# Psychics fail scientific test. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 31, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448 "2012-10-31T16:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/181 "2013-03-16T10:20:03Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Now that _was_ from the Cold War era _Pravda._ Birth of World Wide Web: August, 1991. Formal dissolution of U.S.S.R.: December 1991. Pretty short era. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/182 "2013-03-16T15:23:23Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Now that _was_ from the Cold War era _Pravda._ If you read Fortean Times online, their daily roundup frequently has people sending in stuff from Pravda Online. Last thing I remember definitely coming from Pravda was something on those hikers who all died mysteriously in the Urals [?] that people have claimed had radiation poisoning, maybe UFOs or some government coverup. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/183 "2013-03-17T00:20:03Z")
And if I did _not_ read the Fortean Times? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/184 "2013-03-18T00:54:12Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > . . . nothing existed but physical entities and physical processes. How about it? A little bit tricky; you need to include “energy” and “information,” which are physical, but not “material.” Sort of. That said, yes: this is true. There really is nothing in the cosmos other than matter, energy, and information. No one has ever managed to show the existence of anything other than those. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/185 "2013-03-18T01:37:52Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > And if I did _not_ read the Fortean Times? 😛 [MAX\_SMART] Would you believe the weekly World News? [/MAX\_SMART] ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/186 "2013-03-18T06:59:28Z")
Need you _ask?_ 😛 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/187 "2013-03-18T12:44:23Z")
The other day I had a fever, so I took my temperature, but the thermometer read 98.6F. I got our other thermometer and it read the same thing, so I drove to the pharmacy and bought six or seven different thermometers of different brands and brought them home. Measured under my tongue, under my arm, in my ear, and… elsewhere, and every one of them said my temperature was normal. From this I can conclude one of two things: there is a terrible, pervasive quality control problem that is affecting the accuracy of thermometers, or I have a rare type of body temperature that cannot be measured by objective scientific methods. Perhaps both. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/188 "2013-03-18T13:20:46Z")
Perhaps with more funding, scientists could find the reason behind this inability of thermometers to measure your fever. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/189 "2013-03-18T13:25:57Z")
Nonsense. Big Fever is suppressing research that threatens their interest. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/190 "2013-03-18T14:28:25Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > Hi **Inner Stickler.** A fair post you made there. I just downloaded a couple of King’s Quest manuals from [www.sierrahelp.com](http://www.sierrahelp.com) (the site won’t accept some hot links…). On page 33 of the manual for King’s Quest VI (not V) there is an illustration and an empty block labeled “This page contains Copyright Protection material.” > > And according to [this link here](http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Guidebook_to_the_Land_of_the_Green_Isles): the symbol for the letter V on that page “represents foolishness, the monkey, the color yellow, and ivory.” > > A fuzzy diagram of the code is on the Sierra site (third illustration down), here: [http://www.sierragamers.com/aspx/m/634055](http://www.sierragamers.com/aspx/m/634055) > > So, Shayna’s story is not completely destroyed by the facts, but it does show how memory can warp small facts. King’s Quest VI didn’t use copy protection of that type; you only needed the manual when you got to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain. I remember each time I got to that point in my many playthroughs, I would tear the house apart looking for that slim brown pamphlet. The only King’s Quest game to use “Paragraph x, word y” was IV. The manual is 15 pages long. It doesn’t mention monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/191 "2013-03-18T20:48:57Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Nonsense. Big Fever is suppressing research that threatens their interest. The last time I had a fever I stripped down to my undershorts, removed the covers from my bed except for the topsheet, and slept the rest of the night with a window half open. Strange? Yes, it was cool, but the heat drained out of my system. That was the idea. I woke up without the fever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/192 "2013-03-21T01:20:08Z")
I developed a psychic trick (just for fun) at my work. It was in an office. The stairs between floors ‘emergency only’ so my workmates and I were forever going into the lift lobby and catching lifts. I apparently had the ability to predict which lift was going to arrive. This is how it worked: 1. The lifts were arranged 2-by-2 - that is 2 one side of the liobby and 2 on the other. 2. One lift doubled as the service lift - so this was always being locked off by workmen or delivery people. You couldn’t tell that it was locked off from our floor, so people forgot it was a service lift. 3. I would face the 2 lifts on the other side of the lobby from the service lift. 4. After the button was pushed to call the lift (say 5-10 seconds), I would do 2 things 5. I ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/193 "2013-03-21T01:32:19Z")
Sorry - got cut off. I developed a psychic trick (just for fun) at my work. It was in an office. The stairs between floors ‘emergency only’ so my workmates and I were forever going into the lift lobby and catching lifts. I apparently had the ability to predict which lift was going to arrive. This is how it worked: 1. The lifts were arranged 2-by-2 - that is 2 one side of the liobby and 2 on the other. 2. One lift doubled as the service lift - so this was always being locked off by workmen or delivery people. You couldn’t tell that it was locked off from our floor, so people forgot it was a service lift. 3. I would face the 2 lifts on the other side of the lobby from the service lift. 4. After the button was pushed to call the lift (say 5-10 seconds), I would do 2 things a) Take a step towards one of the two lifts b) Stare meaningfully at the other lift When the lift arrived (and nearly 2/3 times it would be on that side of the lobby because of the service lift), my actions in then moving towards and entering the lift would be a ‘natural’ follow-up to either having taken the preliminary step towards the lift, or the meaningful stare. So the preliminary step or the stare was like the first step in entering the lift - and then I had to wait for the lift to actually arrive. The key thing was, I never proclaimed any ‘psychic’ abilities. Eventually, when someone mentioned that I seemed to ‘know’ which lift was coming, I said ‘Really? I never thought of it’. I gradually refined my techniques. After it was established that I had this ‘ability’ I never mentioned it EXCEPT when I obviously got it wrong - ie, I was facing the wrong way. ‘See! No Psychic Powers for me!’. That would keep them checking that I seemed to get it right most of the time (waaaay better than expected 25%). If I was ever asked ‘So which lift is going to arrive next?’, I would bluster, protest and generally be ‘distracted’ until the lift arrived - so I never actually made a prediction. My predictions only became apparent to people after the event, putting their interpretations on my actions. ---
**Author:** ![vislor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vislor/32/5933_2.png) [@vislor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vislor)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/194 "2013-03-25T05:03:36Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > King’s Quest VI didn’t use copy protection of that type; you only needed the manual when you got to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain. I remember each time I got to that point in my many playthroughs, I would tear the house apart looking for that slim brown pamphlet. > > The only King’s Quest game to use “Paragraph x, word y” was IV. The manual is 15 pages long. It doesn’t mention monkeys. In response to this and in general Shayna’s post about the game, there is this: [Mandatory TVTropes link to copy protection](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CopyProtection) Now, I am specifically referring to a few things. If the game was not KQIV, but Quest for Glory IV, then the protection accepted any answer but it meant you couldn’t finish the game. There are other games mentioned there, such as StarFlight II allowed you to play for up to hours later before the incorrect answer causes any problems. So, it’s quite possible that “monkey” was not correct but the game in question didn’t respond to the incorrect answer until much later. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448/195 "2013-03-31T16:28:31Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > The only King’s Quest game to use “Paragraph x, word y” was IV. The manual is 15 pages long. It doesn’t mention monkeys. Thanks for the info **Double Foolscap** , and here are some details from [“King’s Quest Omni-pedia”](http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Copy_protection). [INDENT] **Copy protection in King’s Quest III** The page numbers of the spell book which are needed to eventually escape from Manannan are the copy protection. **Copy protection in King’s Quest IV** King’s Quest IV uses excerpts from a group of paragraphs as copy protection. For example, page 1, 3rd paragraph, 1st word. **Copy protection in King’s Quest V** King’s Quest V uses special rune spells that had to be answered from the manual after every major section of the game, although the number of times and where it appeared in the game was randomized. **Copy protection in King’s Quest VI** The Ancient Ones alphabet from the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles is used as the copy protection. You must have the alphabet to ascend the Cliffs of Logic successfully.(…) [/INDENT] And yeah, downloading the manual for KQ IV and running it through Acrobat Pro’s OCR confirms that there are no monkeys. Likewise there’s no mention of monkeys in the manual for KQ V. The manual says: [INDENT]From time to time during the game, it may be necessary to use Crispin’s wand to cast a spell. At these times, a window will appear telling you which spell to cast, and showing you four symbols. These are the symbols that activate the spell. Below the symbols are the letters of the English alphabet. To make the spell work, find each symbol and its matching letter in your game manual and select the onscreen letter that matches the symbol[/INDENT] The above strongly suggests that the spell words are only four letters long, which eliminates “monkey”. **Vislor** ’s post suggests the possibility that the game might have been Quest For Glory IV rather than any version of King’s Quest, and that any word, correct or not, would start the game. That offers no possible support for **Shayna** ’s psychic powers. So, contrary to **Shayna** ’s story, KQ V doesn’t require a password from the manual to start the game, and the passwords that are required aren’t “monkey”. KQ VI contains “monkey” as part of one of the clues that might be needed to finish the game, but not to start the game. Overall, **Shayna** ’s story differs from documented facts enough to make it more a cautionary tale about memory and perception than any sort of evidence for extra-sensory ability. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-fail-scientific-test/639448.md?page=9)