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Old 01-07-2009, 04:55 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Uncommon Abilities

Ho do you all feel about the scenes that cant be explained. Like those of us that can see the future a bit in advance, and can change what they see. Or perhaps those that can use there minds to move objects or start fires. Or any other ability that i might not of thought of.

Is there anything you you may know about... or witnessed.

Please share any stories.
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Old 01-07-2009, 05:06 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Extra sensory perception? I feel it's likely the result of coincidences and imagination. I'm open to any and all evidence, but so far I've not seen anything convincing.
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Old 01-07-2009, 05:20 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Will, you forgot probability and the understanding of cause and effect.

Who was that bend-a-spoon-with-my-mind guy? Didn't he fail on national television?

Chris, can you elaborate a bit on what you mean? Do you have any specific examples or know of any individuals who have these abilities?

Do you have any experiences or stories?
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Old 01-07-2009, 06:49 PM   #4 (permalink)
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I believe in anything that comes along with proof. I will be happy to acknowledge phenomena observed but unexplained.

If you have documented evidence of anyone possessing the abilities you've mentioned, please do share.

Uri Geller was the spoon bending hack. It's a parlour trick, and not even a very good one.
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Old 01-07-2009, 10:35 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Yeah, spoon bending is, generally speaking, a crock.

That said, I do believe in ESP, and I have seen it at work. I think probably everyone has at least some potential to develop Esper abilities, and many of us probably have a number of ESP spikes that we write off to coincidence (which, I am terribly sorry, my dear Will, but I believe to be the word in Rationalist for "I don't like your explanation for this, but I can't explain it myself."), such as flashes of precognition or retrocognition that we ascribe to "deja vu," or moments of telepathic or empathic connection with others that we call "synchronicity," or instances of telekinetic outbursts that we chalk up to "hysterical strength."

That said, I have met a number of people who, using the focus attained from many years of meditation, yoga, tai chi, etc., have been able to sense something of the flow of thoughts in others via touching them, including myself. Granted, there was generally not a high level of specificity in their comments, but it was better than most. Charlatans will generally examine you carefully while they pretend to read your thoughts, so that they can note your reactions and read your body language. Nearly all the folks I am talking about here worked with their eyes closed. Charlatans generally start extremely vague (e.g. "You're thinking about someone close to you.") and these folks tended to go right for more specific reactions (e.g. "You're picturing someone. A girl. With blond hair. You liked her a lot, a long time ago."), and were almost always correct to this level. Prodding them to be more specific (e.g. "Yes, I am. What was her name, and where did I know her?") produced results which varied a lot more in correctness, but I believe were still, on average, on the plus side of 50%, meaning that technically, they were still correct more often than random chance should dictate.

I have encountered at least one genuine telekinetic, who begged me never to reveal his secret to anyone I didn't trust implicitly, lest he end up a government lab rat. In several random settings-- places he could have had no way of knowing we would end up, and thus could not have arranged any kind of trickery-- I saw him move small objects short distances by concentrating on them. His hands were in plain view the entire time, and most of the objects were non-metallic-- salt shakers, coffee cups, cassette tapes (this was quite a while ago), pencils, and suchlike-- and could not have been manipulated by magnets.

I knew one set of twins (fraternal) who could apparently effect clairvoyant or telepathic contact with one another, with varying degrees of success. On their good days, you could give him a word, or even a simple sentence, in the basement of their house, and she could write it out simultaneously in the attic.

My guess is that telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition are all functions of the primal shared consciousness human beings have at the level more or less akin to what Jung would call the Collective Unconscious. The precognition I assume is not a "vision" of "the future" but a mental construction of what the local unconscious is able to posit as an instinctive calculation of probabilities concerning possible future outcomes of events. This is then tapped into by the individual, resulting in a mental picture utilizing data not necessarily readily available to the individual at a conscious level, thus appearing magical.

In any case, we know too little about the workings of the brain, or the ways in which we process bioelectricity and other energies, to dismiss the possibility that there are senses, or aspects of senses, yet unexplained.
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Old 01-08-2009, 05:47 AM   #6 (permalink)
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Yes i do know someone that has a special ability. He can see the future up to 3 days in advance, and he can change what he see.

It is the first example i gave. He can see the future anywhere from a few seconds to a few days into the future. No more then 3 days so he says. He can't control it but He is spot on. I never believed him until recently when he told me about something that was going to happen and not 3 hours later in his presence. ALL the the facts fell into place. If he had not grabbed me the Event would have happened too. He had everything spot on to the point of the make model and color of the SUV, Location, Color of the woman hair, eyes, and cloths. Hell he even got her name right.

So ether he set it all up, or he was 100% right.

I was a skeptic but, now i have to wonder. I just don't know.

And from what he says he as devoted his entire life to changing the bad things that he see. A priest once told him that its a gift from god, and that he should do something about it. So he devoted his life to it.

The reason i am deciding to talk about it. is that he is having some moral problems. He said to me that why should he attempt to save a world that clearly doesn't want saving. And he asks questions i have no idea how to answer. Such as "Yes i can do this but do i have the right to chance peoples life for the good or bad, when i may only have seconds to react." And i think he feels alone. He only has like 3 friends that he told and stuck around. And he knows no one else like him. I think life is starting to get him down.

So what do i say to him?
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Old 01-08-2009, 06:31 AM   #7 (permalink)
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So what do i say to him?
"If you don't want to save the world, at least use your ability for material gain" Challenge Application
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Old 01-08-2009, 07:41 AM   #8 (permalink)
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"If you don't want to save the world, at least use your ability for material gain" Challenge Application
I said something to that affect when he first told me what he can do. "Well why doesn't he go make a run on a casino or something."

And he replied "Well i can't control what i see, its more like being force fed random images that I need to string into a series of events, I am not infallible. And there is always a very high price to pay when I use it for Personal Gain."

Anyone else have any thoughts?
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Old 01-08-2009, 01:09 PM   #9 (permalink)
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I think that if you take any sufficiently large group of people you will find a subset of these people tend to have abilities that can't be explained by science-- I also think that the existence of such abilities should be expected, and that anyone familiar with the limitations of scientific evidentiary standards wouldn't necessarily feel the need to write the existence of such abilities off.

I think I've experienced them myself occasionally, though less so lately.
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Old 01-08-2009, 01:32 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by chriswin8 View Post
Ho do you all feel about the scenes that cant be explained. Like those of us that can see the future a bit in advance, and can change what they see. Or perhaps those that can use there minds to move objects or start fires. Or any other ability that i might not of thought of.

Is there anything you you may know about... or witnessed.

Please share any stories.
I can explain them...you watch too much Heroes, and your friend has hallucinations or other natural brain phenomena backed up with a healthy confirmation bias. Stories is exactly what they would be. Did we merge philosophy and paranoia?
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Old 01-08-2009, 03:34 PM   #11 (permalink)
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Obviously, it's a big universe, and anything is, theoretically, possible.

Still, I have never seen nor heard of anyone with Esper abilities potent enough or reliable enough and focused enough to warrant going superheroing with them. It seems to me that such abilities would either be rare to the point of occurring once in a generation in all the world, or they would be so common that someone would surely be unable to keep them secret. And if one was going to use the abilities for supervillaining, it seems like they would be even harder to keep secret.

In my experience, and from what research I have done on the subject, Esper abilities require years of deep-focus training (like yoga or Shao Lin training) to separate them from entanglement with emotional reactions (i.e., most people with abilities can only bring them forth with any kind of reliable repitition in crisis situations), and even when they can be summon in moments of calm, they are usually not particularly strong. The young man I knew with the telekinetic ability, for example, was only able to move small, light objects (I don't recall him ever moving anything that weighed more than a pound or so) for very short distances (the most I ever saw was a cloth napkin that he moved maybe five or six feet in one go), and that was with very intense concentration on his part. That is certainly a remarkable phenomenon, but it's not exactly Jean Grey saving the universe, either. And while I have read in the literature of those said to have telekinetic gifts more pronounced, little substantiation, as far as I know, has ever been accorded to PK gifts that are more than moderately more dramatic than the one I encountered.

As I understand it, precognition is an especially difficult gift to sort out, and is infinitely harder to focus and direct than something like telekinesis. I am, I confess, dubious about the claims of someone who purports sufficient clarity and control of their precog ability to use it for either effective superheroing or supervillaining.
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Old 01-08-2009, 04:25 PM   #12 (permalink)
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I will map out your future for you and tell you all about your wonderful family and successful career, and I will heal you through prayer as well. You see, I am psychic. But I need something to focus on to help you. Something very close and personal to you. Like your bank account number and pin number. Also, your social security number will help. This will also help cure your gullibility.
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Old 01-08-2009, 07:49 PM   #13 (permalink)
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To levite

From what he told me, he lives his life until he gets a vision. Then his life becomes all about the vision until its over. Then back to living this life till the next.
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Old 01-08-2009, 10:44 PM   #14 (permalink)
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I will map out your future for you and tell you all about your wonderful family and successful career, and I will heal you through prayer as well. You see, I am psychic. But I need something to focus on to help you. Something very close and personal to you. Like your bank account number and pin number. Also, your social security number will help. This will also help cure your gullibility.
Where do I send the check?!?!?!?!
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Old 01-15-2009, 10:15 AM   #15 (permalink)
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I've had a few personal experiences that have convinced me *something* is out there that we do not understand. Can't say what.

For a short period when I was a teenager, I could control flies for a few seconds at a time. Sounds odd I know. But I would just sit their perfectly still and make them do what I wanted within a few seconds. I made one constantly hover about for 5 minutes (never letting him land when he wanted to), made several fly into my open hand, made several fly out of the room, I made several sit still long enough to stroke them several times with my finger, etc.

Some other experiences were where I basically asked for something ...rare to happen, and got it within 30 mins or so. Some of those could certainly be a coincidence, but altogether? I kind of doubt it.

I could literally write pages here about all the little experiences I've had that have made me wonder, and even more about my immediate family and their experiences.

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Old 01-16-2009, 05:55 AM   #16 (permalink)
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I see weather phenomena. Sometimes, at night, while watching the Weather Channel, I'll get the precognition that I will be needing a jacket the next day. Scary.....

I must have the gift of prophecy
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Old 01-30-2009, 08:04 PM   #17 (permalink)
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When I was in high school, I babysat two kindergarten age kids. After watching a tv show about esp, I drew shapes on some index cards. I held them up facing me, and asked the kids what shape it was. I don't remember how many they got correct, but at the time it seemed like a good percentage of them. And the ones they did get incorrect, their guesses tended to be in the same family (triangle/square/rectangle vs circle/oval). My dad said, "great. now ask them to guess the shape when you haven't peeked." So I did it again, without picking up the card before their guess. They had no friggin clue. I'd love to go back in time 25+ years and watch the experiment ... I have this sneaky suspicion the kids could see through or partially through the index cards when I held them up in front of me.
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Old 01-31-2009, 08:33 AM   #18 (permalink)
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I have dreams that happen in real life occasionally. Don't know when they are going to happen. Some are within days, others are years later.

They started when I was a teenager after I was involved in a vehicle accident. I was struck by a car when I was 12 and ended up waking up in the hospital 5 days later. I had surgery to stop internal bleeding and while in the OR was watching myself from above being operated on. I can still see that vision when I think of it. Not sure if it was a dream, an out of body experience or what, but remember at the time the doctors mentioning they had to revive me a couple of times.

All my life too I have had excellent perception. I wouldn't call it ESP but I always seem to know things. Gut feelings I call it. And forget about lying to me. I can tell instantly.

On a minor note, I can say what people will say next before they say it. Again I am not psychic,...but when me and some friends watch a show like the OC, I can get right what they are about to say next, 4, 5 ,8 times a show. Again , this is more attributed to bad, cliched writing more than anything else.

Weird huh.
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Old 02-04-2009, 10:36 AM   #19 (permalink)
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Yeah, spoon bending is, generally speaking, a crock.
Why is spoon bending a crock when you say that there are people who exist that can move objects around with their mind?

Quote:
Originally Posted by levite View Post
I have encountered at least one genuine telekinetic, who begged me never to reveal his secret to anyone I didn't trust implicitly, lest he end up a government lab rat. In several random settings-- places he could have had no way of knowing we would end up, and thus could not have arranged any kind of trickery-- I saw him move small objects short distances by concentrating on them. His hands were in plain view the entire time, and most of the objects were non-metallic-- salt shakers, coffee cups, cassette tapes (this was quite a while ago), pencils, and suchlike-- and could not have been manipulated by magnets.

I knew one set of twins (fraternal) who could apparently effect clairvoyant or telepathic contact with one another, with varying degrees of success. On their good days, you could give him a word, or even a simple sentence, in the basement of their house, and she could write it out simultaneously in the attic.
I am not attacking you here so sorry if I come off as rude, but this is bullshit. If a person -- meaning, the person you experienced -- can move objects short distances by concentrating on them then every science book in the world would have to be rewritten, a good chunk of scientific laws would no longer make sense, and physics would be thrown out the window to be started over. What you're suggest is that "magic" is real, and you almost seem unimpressed by it ("he can only move small objects"). A discovery of this magnitude would change human civilization forever. It would be the biggest scientific discovery in hundreds of years and would bring forward a wealth of knowledge so gigantic that it can't be described. And you NOR this guy are willing to come forward because he doesn't want to become a lab rat?

Are you serious?

I am a twin, and I know that there are no weird twin powers going on here. Yet you say there is a set of twins who can telecommunicate. Again, this is flat out magic, and any success here is worth going into a huge scientific debate over. Yet they haven't came forward and their "secret" is still under wraps.

Help me understand this: you have discovered magical beings who can literally move objects with their mind and neither this person or you feel it's important to society. Why?
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Old 02-04-2009, 12:25 PM   #20 (permalink)
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Why is spoon bending a crock when you say that there are people who exist that can move objects around with their mind?
Perhaps I should have been more specific: spoonbenders are a crock. Generally speaking, the people who claim they have mastered the power to bend spoons, and go about demonstrating it to large paying crowds are tricksters. They have mastered a stage magic trick, and are getting rich off of the people who come to see them. Think about it, they can bend silverware, and that's it? If a person was genuinely telekinetic, they ought to be able, in theory, to affect just about anything. And these people can only affect silverware or silverware-like objects, and only by warping them and not moving them? It makes no sense.


Quote:
I am not attacking you here so sorry if I come off as rude, but this is bullshit.
LOL! Fortunately, I am not the type to take offense, or to care what others think, but I might suggest that this approach will not often be successful! "I don't mean to offend you, but you're full of crap" is pretty much not going to work.

Quote:
If a person -- meaning, the person you experienced -- can move objects short distances by concentrating on them then every science book in the world would have to be rewritten, a good chunk of scientific laws would no longer make sense, and physics would be thrown out the window to be started over. What you're suggest is that "magic" is real, and you almost seem unimpressed by it ("he can only move small objects"). A discovery of this magnitude would change human civilization forever. It would be the biggest scientific discovery in hundreds of years and would bring forward a wealth of knowledge so gigantic that it can't be described. And you NOR this guy are willing to come forward because he doesn't want to become a lab rat?
I seem "unimpressed" because I have believed for a long time that there are phenomena in the world that scientific institutions are disinclined to deal with, because it would be troublesome and chaotic, and that governments are generally well-inclined to assist in the covering up of such phenomena, as doing so aids in their quest to harness and control such things. Finding proof in my personal experience that these things are true is not shocking to me.

I am not suggesting that "magic" is real, but rather that there are certain forms of biologically generated energy that either are not measurable by the current technologies, or are not accurately described by the current theories. I am suggesting that all people probably have some innate ability to channel those energies, but that this ability is especially pronounced in some people more than others. These people can instinctively or consciously focus that energy using their brains in order to achieve certain effects, which differ according to how the ability is pronounced in that person-- probably as a result of differences in brain structure. I think all of this is, in theory, perfectly explainable by scientific means.

And I admit, if I had such abilities, I would absolutely keep them secret, especially from governments and scientists. If governments got word about such people-- as I am sure that some have done-- I am certain those individuals would never be heard from again. Off to some secret project at best, I assume, or heinous vivisection facility at worst. Even if it was a respectable scientific institution that found out, such a person's life would be gone forever. They would never have peace again, while scientists fought over the reproducibility of their abilities, and leaked all their private information to the press....

Quote:
Are you serious?
Quite.

Quote:
I am a twin, and I know that there are no weird twin powers going on here. Yet you say there is a set of twins who can telecommunicate. Again, this is flat out magic, and any success here is worth going into a huge scientific debate over. Yet they haven't came forward and their "secret" is still under wraps.
I didn't say all twins have powers. Or even that a majority of twins do. Only that, as far as I understand the literature of parapsychology, telepathy and functional empathy is found with more frequency amongst twins than amongst non-twins.


Quote:
Help me understand this: you have discovered magical beings who can literally move objects with their mind and neither this person or you feel it's important to society. Why?
As I mentioned, I don't believe there is any magic involved. And I personally believe that, first of all, it is a person's own choice what they do or do not wish known about themselves, their gifts, or their biology; and second of all, a person's right to live a peaceful, private life is more important than fighting an uphill battle against a society and a scientific institution that are both invested in there being no paranormal phenomena, in order to achieve nebulous goals of attaining scientific knowledge, which, for all we know, could just as easily be discovered some other way.
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Old 02-04-2009, 02:32 PM   #21 (permalink)
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My problem with that last bit, about people not coming forward because society would be negative toward them, is silly IMO. With a few mechanical tricks look how many people believe in scientology, the stupidest sounding religion ever. A great number of people are willing to believe with some proof, and a great many people *already* believe with out any. I don't think if a person with a gift came forward they'd be in any kind of negative impact. Society would welcome them quite readily.
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Old 02-04-2009, 04:45 PM   #22 (permalink)
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My problem with that last bit, about people not coming forward because society would be negative toward them, is silly IMO. With a few mechanical tricks look how many people believe in scientology, the stupidest sounding religion ever. A great number of people are willing to believe with some proof, and a great many people *already* believe with out any. I don't think if a person with a gift came forward they'd be in any kind of negative impact. Society would welcome them quite readily.
Because we already do so well accepting and not hating or exploiting people we perceive as "different"?
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Old 02-06-2009, 08:15 AM   #23 (permalink)
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And I admit, if I had such abilities, I would absolutely keep them secret, especially from governments and scientists. If governments got word about such people-- as I am sure that some have done-- I am certain those individuals would never be heard from again. Off to some secret project at best, I assume, or heinous vivisection facility at worst. Even if it was a respectable scientific institution that found out, such a person's life would be gone forever. They would never have peace again, while scientists fought over the reproducibility of their abilities, and leaked all their private information to the press....

As I mentioned, I don't believe there is any magic involved. And I personally believe that, first of all, it is a person's own choice what they do or do not wish known about themselves, their gifts, or their biology; and second of all, a person's right to live a peaceful, private life is more important than fighting an uphill battle against a society and a scientific institution that are both invested in there being no paranormal phenomena, in order to achieve nebulous goals of attaining scientific knowledge, which, for all we know, could just as easily be discovered some other way.
I don't think the Big Bad Government would take them to a Super Secret Facility and Torture Them. I think once this person went to a public event and showcased it, this person would be way too popular to be taken away and way too popular to be covered up.

I think it is selfish to let an ability like this that would mean so much to the evolution of our species and our understanding of science go unheard of simply due to being afraid of something that happens in movies.

Why would this guy let you see his ability if he was scared of the Government anyway? Why let you who may be a secret government spy? Who else knows about it? How has no one that he has showed ever spoke up? Why are you even able to talk about this on the un-anonymous Internet if the Government will Napalm everyone's houses that are involved?
-----Added 6/2/2009 at 11 : 17 : 08-----
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Because we already do so well accepting and not hating or exploiting people we perceive as "different"?
A lot of hate about differences are formed from religion. I don't think the bible says anything about shunning those who have extraordinary miracle type abilities that allow you to move stuff with your mind. If anything this guy would be put on the shoulders of the world and called Jesus.
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Old 02-06-2009, 02:18 PM   #24 (permalink)
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I don't think the Big Bad Government would take them to a Super Secret Facility and Torture Them. I think once this person went to a public event and showcased it, this person would be way too popular to be taken away and way too popular to be covered up.

I think it is selfish to let an ability like this that would mean so much to the evolution of our species and our understanding of science go unheard of simply due to being afraid of something that happens in movies.

Why would this guy let you see his ability if he was scared of the Government anyway? Why let you who may be a secret government spy? Who else knows about it? How has no one that he has showed ever spoke up? Why are you even able to talk about this on the un-anonymous Internet if the Government will Napalm everyone's houses that are involved?
The guy involved let me see his ability because he knew I had done some reading on the subject of parapsychology and paranormal phenomena, and we had been friends for a while, and we were both young, and he was concerned about what to do. I actually was the one who calmed him down, and said I thought it very unlikely anyone was actively hunting for such people as him. I would assume anyone else he told kept quiet for the same reasons I did. I would also assume he probably didn't tell very many people.

On the one hand, I would say that it does not pay to be overly paranoid: the likelihood that the government will believe one person on the internet who claims to have witnessed paranormal phenomena nigh on twenty years ago, at the hands of someone he hasn't seen in at least fifteen years, and believe that person so strongly as to come after them with a full Men In Black routine on the off-chance the tip will pan out, seems unlikely to me.

On the other hand, if you really think that governments and powerful institutions are never ruthless or unscrupulous enough to kidnap, torture, utilize, and even kill innocent people in order to possibly gain use of some advantage or asset the person may have-- that those things only "happen in movies"...where have you been the last eight years? Or even the last twenty or thirty?

The bulk of what governments and powerful institutions would do, and would cheerfully hide from view, far outpaces even the ability of internet speculation to contain.
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Old 02-27-2009, 10:04 AM   #25 (permalink)
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I said something to that affect when he first told me what he can do. "Well why doesn't he go make a run on a casino or something."

And he replied "Well i can't control what i see, its more like being force fed random images that I need to string into a series of events, I am not infallible. And there is always a very high price to pay when I use it for Personal Gain."

Anyone else have any thoughts?
My thoughts on that is that your friend is either full of it or has a schizophrenia spectrum mental disorder.


I'll leave typical ESP stuff alone for the time being, but would anyone care to theorize a mechanism of action for telekinesis that does not violate conservation of energy?
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Old 02-27-2009, 10:31 AM   #26 (permalink)
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I'll leave typical ESP stuff alone for the time being, but would anyone care to theorize a mechanism of action for telekinesis that does not violate conservation of energy?
I think it might be a mistake to expect something like ESP, which remains unsubstantiated by science, to conform to the laws of thermodynamics, which are only presumptively universal.

If you're working on the assumption that ESP exists, then you have necessarily already discarded many of the contemporary axioms which provide the basis for modern scientific analysis.

In other words- there's no reason to expect that supernatural phenomena conform to the laws of thermodynamics.
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Old 02-27-2009, 11:18 AM   #27 (permalink)
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I'll leave typical ESP stuff alone for the time being, but would anyone care to theorize a mechanism of action for telekinesis that does not violate conservation of energy?
You can actually get around a ton of problems by assuming parallel universes/and or multiple dimensions (besides the obvious ones, look at string theory). They're tossing a theory about now that that's how gravity works, because at the moment, they can't explain all of its function. So that's not really a problem. There's so much we don't know, its not even funny.
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Old 03-04-2009, 03:30 AM   #28 (permalink)
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I can read energies and talk with certain spirits. Some people don't believe I can do these things, but I guess they are just scared of what they think I can do. (I can't do very much with it at all, actually.)

Anywho, what I've been told by spirits is that there IS another dimension (not sure how many) and that we can get to there, but not through drugs or meditation. Only death can bring us into the other dimension where they come from. Drugs, meditation, and dreams only allow us to see the other side... and even then, we don't see it as it truly is.

For telecommunication and telekinesis.. it's more of a transfer of energy and waves. Not sure how to do it or how it works. I've never even seen it happen. Telecommunication is similar to how I communicate with spirits.

There are psychics and people with special abilities working with the government, but they don't know very much about their own abilities aside from how it works. There's no huge conspiracy going on where the government knows everything about everybody. People with these special abilities are actually respected and treated well and are not locked up or anything. They have their own lives they can enjoy freely like everybody else.

I've read some books on how to become more psychic, and they actually seem to work. Sylvia Brown says a lot of interesting things, but I can't relate to her very much. Doreen Virtue's books about becoming psychic or talking with spirits or angels kinda explain more about what I experience when I'm communicating with spirits.

Also, I feel it on the top of my head.. when I communicate I feel it slightly above my head, but it merges into my head. Spirits' voices sound very weird...almost like ringing in my ears.. but not in my ears. They send me a lot of images which I have to put together like a puzzle... so I don't understand a lot of stuff they tell me.

Tarot cards and dowsing rods and the such work very well with me but not some of my friends...and I've been told by a fellow psychic (though, she was more able than me in her intuition) that it's because of my ability to control my energy and my willingness to receive spiritual energy.

btw.. may be off topic.. but I do tarot readings for free. Just reach me on AIM @ deadwaterlily and ask me a question.
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Old 03-04-2009, 09:56 AM   #29 (permalink)
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Well I'll ask the obvious question ametc, and I don't mean any offense by it. But how do you know you're not just crazy?
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Old 03-04-2009, 11:54 AM   #30 (permalink)
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I've read some books on how to become more psychic, and they actually seem to work. Sylvia Brown says a lot of interesting things, but I can't relate to her very much. Doreen Virtue's books about becoming psychic or talking with spirits or angels kinda explain more about what I experience when I'm communicating with spirits.
Reading those books and doing what they said to do is what convinced me that none of it is real. I won't even get started on Sylvia Brown.
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Old 03-05-2009, 05:01 PM   #31 (permalink)
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Well I'll ask the obvious question ametc, and I don't mean any offense by it. But how do you know you're not just crazy?
How do you know you're not crazy?



I've made several predictions for my friends and others and they've always come back to me telling me what I told them had come true. I don't make things up, I just read them and act as a messenger. I tell people to never listen to what I tell them because sometimes things I read seem so off the wall... but when they come true, it makes much more sense.


Unless you've experienced real intuition, you'll always question psychic awareness instead of trying to open up yourself and trying it out.



I can't judge Sylvia Browne because maybe she is telling the truth or maybe she isn't.. it's not important enough for me to really care. What does matter is that I've found a way to see things other people can't and it hasn't harmed anybody ever.

I really don't care if people think I'm crazy because what if having this ability IS considered being crazy? I'm not manic about it... and I actually don't really care if people want to believe me or not because I've never predicted a horrible mass tragedy. Everything I've ever predicted is only important in an individual's life and not vital to the world, so there's no reason for me to care.
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Old 03-05-2009, 07:52 PM   #32 (permalink)
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I might be crazy but I'm not the one who's making the claim. And if you've read my posts you'd see that I am open to it, and that in fact I think it's almost certain there is *something* ESP-esque out there that we don't understand. That doesn't mean I'm going to believe some anon stranger on the internet though.

And the reason I was asking was to know what proof you've had because I'd love to hear some. But saying something vague and cryptic, does not a future make. Look at cold-reading, the barnum effect, self-fulfilling prophesy, etc. So I was hoping you'd had a specific instance that was undeniably accurate.
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Old 03-05-2009, 09:25 PM   #33 (permalink)
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Old 03-05-2009, 11:10 PM   #34 (permalink)
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I might be crazy but I'm not the one who's making the claim. And if you've read my posts you'd see that I am open to it, and that in fact I think it's almost certain there is *something* ESP-esque out there that we don't understand. That doesn't mean I'm going to believe some anon stranger on the internet though.

And the reason I was asking was to know what proof you've had because I'd love to hear some. But saying something vague and cryptic, does not a future make. Look at cold-reading, the barnum effect, self-fulfilling prophesy, etc. So I was hoping you'd had a specific instance that was undeniably accurate.
I think his point was that he doesn't care if you believe him, and that he isn't going to try to convince anyone.

I agree with him that on a certain level, intuition is difficult to reign in with objective standards of proof.

My intuition convincing me to walk 5 blocks out of my way on a cold slushy day with a broken foot, which resulted in me getting a ride when a friend happened to drive by: did I just know, like, supernaturally, that he was going to drive by, or was my subconscious mind simply playing the odds in suggesting that I walk along a busier street where the odds of a person I knew driving by were greater?

The answer to that question depends more on your disposition towards such things than it does on your commitment to the scientific method.
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Old 03-07-2009, 09:19 AM   #35 (permalink)
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My intuition convincing me to walk 5 blocks out of my way on a cold slushy day with a broken foot, which resulted in me getting a ride when a friend happened to drive by: did I just know, like, supernaturally, that he was going to drive by, or was my subconscious mind simply playing the odds in suggesting that I walk along a busier street where the odds of a person I knew driving by were greater?

The answer to that question depends more on your disposition towards such things than it does on your commitment to the scientific method.
Indeed, which annoys me to no end. So far the best test I've found for such things are the 'micro-pk' experiments, or what I like to refer to as 'strength of observation' experiments. Basically coercing a random number generator (RNG) to spew out a statistically relevant deviation from the average value. So far, the experiments they've run have shown promise. Here's some links.

RetroPsychoKinesis Experiments Online
Paranormaal onderzoek: Online psychokinese experiment, paranormale links

I like the clock one the best. I've gotten some decent results myself. Though only one spectacular result ("1 out of 47" likely-hood of it occurring) out of a dozen tries or so. I plan on sitting down and trying to practice sometime soon and see if I can get an improvement. I would be very interested to hear how other tfp members do on these tests.

Of course I question the validity of these website experiments. But I have seen a peer reviewed study of this as well. So the concept is sound, just not sure about these particular websites.
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Old 03-07-2009, 10:58 AM   #36 (permalink)
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I guess it all begins with believing .... there goes my hopes of being psychic.
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Old 03-07-2009, 05:11 PM   #37 (permalink)
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I actually have a very close friend who is clairsentient. She can't control when she will feel someone else's feelings. It'll just happen randomly. The reason why I believe her is because she did it to me.

Now, through the years, I've learned to hide my emotions very well. My own mother can't tell when I'm happy or upset about something. So, whenever this girl asks what's wrong, it definitely comes as a shock because I don't know another soul in the world that would be able to tell that something's wrong.

Sometime in January, I was talking to a friend who I was planning on rooming with. We're extremely close, and she was the last friend I would have left in this hell hole of a town. Everyone else is leaving for grad school or some job. Well, during our conversation, she said she would be leaving too (Navy). Of course I felt pretty shitty.

The next day, I was hanging out with Ms. Clairsentient. I was doing my thing of hiding this shitty feeling because I didn't want to be a downer. Out of nowhere, she busted out the "are you okay?" question. I blew it off and said nothing was wrong. However, later she started talking about the whole clairsentient thing and how when she asked me that, she had suddenly gotten this feeling of sorrow and abandonment.

I don't know any other explanation of how to explain how she knew. I've witnessed it happen to her many times, so I believe it.

Also, if you're looking for a theory about how such things might work, I saw a behind the scenes of a movie about this stuff explaining one such theory (I know, it's a movie blah blah). I'm not saying I believe this, but it seems plausible.

It goes along with the notion that matter is constantly expanding. This includes matter from yourself, your brain, etc. Well, there may be a way to contact the matter from your expanded self. This would allow for people to be able to see events across the world/time/etc.

...my 2 cents...
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Old 03-08-2009, 06:02 AM   #38 (permalink)
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That's interesting ironpham. But, yeah.. there's really no proof I can show without you actually experiencing it. I dunno.. it's a really interesting science and more research should be done on it.

It's kind of like prayer in many ways. Some believe it..some use it...some think it's useless and doesn't work. But, people continue to pray and it doesn't bother anybody.
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