# I Think I'm Psychic, but..
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 13, 2002, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658 "2002-08-13T09:41:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/1 "2002-08-13T09:41:26Z")
…I can’t decide if my ability is:
(1) clairvoyance (you can see the future)
(2) psycho-kinetic (you can move things by mind control)
(3) telepathic (you can communicate with others, mind-to-mind)
How can I be tested to be sure of what my ability is?
Can I use those 5-symbol cards? Hw do I know that my clairvoyance isn’t interfering with my psycho-kinesis?
Where to I find a good para-psychologist?:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/2 "2002-08-13T09:51:28Z")
I knew you were going to ask this.
(2) ought to be pretty easy to test for yourself; put a peanut underneath an upturned tumbler and try to make it move, using only your mind (always remembering that the principles of leverage still apply; if you try to move too big an object this way, you may just end up levering your brain out of your head).
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### Author:  [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/3 "2002-08-13T10:27:02Z")
**ralph124c** Don’t let **Mangetout** fool you, it’s all about the food.
If you are a psychic, I’ve got some stock symbols for you to look at. Of course if you are a psychic, why don’t you already know how we are going to answer your questions?
> [@](#):
>
> Hw do I know that my clairvoyance isn’t interfering with my psycho-kinesis?
No problem. Clairokinesis is better anyway.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/4 "2002-08-13T10:30:09Z")
I was going to suggest a paperclip, but peanuts are not so readily affected by magnetic fields and thus less susceptible to tampering.
But yes, it **is** all about the food (you must have read my mind).
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### Author:  [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/5 "2002-08-13T14:13:10Z")
Flip a coin 100 times. Before each flip, predict whether it will be heads or tails. We will be interested in the results.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/6 "2002-08-13T14:54:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mangetout \*
> if you try to move too big an object this way, you may just end up levering your brain out of your head). \*\*
That is why you fail.
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/7 "2002-08-13T16:29:04Z")
You can be tested at the Edgar Cayce (sp?) institute, you probably are a psychic! Especially if you are interested in it!
Incidently did anyone ever notice that people who believe in psychics all possess some “psychic” ability?
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/8 "2002-08-13T23:30:04Z")
Dear Ralph,
Get over it.
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2002, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/9 "2002-08-13T23:51:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ralph124c \*
> \*\*…I can’t decide if my ability is:
> (1) clairvoyance (you can see the future)
> (2) psycho-kinetic (you can move things by mind control)
> (3) telepathic (you can communicate with others, mind-to-mind)
If you are clairvoyant, then you can win the British lottery!
If you are psycho-kinetic, then you can win the British lottery!
If you are telepathic, then you know I don’t believe there is any evidence for psychics.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/10 "2002-08-14T00:01:09Z")
**ralph124c** , can you tell us why you think you’re psychic?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/11 "2002-08-14T01:02:59Z")
Where’s the debate?
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/12 "2002-08-14T02:38:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Beagle \*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > H[o]w do I know that my clairvoyance isn’t interfering with my psycho-kinesis?
>
> No problem. Clairokinesis is better anyway.
Personally, I prefer good old-fashioned Head-and-Shoulders-kinesis. Clairokinesis is just _soooooo_ pretentious, what with only using supermodels’ hair in their commercials.
BTW, there’s a very easy way to tell if you have telepathy:[ol][li]Sit facing a fish bowl.[/li][li]Put the tips of your index fingers on your temples, on either side of your head. (This is very important. It makes you look psychic.)[/li][li]Tell the fish to jump up and do a back flip.[/li]If little concentric white rings leave your forehead and travel to the fish, accompanied by a kind of high-pitched “boop boop boop boop” sound, then you have the power of telepathy![/ol]
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### Author:  [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/13 "2002-08-14T03:26:29Z")
—…I can’t decide if my ability is:
(1) clairvoyance (you can see the future)
(2) psycho-kinetic (you can move things by mind control)
(3) telepathic (you can communicate with others, mind-to-mind)—
That’s strange: I can’t decide either.
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### Author:  [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/14 "2002-08-14T03:47:27Z")
Well if you were clairvoyant then you could see the answer in the future couldn’t ya?
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### Author:  [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/15 "2002-08-14T06:46:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by robertliguori \*
> \*\*Flip a coin 100 times. Before each flip, predict whether it will be heads or tails. We will be interested in the results. \*\*
Woah. Now I’m really scared. Thinking that maybe I too might be psychic, I tried this myself. I pulled a quarter from my meager laundry fund and flipped it 100 times. I thought it was wierd that I was right _every time_. And it wasn’t like it came down heads 100 times in a row, I checked ahead of time that it had a heads side **and** a tails side.
I’m up to 647 flips and it keeps landing either heads or tails… 649… Should I turn myself in to the CIA or something?
Tenebras
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### Author:  [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/16 "2002-08-14T07:00:05Z")
Yeah, if you were pyschic wouldn’t you just _know_?!
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### Author:  [@TalkingHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TalkingHead)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/17 "2002-08-14T07:53:11Z")
They have a psychic fair at the nearby hotel & inn now and then, but it always bothers me that they post signs for the psychic fair event…
Shouldn’t those people already know when and where the psychic fair is happening?
_**Option (4) Remote Viewing not on List**_
Have you tried “remote viewing” yet **ralph**??? I tried it myself, and it worked great… I saw all kinds of crap in my head … who knows if it was real or not, but I saw it…
_**Option (5) Spoonbending not on List**_
Now, Uri Keller did so much work for this unique talent, that they incorporated it into the Matrix and all… surely, this one must be it’s own psychic power… I mean you might start here with simple plastic spoons and work up to pewter… if you use silver, you can look in the reflection and see things “hidden” behind you (2 powers for the price of one)
I myself want _**Option (6) remote choking**_. Darth Vader inspired this in me as a young child, and the only way I can seem to get it to work is to actually get my hands on the person first… although there was one time in a video conference when everyone thought I actually did it … but that was just a coincidental thing…
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/18 "2002-08-14T08:04:44Z")
[QUOTE]
\*Originally posted by tracer \*
\*\*BTW, there’s a very easy way to tell if you have telepathy:[ol][li]Sit facing a fish bowl.[/li][li]Put the tips of your index fingers on your temples, on either side of your head. (This is very important. It makes you look psychic.)[/li][li]Tell the fish to jump up and do a back flip.[/li][li]If little concentric white rings leave your forehead and travel to the fish, accompanied by a kind of high-pitched “boop boop boop boop” sound, then you have the power of telepathy![/ol] \*\*[/li][/QUOTE]
I tried this, but it was more of a “fweep fweep fweep fweep”, oh and the concentric rings were pale blue; is this because I used a budgie as the test subject or am I just not telepathic.
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/19 "2002-08-14T08:26:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mangetout \*
> \*\*I tried this, but it was more of a “fweep fweep fweep fweep”, oh and the concentric rings were pale blue; is this because I used a budgie as the test subject or am I just not telepathic. \*\*
Sorry, you are not psychic. The blue rings with the fweep sound signify a severe headache.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-psychic-but/123658/20 "2002-08-14T09:31:15Z")
Well, I’m officially confused. How can you have a psychic power and not know whether it’s telepathy, clairvoyance, or psychokinesis? Wouldn’t you know which one it was, from the results of using it?
(Though what would I know on the subject? I was, once, actually tested for psychic powers; the results were emphatically negative. I keep having to remind my crazed Australian boss about this.)
More perplexingly still: why does **Mangetout** keep his budgie in a fish bowl?
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