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skepticpsychic
New Member
USA
21 Posts |
 Posted - 01/17/2006 : 04:52:01 [Permalink]
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Top Ten Reasons Why I Won't Agree To Randi's Challenge:
10. I need $2,000,000.
9. I predict I will lose.
8. My dead grandmother told me despite what Randi says about Goldman Saks there is no money.
7. My psychiatrist suggested I don't.
6. All twelve of my imaginary friends are away on business right now.
5. My tarot card reader advised me not to.
4. Aliens have abducted me and I can't get back to Earth.
3. A Yeti has me trapped in the bathroom.
2. A Christian has me strapped to a bed and we're waiting for the priest to perform the exorcism.
1. I was already burned at the stake in another life.
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The Skeptic Psychic
www.writingup.com/blog/skepticpsychic |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 05:17:52 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by skepticpsychic
Top Ten Reasons Why I Won't Agree To Randi's Challenge:
10. I need $2,000,000.
9. I predict I will lose.
8. My dead grandmother told me despite what Randi says about Goldman Saks there is no money.
7. My psychiatrist suggested I don't.
6. All twelve of my imaginary friends are away on business right now.
5. My tarot card reader advised me not to.
4. Aliens have abducted me and I can't get back to Earth.
3. A Yeti has me trapped in the bathroom.
2. A Christian has me strapped to a bed and we're waiting for the priest to perform the exorcism.
1. I was already burned at the stake in another life.
Indeed! 
My excuse is that my house 'possum and my pet rattlesnake advised against it. It is always wise to listen to The Voices.....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 05:58:26 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by JohnOAS
quote:
Originally posted by H. Humbert
If you have true powers, I have a single tattoo somewhere on my body. Tell me where it is located and what is an image of.
I'll go you one better H! I've picked a rational, real number greater than one and less than 1 million. I've "written" it down and saved it as a text file on my computer. I've created an Md5 hash of the file, given below:
MD5 (Second.txt) = b7f189fcf7a03bc403c3d107b7d245b0
(This is the MD5 hash of the file describing the number you should be determining by whatever paranormal/otherworldly means you have at your disposal.)
An example that will please the Douglas Adams fans.
Contents of "First.txt": 42. Forty tWo. That's two more than forty!
MD5 (First.txt) = 172cf4e412fed95f9af4076f764e264a
For those that are unsure of what MD5 is, Google or Wikipedia will sort you out pretty quickly. Essentially the idea is, I can't change the "answer" after someone correctly (or incorrectly) guesses it. I know MD5 is no longer considered entirely un-crackable, but a brute force attack is going to be pretty difficult considering there's some text in the file. I figure a week ought to be long enough for someone truly gifted to get the number from my mind, or have their associate spirit/angel/ghost/maginary friend get it for them.
A million to one odds aren't too bad if anyone wants to have a go. Remember, you don't have to re-produce the actual contents of my text file, just the number it represents.
I'm afraid I don't have the resources to offer a Randi-style reward, but anyone who can pull it off will get much more credibilty here I'm sure, and perhaps allow us to proceed to a re-producibility phase of experimentation.
This may be a little nerdy, but, well, if the shoe fits! Plus, I don't have any tats!
[Edit note, the FN on-line editor stripped an extra space I had in my text file, so I re-ran the md5 algorithm with a text file as you'd get if you cut and pasted the bold characters into a text editor and saved that as a file. I also fixed a typo.]
42! Or 666  |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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skepticpsychic
New Member
USA
21 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 10:22:24 [Permalink]
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Message Preview
What Do I Do?
My American Heritage Dictionary says:
Psychic: 1. Of or pertaining to the human mind or psyche; 2. Of or pertaining to extraordinary, especially extrasensory or nonphysical mental processes, such as ESP. 3. A medium.
Psyche: The mind functioning as the center of thought, feeling and behavior, and consciously or unconsciously adjusting and relating the body to its social and physical environment. This definition relates to psychiatry.
Adversary: Enemy; the Devil.
From my email:
“We have thought critically about psychics, and everyone of us has come up with a resounding "Bullshit!" Just because we considered it before you got here doesn't mean we haven't”.
So before I got here you pre-determined that my experiences and what I have to offer are bullshit even though you have never met me or talked to me. Sounds like prejudiced thinking to me. Every group needs a regular self-skeptical look at itself to weed out its own bullshit.
“We asked you if you could demonstrate your powers to us or any skeptic group. You refused to do so.”
Quite contrary, I have demonstrated great interest in being examined. I began inquiring what is possible, which led to reading Randi's challenge. I have shared the data collection have I already done and used your input to determine what of it is useful. I am still exploring other possible avenues of testing. I need to find more accurate data collection. More than that, I have been trying to deduce what “powers” I would be tested on. What DO I claim I can do?
You helped me determined that I'm ok if the Party members are a product of schizophrenia. I state in my book, “Party of Twelve: The Afterlife Interviews”: “I don't know if I am talking to Einstein. I think I am, but I can't prove it so if you are uncomfortable with it, please feel free to think I made the whole thing up.” The book is still a thought-provoking read into the lives of the Party members and has an important message of world peace. That it was produced using channeling remains a mystery that I treasure.
This latest feedback has been clarifying where I stand about predictions. Have you even read Randi's challenge? Part of his process is that I would get input into its design, and it's based on what I claim I can do. I never claimed to be capable of predicting what number you have written on your computer, which numbers will win the lottery, when your divorce will be final or what you are thinking right at this moment.
I stress to clients that I do not do this. I am here to help you learn to create your own future. For that reason, making predictions for me is a fun, fascinating experiment I do for my own interest as per my own Hippocratic oath, only if it does no harm. I have never charged money to specifically predict anyone's future. And I would personally never have made Brown's miner prediction or interfered in Schiavo as Edward did. (Lest you forget I am skeptic of psychics too!)
What I can claim is that I receive messages via spontaneous hallucinations of the spirits of dead people that have meaning to and are corroborated by the recipient. I cannot recall one time under these circumstances that there wasn't corroboration. However, this is not reproducible in a laboratory. I do not “do” anything to provoke these hallucinations. They happen randomly. I do not claim to do this at will nor does it involve money in any way.
I also claim to be able to channel: to speak spontaneously and extemporaneously to produce highly evolved information about the nature of the psyche. Through the use of channeling, I've acquired information about a process for resolving conflict in the psyche that appears to affect the external details of life in seemingly unexplainable ways.
I do not claim to be able to foresee the details of how these unexplainable, coincidental or synchronistic events will show up. The process is based on the premise that you create your own reality. I can say |
The Skeptic Psychic
www.writingup.com/blog/skepticpsychic |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 11:41:52 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by skepticpsychic
Adversary: Enemy; the Devil.
And adversarial is an adjective meaning like an adversary, not necessarily an actual adversary. Have you ever played "Devil's Advocate" when examining a proposition? If so, you were behaving as an adversary.quote:
From my email:
“We have thought critically about psychics, and everyone of us has come up with a resounding "Bullshit!" Just because we considered it before you got here doesn't mean we haven't”.
So before I got here you pre-determined that my experiences and what I have to offer are bullshit even though you have never met me or talked to me. Sounds like prejudiced thinking to me. Every group needs a regular self-skeptical look at itself to weed out its own bullshit.
And your prejudice was that we exist in order to "debunk psychics." Playing the victim won't work well when you obviously carry a prejudiced view of skeptics.
Besides that, it was clear to me that Ricky was talking about psychics in general, and not you in particular. That you can personalize the argument so easily tells me that you came here looking for an adversary, and now you're annoyed that you actually found some people willing to play that role in this discussion. As they say, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 12:57:30 [Permalink]
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quote:
Most profound for me was using it when I was diagnosed with borderline multiple personality disorder to reunite my psyche.
Uh huh....
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 13:49:54 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by skepticpsychic
What I can claim is that I receive messages via spontaneous hallucinations of the spirits of dead people that have meaning to and are corroborated by the recipient. I cannot recall one time under these circumstances that there wasn?t corroboration. However, this is not reproducible in a laboratory. I do not ?do? anything to provoke these hallucinations. They happen randomly. I do not claim to do this at will nor does it involve money in any way.
Corroboration. So you are getting feedback throughout your spontaneous hallicinations? So is it possible that you might not be telling, but rather asking. After all if someone is visiting you for your insights I suspect that they would also like you to be rather successful.
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Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
| Edited by - moakley on 01/17/2006 13:54:21 |
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 14:20:37 [Permalink]
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Geez, skepticpsychic, do I understand that the website you linked in your bio is yours, and you will give a reading over the phone for only $100/hour? And it is not specific no less!
What can I say...
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If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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Subjectmatter
Skeptic Friend
173 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 14:24:59 [Permalink]
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Does Borderline multiple personality disorder even exist? I've heard of borderline personality disorder and multiple personality disorder (aka. dissociative identity disorder) but never Borderline multiple personality disorder... Is there a psychologist in the house?
also, Skepticpsychic claims that quote:
...I have shared the data collection have I already done...
But she only shared the fact of the collection, not its nature nor the data itself.
[edit] Take a look at this from her site:
quote:
I stumbled upon a website called
Skeptical Friends Network ... A great many of the forum members have personally vowed to take down every last psychic, as if we are child molesters or serial killers ...
That seems a little bit out of proportion...
http://www.writingup.com/skepticpsychic
skepticpsychic joins the skeptic friends network more fun than right wing fundamentalists |
Sibling Atom Bomb of Couteous Debate |
| Edited by - Subjectmatter on 01/17/2006 14:31:23 |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 14:41:40 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by skepticpsychic
I never claimed to be capable of predicting what number you have written on your computer, which numbers will win the lottery, when your divorce will be final or what you are thinking right at this moment.
I stress to clients that I do not do this. I am here to help you learn to create your own future. For that reason, making predictions for me is a fun, fascinating experiment I do for my own interest as per my own Hippocratic oath, only if it does no harm. I have never charged money to specifically predict anyone's future. And I would personally never have made Brown's miner prediction or interfered in Schiavo as Edward did. (Lest you forget I am skeptic of psychics too!)
Well, throwing out predictions which you freely admit may not come true isn't really considered all that special a power. Anyone can do that. I'm glad you find it fun, though.
quote:
What I can claim is that I receive messages via spontaneous hallucinations of the spirits of dead people that have meaning to and are corroborated by the recipient. I cannot recall one time under these circumstances that there wasn't corroboration.
"Corroboration" isn't all that special a phenomenon either, except we refer to it as subjective validation, and it is what makes cold reading so successful. I know you think this isn't what you do, but if your results are no different than what we would expect from a cold reading, then there really isn't any way for you to prove your claim.
As far as your claim that "we can reproduce this with 100% certainty: 100% of the time the conflict in the psyche gets resolved," I'd have to know what that even means first. If you mean you help people get through emotionally stressful times in their lives, then that also isn't especially paranormal. In truth, other than the fact you claim to hear voices in your head, I don't see anything unusual about anything you do, and certainly nothing "psychic."
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 01/17/2006 14:42:27 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 15:05:49 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Subjectmatter
[edit] Take a look at this from her site:
So, skepticpsychic doesn't want to get into an adversarial discussion, but is willing and able to post bald-faced lies about the members of the SFN on her website. Whether her psychic powers are real or not, it's clear that being psychic doesn't make a person a pleasant searcher for truth. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 15:21:09 [Permalink]
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Yet another woo woo "truth seeker" who doesn't actually like the ugly business of seeking truth, and who sees any resistance to her claims as a form of persecution. I guess we were all supposed to just take her word for it.
P.S. You have to be living in another reality entirely to conclude that even one person here (let alone "a great deal") have "personally vowed to take down every last psychic." Whatever her proper psychological diagnosis should be, it is clear she suffers from some form of delusions.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 01/17/2006 15:30:59 |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 15:24:49 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by H. Humbert
Yet another woo woo "truth seeker" who doesn't actually like the ugly business of seeking truth, and who sees any resistance to her claims as a form of persecution. I guess we were all supposed to just take her word for it.
Yeah, makes her sound more like those fundie-christians.... |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 15:33:38 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Subjectmatter
edit] Take a look at this from her site:
She did set a link to this thread. Hopefully it will be used by some to determine whether we were really trying to chew her a new one, or whether she is just overly sensitive to honest inquiry to determine the validity of her claim.
I doubt her psychic abilities, her skepticism, and her integrity. |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 18:02:44 [Permalink]
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quote:
Me, one of the founders of SFN:
Oh gee. I think you may be feeling that our regard for John Edward has something to do with how we regard all claims made by all psychics. And yes, we are skeptical of those claims. But I didn't offer you a test here to debunk your claims. I suggested it as a way for you to verify your claims. Again, I am sure we could come up with a method for doing that that would satisfy you by minimizing the effect of any possible bias that any of us may have, including you. I am serious about this. Any approach to an investigation with the intent to debunk would likely not be a fair investigation. A skeptic must have an open mind. That is exactly what separates us from the often-heard charge that we are cynics. Personally, I would love to see some evidence for psi.
quote:
skepticpsychic from her blog:
What I didn't know until I read their fine print that their biggest pet peeve is the dismal psychotic psychic, out there pretending to predict people's future, leading the world into hell. A great many of the forum members have personally vowed to take down every last psychic, as if we are child molesters or serial killers.
These are the disciples of the “Amazing” Randi, a former magician turned author and lecturer, who has offered a $1,000,000 challenge to any psychic who can prove he or she is psychic. I've heard of this but just passed “Amazing” off as a PR sensationalist trying to drum up more book sales.
Well, huh. Guess she took that John Edward's stuff personally. Go figure. If I were a psychic I would want to distance myself from people like him. “Disciples of the Amazing Randi?” Get out of town!
And, really, I was not being the least bit disingenuous in my posts to her. No one else was either. She made up the crap that bashing psychics is our main thing. Or even a thing that we do. Most of the responses to her were fair. Skeptical, but fair. This is a skeptic site after all. I now feel that we have been had. Either she really is crazy or she only came here to make a point for her blog. Failing to do that, she went ahead with it anyway. And that makes her, as Dave said, a liar.
This personally bums me out. I was actually hoping to have a rational dialog with a professed psychic.
Now I just feel silly that I defended her. As it turns out, Dude was right…
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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