Do you believe in psychics?

[Warlord1986]

I saw a psychic once in my pre-mustachian days. I was 16. She told me to dump my then-boyfriend. A couple of weeks later my then-boyfriend got arrested.

I have yet to waste my money on such a thing and will likely never do so again, but damn that makes me laugh now.

[bobechs]

I saw a psychic once in my pre-mustachian days. I was 16. She told me to dump my then-boyfriend. A couple of weeks later my then-boyfriend got arrested.

I have yet to waste my money on such a thing and will likely never do so again, but damn that makes me laugh now.

You never said--- did you dump the boyfriend?

Or did the boyfriend dump you?   Or just... drift apart?

edit:  I'm not psychic, you know.

[Warlord1986]

The charges were pretty obviously bogus, but he was still a bum and he could have resolved the situation by walking away. So I waited until the judge realized the whole thing was nonsense and ordered them dropped before I dumped him. He was depressed in jail, and I didn't want to break up with him and have that be the thing that pushed him to do something drastic.

[mrshudson]

Silly me, I read the subject of the thread as "Do you believe in physics" after seeing the OP's handle next to it, and was going to answer it as, what's there to believe - you hypothesize, collect data, and data either support your hypothesis or not. Oh well. Will save that for another time when someone does ask if you believe in physics.

[frugalnacho]

I saw a psychic once in my pre-mustachian days. I was 16. She told me to dump my then-boyfriend. A couple of weeks later my then-boyfriend got arrested.

I have yet to waste my money on such a thing and will likely never do so again, but damn that makes me laugh now.

Amazing.  Who else could have predicted a 16 year old couple weren't soulmates?

[ariapluscat]

Yes!

[Curbside Prophet]

Psychics are absolutely real.

"What is the M-word associated with your life?"

"Mom?"

"Yes, mom!  You have a mom and she says hello!"

"EHRMAGERD!"

[GuitarStv]

Psychics are absolutely real.

"What is the M-word associated with your life?"

"Mom?"

"Yes, mom!  You have a mom and she says hello!"

"EHRMAGERD!"

Personally, I would have led with 'masturbation'.

[forummm]

Psychics are absolutely real.

"What is the M-word associated with your life?"

"Mom?"

"Yes, mom!  You have a mom and she says hello!"

"EHRMAGERD!"

Personally, I would have led with 'masturbation'.

Mr Money Mustache.

[Cyaphas]

I believe in physics, not psychics.

Ditto.. and ghosts, goblins, angels, demons and ghouls can all go play with the Unicorn's in fantasy land. It's scary how many people believe in these things.

[babysnowbyrd]

For my 30th birthday and just for fun I had a physic reading done because I've never had one before.

I was SUPER disappointed. I was expecting to be entertained by predictions and advice and guesses about my life. Instead, it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo and honestly, when I tried to recall bits to tell other people later, I just got a big blank. Should have recorded it I guess so I could deconstruct it better or have a better story to tell. There was nothing about finding love or the usual fodder from other people's tales. It was more about what some of the cards I picked represent, but there was a lot. And were they supposed to represent how I am now? or how I should be?

There's only two things that I can recall with some amount of clarity: one was a card with a mother sow. She asked me what I thought it might mean and I was like....uh...mother pig? Not sure. She explained something about the mother pig being a scavenger and pointing out sustenance and sharing with her brood. I believe she made some kind of connection with not needing to create solutions for people or solve their problems but just do my own thing and share what I already have. Which is what I already do I think? I got enough problems on my own I'm not trying to fix anybody's life.

The second thing I remember was her mentioning something about being concerned about another person's life and stability. (Not generic at all, eh? I mean, how many people have SOMEONE in their life they're concerned about!) I instantly thought of my brother, who was actually there with me at the reading. He even raised his hand when she said that and said he was pretty sure it was him, which is exactly what I was thinking. She said it wasn't him, but some other male in my life and that I should just let him take care of his own life.

There's literally no one else in my life that fits that description. I pretty much let everyone live their own lives and don't presume to try to fix much at all if anything unless someone is really struggling and asking for help. Even then, I'm pretty light on advice and heavy with the listening/empathy. I don't even have any real solid male friends and I'm certainly not dating anyone.

Really the only person I do worry about is my brother because he's had a lot of rough things happen to him most not his fault (injury during Iraq tour, PTSD, cheating wife, disabled child, false conviction and imprisonment, lawyer debts for both the incompetent lawyer that really screwed him over in the first place, then the good lawyer to try to clean up as much as he could, divorce, best friend and military comrade committing suicide, being suicidal himself etc) He is actually doing much better now, no longer suicidal, going to school, trying to start a business, was able to get more disability pay. The thing I worry about most right now is that money is still tight so I worry that any financial hurdle might derail his progress, so I'd love to see him become more mustachian!

Anyway point is, she messed up on the ONE thing she could have gotten right about me.

[babysnowbyrd]

Hah. The Exploring Psychic Powers Live TV Show section was great.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi#Exploring_Psychic_Powers..._Live_television_show

Things like this are almost physically uncomfortable for me to watch. I don't know why. It's not that I feel sorry for the fraudster at all, but it's just so.......awkward! I feel like I'm the charlatan squirming in the hot seat!

[Carini]

I believe in physics, not psychics.

Agreed. And even scarier to me,  are people that think this stuff is ridiculous, but then believe whole heartedly in the Bible. I view these things in the same light.

Ditto.. and ghosts, goblins, angels, demons and ghouls can all go play with the Unicorn's in fantasy land. It's scary how many people believe in these things.

[KBecks]

OMG, I read this title and thought it said -- do you believe in physics?  LOL.

[shelivesthedream]

I was at a fancy party one time and there was a crystal ball reader in the corner. I went over with a friend for some fun. She said a load of vague stuff about me, like how I was destined to be successful, but for some reason she got really specific with my friend and it was all spot on. She was obviously cold reading him but was AMAZINGLY good at it, loads of stuff about his life and personality and how he lives. It was great! I do love Derren Brown because he does all this "psychic" stuff while saying that it isn't real but he's so good at it that it still seems like magic even while he's telling you it isn't.

[Frankies Girl]

A good friend was organizing their class reunion and had one of the entertainers drop out at the last minute. He called me and asked if I could come fill in as a tarot card reader.

I went, and had a blast because it helps me with my cold read abilities (I love doing this sort of thing because it really freaks people out). I told them I was just there for entertainment only, and was not accepting tips or any payment and still had several ladies demand I take a tip (I kept slipping the money back into their purses, but one lady eventually left it on the table and literally ran so I couldn't give it back, so I guess I did get some money?).

I would tell each person at the start that I was not a psychic, I was reading "for fun" and that this was for entertainment only. Still ended up having 99% success rate applying the card meanings to each person's life, shocking the hell out of them and had 3 crying (all in happiness - I do not tell people bad stuff; I tell them there is either an interesting problem they might need to be aware of, or cautions that they should be on the lookout for).

The one person where the reading didn't seem to make sense for them... their spouse kept saying "oh no, I know what that means! I'll talk to you about it later" to the readee. So that was weird. ;)

I did end the event getting paid because my friend was so happy I'd helped out, he wanted to pay me back (we settled on paying for my parking at the event) and a box of gourmet cupcakes. He could have just let me have the damned cupcakes and I'd have been happy. (they were VERY good cupcakes)

But it was another confirmation in human nature that even telling people up front that this isn't real, I'm not psychic and we're doing this for fun... they still believed with their whole being that what I said was true in almost all cases! Wow.

[babysnowbyrd]

Someone linked an old video above about James Randi and there was a part where a man read up on Palm reaching just for fun as a side gig in college. He was so accurate most of the time that he actually became a true believer in it. Then a friend bet him he'd have the same results if he said the exact opposite as he would normally say. So he did for several clients and was astounded to see that it didn't make a difference in his "accuracy" at all!

[Shor]

I was more thinking that being a psychic / fortune teller / hand reader would be a cool thing to do a few days a year - say at fairs (for example: King's Day). I would say that I would be selling entertainment, not just defrauding people. As do most makers of fortune cookies, horoscopes etc. etc. etc.

Yes, but they are deluding themselves because they don't want to face the truth.  We can sugar-coat things however we want, but you know the truth.

Here's what it comes down to:
Would you be presenting what you say as true?
Would you be giving people false hope?
Would you be taking their money for doing so?

That's defrauding people, even if you're also entertaining them.

So would one say that a hedge fund manager might have a lot of the same marketing skills as a fortune teller! :D

[Kaminoge]

"We have long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune-tellers look good."

- Warren Buffet

[Metric Mouse]

Hah. The Exploring Psychic Powers Live TV Show section was great.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi#Exploring_Psychic_Powers..._Live_television_show

Things like this are almost physically uncomfortable for me to watch. I don't know why. It's not that I feel sorry for the fraudster at all, but it's just so.......awkward! I feel like I'm the charlatan squirming in the hot seat!

I thought I was the only one who felt that way! It's the reason I can't watch sit coms or rom-com type movies; the characters find themselves in such strangely awkward situations that I become uncomfortable watching them. Such a strange tic...

[Goldielocks]

Psychics are absolutely real.

"What is the M-word associated with your life?"

"Mom?"

"Yes, mom!  You have a mom and she says hello!"

"EHRMAGERD!"

Personally, I would have led with 'masturbation'.

MUSTACHE... it's MUSTACHE...

I went to a psychic once. (MIL had been going, so I wanted to vet it out)   End of the storey, I am a woman who takes pride in making her home nice,  I will have three children, and I will eventually work with the space agency.   My friend whose name starts with an "S"  (Sabina! I said) is an indian woman who is cheerful  and warm to all.  (Nope, she is an introverted Canadian of German descent).

She knew I was married and an engineer (due to MIL's prior visits).  She had no clue what engineers do, and I guess could not get a read off of me. I wasn't even trying to be hard to read.   I have no idea how MIL believed enough to go back several times...

[PDM]

Misread title - was about to jump to the defense of physics.

[GPendragon]

I went to a palm reader once, and I was very impressed by how much she managed to get right about me. I wouldn't do it again because it would spoil the fun of that time.

She only asked me two leading questions at the beginning (can't remember what they were though) and then was very definite with her predictions about my life, very little hedging at all. However she was in her late 60s at least, clearly had been doing it for years, and was obviously a shrewd person.

All predictions of the future aren't due to start until I'm 26 (I'm 24 now) so I can't judge her on that yet. There was travelling abroad for work, which has happened since and isn't at all likely in my line of work, so good for her I guess. The other predictions were ending up working with whatever my current focus was, that I'd end up in serious relationships with people called M and G, one of whom I'll marry (I particularly liked the gender neutrality as I am bi) and I'd have 3 kids. Don't really like kids though.

The main takeaway from the cold reading, was that I needed to get the hell away from my family to thrive. Absolutely true, and made me kind of sad that you could tell it by looking at me.

I think if you pick an inexpensive one (£5) that knows how to make it an experience, it's worth it for the fun of it.

[happy]

I did actually witness Uri Geller bend a spoon IRL at a charity function.   His power was so great it apparently had a scatter effect in the audience and someone else's spoon bent in sympathy.  Great magic, I have no idea how he did it.

As for psychics, my mother went to one once when I was 15. She told her that her very intelligent daughter (had to be me, she only had one) would have a baby girl. I spent the next 5 years being questioned about the shape of my belly and was I pregnant?

I believe in intuition, but not psychics.

[Spork]

I did actually witness Uri Geller bend a spoon IRL at a charity function.   His power was so great it apparently had a scatter effect in the audience and someone else's spoon bent in sympathy.  Great magic, I have no idea how he did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

[southern granny]

I do believe that some people have psychic abilities, because my grandmother did.  But not in the way of telling strange people their future.  Actually, I don't think anyone outside the family ever knew about it.  She said she had those abilities because she came so close to death when she was young.  She and her sister had the influenza.  Her sister died and their father ordered two coffins because they were so sure she would also die.  Her visions always came through dreams but there must have been  something different about them because she could tell if it was a regular dream or a vision of something that had actually happened or was going to happened.

[iris lily]

Several years ago when psychic parties were popular, one of my neighbors held a Halloween party with psychic readings. All of us on the block went to the party and had readings if we wanted to.

 Three days later another he of my neighbors  died at the hands of her husband. He shot and killed her.

You would think that the psychic would warn her off of this, yes?

 The guys who gave the party mentioned that later they talk to the psychic who claimed she saw something very dark and depressing in the dead woman's future but she felt as though she could not say it.

Yeah right.

[happy]

I did actually witness Uri Geller bend a spoon IRL at a charity function.   His power was so great it apparently had a scatter effect in the audience and someone else's spoon bent in sympathy.  Great magic, I have no idea how he did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

thankyou, very interesting. I couldn't detect the trickery , he was good. The random spoon could easily have been a plant.

[libertarian4321]

I think of psychics in the same way I think of Jesus.

Do I believe in psychics?  Yes, I believe they exist.  Just as I believe Jesus existed.

However, just as I don't buy into what Jesus was selling, I don't believe in the BS the psychics are selling.

[Northwestie]

It's kinda ironic.  The world and the science of how it all works is fascinating in itself.  Yet humans feel the need to construct all kinds of crap to help them look at "alternative" views - angels, psychics, homeopathy, religion, auras, ghosts, and other non-logical elements.  Such as the GOP for instance.

[babysnowbyrd]

I did actually witness Uri Geller bend a spoon IRL at a charity function.   His power was so great it apparently had a scatter effect in the audience and someone else's spoon bent in sympathy.  Great magic, I have no idea how he did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

thankyou, very interesting. I couldn't detect the trickery , he was good. The random spoon could easily have been a plant.

Why would you think the other spoon was a plant? It's a common thing for one to carry. I, for one, never leave home without mine! Never know when you'll need a spoon or when Uri Geller might be in town.

[happy]

Dang! I'm getting suspicious again, I'll have to increase the meds some more.

[forummm]

I did actually witness Uri Geller bend a spoon IRL at a charity function.   His power was so great it apparently had a scatter effect in the audience and someone else's spoon bent in sympathy.  Great magic, I have no idea how he did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

thankyou, very interesting. I couldn't detect the trickery , he was good. The random spoon could easily have been a plant.

Or just someone who needed to believe that their spoon bent because of the magic too. Not wanted--needed to believe. People are really interesting. The faith healers get people to believe they are real even when they aren't actually healed--it's because the invalid didn't believe enough--not that the guy is a charlatan.

[forummm]

It's kinda ironic.  The world and the science of how it all works is fascinating in itself.  Yet humans feel the need to construct all kinds of crap to help them look at "alternative" views - angels, psychics, homeopathy, religion, auras, ghosts, and other non-logical elements.

The night is dark and full of terrors.

That being said, my (limited) understanding of the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics does allow for a mechanism by which foreseeing the future could be possible. Under the MWI all possible alternate histories and futures are real and events that exist in our perceived future could be occurring or already occurred in other worlds. As such, if someone was able to view those worlds they could predict events that were going to occur in our world. Given that MWI only has maybe 20% support in the physics community though, it is a tenuous theory at best.

If MWI were true and it were possible to identify the future, the person capable of doing that wouldn't be telling your fortunes. There are much more profitable ways of using information about the future.

[frugalnacho]

It's kinda ironic.  The world and the science of how it all works is fascinating in itself.  Yet humans feel the need to construct all kinds of crap to help them look at "alternative" views - angels, psychics, homeopathy, religion, auras, ghosts, and other non-logical elements.

The night is dark and full of terrors.

That being said, my (limited) understanding of the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics does allow for a mechanism by which foreseeing the future could be possible. Under the MWI all possible alternate histories and futures are real and events that exist in our perceived future could be occurring or already occurred in other worlds. As such, if someone was able to view those worlds they could predict events that were going to occur in our world. Given that MWI only has maybe 20% support in the physics community though, it is a tenuous theory at best.

If MWI were true and it were possible to identify the future, the person capable of doing that wouldn't be telling your fortunes. There are much more profitable ways of using information about the future.

That's a good point.  I was also under the impression that MWI are different from ours, and what happens in one is independent from ours.  They are alternate histories, and alternate futures, not our actual future.   Also, what mechanism would allow you to perceive any of these alternate worlds? 

[DeltaBond]

OP, keep in mind that energy changes at the time of a reading... upon hearing what's to come, a lot of people make adjustments in regards to that information.  Using a physical medium only to look into your future is underusing his/her skills.

[TheOldestYoungMan]

I also read it as physics.  I will say that I wish there were superpowers.  It would be really great if everyone could read my mind, save me the trouble of having to verbalize how stupid they are.  I wouldn't want to read anyone else's mind though, can barely stand what they output with all the filters on.

[frugalnacho]

It would be really great if everyone could read my mind,

Every single woman's response to reading my mind:

[TheOldestYoungMan]

*creepy eyebrows* but when you like the hit...

[Jet711]

Has anyone here watched the show "The Mentalist"? It's about a guy who reads body language of people to solve crimes.

[trailrated]

"You don't see faith healers working in hospitals in the same way that you don't see psychics winning the lottery every week." been bouncing around the interwebs figured it was relevant.

[Jet711]

Yes, I believe in physics. :P

[Dicey]

Would you be presenting what you say as true?
Would you be giving people false hope?
Would you be taking their money for doing so?

There's a lawyer joke in there somewhere.

[LeRainDrop]

I believe that what goes up must come down because gravity.

[Tyson]

Well yeah.  Gravity is a long standing myth perpetuated by the fear mongering governments and corrupt brainwashed scientists.  All part of a plan to try to force their extreme agenda of global gravity based nonsense.  Just because 99.9% of scientists are in agreement about it doesn't mean shit.  They're all in on the lie.  Except that .1% . . . they're the only ones brave enough to tell the truth.  Unfortunately, only disreputable science journals will bother to publish it.  Probably because science is a big popularity club and doesn't have anything to do with objectivity.

If you look closely at the evidence it clearly doesn't make any sense.  Why, I was in a pool just the other day . . . floating.  Haven't you ever seen birds?  Or dust?  Throw some dust up in the air and you'll notice that it just swirls around there, lazily.

I'm not a nutjob, I'm just your typical global gravity skeptic who has clearly read into the matter deeply and come to an informed opinion.  Gravity is a myth, it's why I only leave the house with velcro bottomed shoes.

I literally LOL'd. 

[Lis]

Not exactly the question, but I was into Tarot cards for a while (still am, still learning) and I "believe" in them. Not so much that they'll tell you your future, but that they force you to think about your life from another angle. For example, The Hermit typically represents a new mentor that has recently entered or will enter your life. Instead of the card *telling you* a new mentor will appear, it forces you to think "who has recently entered my life that I can learn from?" It may make you see things from a new perspective, which I can appreciate.