be claimed by psychics and mediums just to show that it is real and all they have to do is agree to the testing requirements which make it impossible for fraude or atleast unlikely that it is a fraud but these are still waiting to be claimed? i think that shows more than any succesful emulation what is really going on

Answer 10

Yes of course it's a cop-out. It's as meaningless as saying "David Copperfield can walk on water, so there was nothing mystical about Jesus". It's a complete confusion of what is actually going on.

We need to delineate between people who do cold readings (taking cues from body language, idea suggestion, etc), people who get psychic impressions, and people who, as one answerer suggested, just make it up on the basis of a vague idea of what people want to hear. These are three entirely separate things. And of course, if we can keep "fortune telling" out of the equation, it would really help us to think clearly about psychic phenomena.

Answer 11

The problem is that all those kind of things break down when you put them into a lab situation. That means that they don't really work. If they did they would be SIMPLE to prove, and science would be VERY interested.

What duplicating it does is show conclusively there is a non-supernatural explanation for what you are seeing.

Added: I spent a summer reading Tarot at a Renaissance Festival. I can tell you that I got so much positive feedback that it was unreal. I could have easily kept doing it for a living. Frankly I just made stuff up. The cards all come with parables that could apply to anyone. That is how it works. It has nothing to do with any power.