Do you think it's fair to expect psychic abilities etc.to be perfect?

Question

Not everyone who plays the piano can play Beethoven!

Answer 1

--- Original Message ---

> I think it doesn't happen "on demand". Kinda like

> you can't fall in love on demand. Some things just

> happen when they happen...or not!

"Sort of" ...

... but what you said is true for most people over the age 14.

They're taught to ignore your natural psychic skills ... even though you still have them.

And re-learning how to do it "on demand" only takes about 10 hours.

> Jasius...Then what do you say about those times

> when they're specifically correct? I don't mean

> something general that they could guess at. I mean

> something specific that no one else could know.

Enjoy!

... and STILL make sure you're keeping-an-eye-out for "cold reading" ... even when it's happening by mistake.

Even well-meaning "natural psychics" can get "caught" doing cold-reading if you don't have the proper calibration skills.

Keep studying!

--Vince

© 2007 Rev. James Vinson Wingo, DD

Answer 2

Not at all.

From what I know, these things are a lot harder than they look.  I don't practice these things but I have read things from people who claim to do-and they say it takes lots and lots of practice and meditation and concentration.  

I once told someone who did parctice psi, of some claim in a book about someone being able to twist car bumpers, she didn't believe it because she said psychokinesis is very hard(hence why you only see them bending, spinning, or floating objects).  It's also the reason that normal people who show any indication of psychic abilities during experiments only seem to show sublte indications such as matching brainwave patterns and altering random number generators past being statistical anamolies.

Answer 3

If I claimed to have unbelievable superhuman mathematics abilites, but scored a 35% on my times tables, you would undoubtedly question my claim.  Zener cards give you a twenty percent chance of getting it right by accident, so some people swoon at a 35% positive result, but count me unimpressed when you are still wrong 65% of the time.  I don't buy the basketball analogy where you are being actively defended.  Piano playing as an art is subjective, but I would not listen to someone play who hit the wrong key even 10% of the time.

Answer 4

I don't think or feel it's fair.

However, my feelings aside it is also not science to expect any human ability to be perfect every time or even to be able to perform at better than chance expectations every time.

For example, Kobe Bryant, the NBA basket ball star has a field goal percentage for his career of .453 (45.3%). However, in any given test of 10 free throws (and his % is higher on free throws) on any given day he may well make less than 45% of his baskets. His human ability (for basketball) can only be seen by combining numerous shots (every field goal attempted in every game he has ever played) to see that he has an impressive ability.

In the social sciences (and medicine) this has been done (combining different attempts) with a statistical technique called meta-analysis (link below).

When this technique is applied to psi abilities the results are statistically significant above chance according to the rules of evidence applied to every field of science both inside and outside of parapsychology.

"Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies examined are far beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. Effects of similar magnitude to those found in government-sponsored research at SRI and SAIC have been replicated at a number of laboratories across the world. Such consistency cannot be readily explained by claims of flaws or fraud."

(link below)

"Rosenthal, after considering the possible influence of various flaws upon study outcome, concluded that the overall hit rate of the studies could be estimated to be 33 percent, whereas chance expectancy was 25 percent."

(links below)

However, since parapsychology has largely been interested in studying psi abilities in the general population (not a group of people or one person in particular) they can only say the evidence supports that psi abilities are real and do take place. They can not say that they have evidence that supports the psi abilities of one particular person (psychic) that has never been studied. This would require multiple trials within each experiment and numerous experiments in order to analyze the individual persons' over all success rate.

Psi

Answer 5

No. Psychics have to do a lot of guesswork anyway, so they can't always be correct.

Answer 6

Assuming they exist, no, I wouldn't expect that.  

I would expect them to deliver results significantly above chance levels, however.

Answer 7

No, it's not fair. I believe that everyone is psychic, but the people who are known as psychics are the ones who can remember their visions. Its like if some people can remember dreams better than others, and some people can't remember most of their dreams at all. =]

Answer 8

No one expects them to be perfect.  If I said I played the piano, you wouldn't expect me to play like Beethoven - but you'd expect me to be able to play SOMETHING, even if it's just 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.  Real abilities don't come and go - if you can speak German, you can speak it - not just at certain times of the day, or during a full Moon, or when no one is watching.  If someone claims to be psychic, they should be able to do SOMETHING to back it up - if it's a real ability, then they can do it.  But if it only works sometimes, maybe they're just deluding themselves - like the person hitting random keys on the piano who sometimes gets a sequence that sounds like a song.

Answer 9

No, because we are only human.

Answer 10

I don't think it's fair to expect anything human to be perfect. Humans are imperfect by nature. As far as psychics go, I don't know of anyone claiming to be 100% perfect. The most scientific evidence for PSI phenomena will only show a difference of maybe 15% over what would be expected by chance. More dramatic occurences are usually quite rare. They are often unexpected and many people live thier whole lives without ever experiencing one. So perfect isn't really an option.

One more point...Beethoven Rocks!

Answer 11

No, I don't think it's fair. I don't think that any psychic can be right 100% of the time. There are too many factors involved, including the other person and the psychic has no control over that part.

Answer 12

Right we are all human we all make mistakes. Next time you think you are perfect try walking on water ;)

Answer 13

I'll take the vote the other way. I have worked with psychics for 8 years. Some form of psionics I can understand imperfection; such as telekinesis. However, in the case of mediumship, call me a critic, but I expect perfection if you are actually performing it. You either see, hear, detect something or you don't. Far too many times, I have encountered something to the following:

Medium: I see a young black woman here in a party dress. She says her name is Paula and was originally from New Orleans.

Researcher: There was only one occupant of this house since its construction and he was a white male named Robert.

Medium: Paula was his secret lover and she would come to his property just after sunset.

Researcher: How do you know this?

Medium: She is telling me this.

Researcher: According to Paul's coworkers, he worked 3rd shift and was on the job most nights and he was openly homosexual.

I am not debunking psychics or mediums, but some aspects of psychic abilities need to be right on the money. You either see it or you don't. You either hear them or you don't. If you don't, that's fine. But if you do, you should be accurate.