psychic chess masters

Possibly.  Then again, what he is faking is after all a "carny act" version of psychic ability anyway...so perhaps it's not quite as germane as he (and his fellow "debunkers") might have assumed it to be.

Not true. He goes to Sedona, Arizona, the world-capital of the new age movement and paranormal beliefs, and convinces famous psychics at an institute that is devoted to teaching psychic ability. It's certainly not a "carny act" version of psychic ability, or else the world-renowned expert psychics would not have endorsed him as an extraordinary psychic.

lol...Well, the new age movement is hardly a bastion of stringent thinking to me.  At any rate, you still have to wonder how Swedenbourg knew that his town was burning when he was hundreds of miles away (just to pick one item that sticks out in my mind).  There are many many examples of things like this on record...and they have little to do with gleaning somebody's life history from their pocket watch or some such (which indeed might well prove to be a sort of parlor trick).

Black is white. Q.E.D.

The Golden Pawn.

People have an uncanny habit of remembering the one or two times they had a strange thought that turned out to be interpretable as a premonition, and they forget the thousands of times when similar thoughts didn't come true. It gets recorded and remembered forever when somebody makes a prediction that is correct, but is quickly forgetten when the predictions are wrong.

I think the main problem is not selective memory. It's that statistics and probability are far from intuitive to the human mind. We don't appreciate how many totally meaningless coincidences will occur in a chaotic world.

yes,definitely...I knew you were going to post this topic!

I'm not sure if you realize this is proving the other guy's point.

I just read through this thread. It contains about as much trolling as Daeth's opining, or petermh5's forced resignation thread. So, everyone please be proud of my accomplishment!

Actually it was just a random and totally meaningless coincidence.

Derren Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evZmpsl3jI0

Your point is definitely true, but if I don't get mail for 2,000 years then it's a fair assumption to work on until further evidence is obtained.

If you don't get mail, it is more reasonable to say that the post office is gone than to use this as proof of a post office. Most logical though would be to say: "Who cares? I have a computer, I don't need a post office!"

I'm sorry, I tried reading your last several posts and have no clue what side you're on, much less what you are trying to say. Please be a bit clearer. Thanks!

Well, that is obviously a theory...but I am still skeptical that it explains every instance of such happenings.

And this unfortunately turns a bit goobledegookish fairly quickly.  If it is the case, then it becomes rather difficult to state that anything at all is definitely "psychic."  Thus the million dollars is safe, I suppose. 

But then, I find that the talk of statistics and probabilities more than slightly amounts to doubletalk anyway.

Oh yeah?  Well, he knew that!  In fact, he was just waiting for you to say that!

In a debate, there are sides. Judging by the angry comments, I assumed there was an argument. And in an argument, not everyone can agree (otherwise not an argument!). So, I assumed you were on a side in the argument. Seems like a pretty safe assumption, right? However, I could not decipher what you were trying to say in your comments. So, I was wondering if you could please be a bit clearer. Thank you.

People will use any argument they like to avoid doing something they don't want to do.