Testing psychic abilities

[Simatong]

I have read things on Unexplained Mysteries on and off again over the years and have noticed something. The skeptics oftentimes want proof, and while I believe in the paranormal and am oftentimes sympathetic to those in the paranormal community, I still have to ask; Who could blame them?

If you claim (or boast, as often seems the case) that you possess remarkable abilities, do you honestly not expect to hear someone say that they want to see what you can do?

If you claim that you are possessed of amazing extrasensory or (especially) psychokinetic powers, to expect everyone to say "Wow, you're so cool!" or "That's interesting" without following up with "Mind giving us a demonstration" or "Could we see some evidence?" is like saying you have a cure for the common cold and not expecting someone to ask you to back up your claim.

I am going to say something that may seem harsh, but here goes.

For the majority of people with actual, genuine psychic and/orpsychokinetic ability, providing some sort of evidence should be fairly simple. Point blank.

It's like asking someone who's a poet to give you a sample to look at. I am an actual poet. It is a gift I actually possess, so giving someone a sample of my work or making something up for them is not difficult. For the majority of people with a true talent in whatever they do, providing some sort of evidence, or at least making a genuine effort to, shouldn't be all that difficult.

So, from personal experience, here are ways to show you have true abilities. I am going to start off with the things that might make showing evidence of your abilities easier.

Note: For the psychokinetic portion, this is more for the purported aerokinetics and atmokinetics (and thermokinetics may be able to find some ideas and/or use the ideas mentioned here)

Make specific and detailed predictions about the Weather either on days that have not been forecast with specificity (like six or more days in advance, when accurately predicting weather gets more and more difficult using ordinary means)

Why the weather? The weather is a prime example of chaos theory; thousands, if not millions of variables are responsible for creating weather, so predicting the weather can be difficult even with advanced meteorological equipment, let alone with psychic powers. Thus, if you are able to accurately make specific predictions about the weather based on nothing but your psychic abilities, it tends to be more credible; The more difficult something is to predict by normal means, the easier it is to judge whether or not your abilities actually predicted something.

For instance, if you said that the x day after next was going to have winds between x and y miles per hour, and/or you said the weather conditions would be xx and xx, if/when these predictions came to fruition, discounting them would be very difficult (predicting exact wind-speeds more than a couple of days in advance is almost impossible, and predicting exact wind speeds a week or two in advance is absolutely impossible, not to mention the difficulty of talking about weather conditions in general a week or so in advance)

Things NOT to do:

When predicting things, be as specific as possible. Do not say, "I sense the winds will be stronger than usual". That is vague statement, as what is "usual" for one area may be "unusual" for another, not to mention should the wind speed be even 1 mph above the "usual" wind speed, someone grasping at straws could try to claim that that is evidence of precognition. Instead, say that you believe the winds will be between x and y miles per hour. However, don't say something like you believe the winds will be between 10-100 miles an hour, because that range is way too wide to be taken seriously; the wind speed will more than likely fall within that range anyway. The only time this may be acceptable would be if you were to say something like "I sense the winds will be between 60-100mph". That would be more credible, seeing as 60+ wind speeds are rather rare. Otherwise, try and make it no more than a 10-15 mph range (like 15-25, 25-35, 10-20).

Unacceptable prediction: I sense wind speeds being high this week, with warm weather and somewhat rainy skies (the only time a prediction like this would be acceptable would be if it were in late autumn or winter, but even then it is rather vague)

Acceptable prediction: I sense winds being between 14-28 miles per hour on XXday, with temperatures between 74-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Partly cloudy with moderate rainfall

For precogs: Try and make a prediction for a day that is not predicted for or that does not have specific predictions (this is why I say make it about 6 or more days in advance, maybe 8 days in advance would be better), as the farther down the road it is, the less likely you are to be accused of having made your predictions based on previously known data. Now granted, some weather services (particularly online) give predictions 10, even 15 days down the line. However, these are far from set in stone, as the further down the line you go, the harder weather is to predict. Besides, if nothing else, you can stick to predicting the wind speeds, which would not be listed in most cases

For those with purported aerokinetic/atmokinetic abilities: For the most part, the same rules apply to you, except it would be best if you try and make the weather the opposite of what was predicted (ex: Monday calls for rain. Make it clear skies. Tuesday calls for calm winds. Make it windy) Be as specific as possible (and for many of you, please don't give me that crap about not being able to control it like that; if you can make a "mini-tornado" on a freaking clear day on a baseball field or summon a miraculous rain cloud over your house, I am pretty sure you have enough control to alter wind speeds and weather patterns to a certain specificity)

All the other rules made for the precogs apply; make the range no more than a 10-15 mph difference (10-20 mph, 10-15 mph, 15-25 mph), unless you want it to be, say, 60-100mph. As I said, since such ranges are rare, it would be credible. I would also suggest maybe trying to make it at least 10 miles ABOVE the meteorologically projected range; if the weather man says 10-15 mph hour winds, why not try and make it 20-25 miles an hour. The higher you make it, the more credible it may seem, but then again, this is up to you.

Where to make predictions/How to show off your psychokinetic feats

Many alleged "psychokinetics" claim that they don't have the video to show off their skills. Well, I have ways that you can do that without even needing to touch a camera, and it in fact only requires you to be able to type. The same goes with precogs (Note: on the kinetic side, this is specifically for the aerokinetics and atmokinetics; I am unsure about how to help the other alleged "kineticists")

1) Post your predictions right here on Unexplained-Mysteries

That simple. The same goes for the aerokinetics/atmokinetics. You are obviously aiming to make your local weather different from what was predicted, right?

For the precogs: (If you sense the weather is going to be different from what has been predicted) Go to a REPUTABLE weather site and copy and paste ALL information regarding the day or days for which you are making a prediction. MAKE SURE TO GET ALL RELEVANT DATES AND TIME STAMPS FOR WHEN THE METEOROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS (from the meteorologists) WERE MADE. This way, the skeptics and/or others have something to compare to your own predictions. Better yet, use print screen and turn the screen with the meteorological (again, from the meteorologists) into a JPEG. Save that JPEG, making SURE that you also have the TIME AND DATE the predictions were made CLEARLY VISIBLE to the naked eye. This leaves less chance for people to assert that you created the entire predictions yourself. For precogs trying to show evidence of wind speeds etc. 6 or more days in advance, go to a credible weather site, and try and find forecasts that project as far as possible, simply to show that they have no information you (reliably) use as a base for your predictions. However, with your predictions, you are going to need to be as specific as possible. The best way to do this is to try and predict the things that the forecast cannot (ex: If it says it is going to rain on Day 10 or 11, and if that is what you sense as well, try giving an approximate amount. ex. 1,00-1.89 inches of rain, 2.05-4.00 of rain, etc,)

For the aerokinetics/atmokinetics the same rules apply to you. Say what wind speeds, weather conditions you want, post them on here with RELEVANT, RELIABLE, TIME-STAMPED JPEGs of the meteorologists' predictions to compare your writing to

2) Make a prediction, type it down in a Word Doc or directly in an email, and send it to yourself:

There will be an automatic time-stamp on the email. Make a JPEG of that message WITH THE TIME STAMP and post it on Unexplained-Mysteries. This is the method that I had been most familiar with. The problem is, people can claim that you tried to alter the time stamp and made the predictions after the fact. However, I still believe it is a good way, and at the very least, even if the skeptics stay skeptical, at least they may respect you for at least trying to meet them halfway.

So there you have it folks.

Please let me know what you think. (Skeptics and Believers alike). If any of you find any loopholes, flaws, concerns or just plain have comments, I am all ears.

Sincerely,

Simatong

[Professor T]

nope.

Months ago I looked at doing something similar with emphasis on exercising abilities, not testing them..

There's nothing productive about the kind of exersize you are proposing imo because your quiding principle is testing the existence of.. Not exercising or stretching the bloundaries of what participants are capable of or trying multiple methods or variations..

Here's some ideas I got back regarding test threads..

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=232453&hl= testing&st=0

[Simatong]

There's nothing productive about the kind of exersize you are proposing imo because your quiding principle is testing the existence of.. Not exercising or stretching the bloundaries of what participants are capable of or trying multiple methods or variations..

Actually, if you read my post carefully, you will see that the very purpose of this was to give advice to those who actually wanted to provide, or at least attempt to provide, evidence of the existence of their psi abilities. Since the very purpose of the thread was testing abilities, I don't see how your argument has merit.

However, for the sake of argument, let us say that I were to go along with you on the exercising and stretching the boundaries of what a participant can do. By using the methods I proposed above, they are exercising their ability, since exercising something basically means using it. They are using their precognition to predict what weather patterns are going to be like. The aerokinetics/atmokinetics are using their abilities to alter atmospheric events. They are exercising their abilities. If you are talking about pushing the boundaries of their abilities, then if it's precognition, why not take the method a step further and try to predict the weather on the 23rd that comes two months from this month? Why not try and make hurricane force winds if you have only made gale force winds before? You can say what the weather will be like two months from now or tell or send to yourself with time-stamped emails what you are going to cause the weather to do. Heck, you can even do it like this: Predict the weather a week from now or control the weather or wind to a certain degree (first making and posting your predictions or desired effect beforehand), and then after that, "push the boundaries" and predict the weather two or three weeks in advance and try to control the weather or wind on an even grander scale (again, making and or posting your predictions and desired effect beforehand. You are both testing your ability and exercising it. Everyone wins. That simple. How is that not productive?

Edited January 26, 2013 by Simatong