Marley, every single time, as in 100% that i hear a song in my head with a particular quality, I can turn on the radio and the song is playing to the beat. I used to impress people with this until some thought me a freak or demon possessed or whatever they imagine they do not want to be around; I’d start singing and then turn on the radio and match the lyrics exactly. I keep it to myself, pretty much, now. Nearly every day this happens to me, and if I spend some effort on it I can sometimes cause it to happen. Never once been wrong. There isn’t any confirmation bias going on.
Most people say its “supernatural” but I think that if I live long enough I can figure out in acceptable scientific terms what’s going on, unless the answer might lie in an odd structure in my brain? I’m not doing any self-brain-surgeries.
I’m fairly unique in other musical ways too, for instance, I have perfect pitch; I can tune a piano by ear and match tuners.
And you know something? People like me, I really think, don’t get in any serious studies. I am terrified of what science would want to do with me. You can have my brain when you’re dead, but honestly, Marley, I wouldn’t want someone like you getting it, because you have the attitude that wouldn’t get anything done in figuring out why this happens. i’d prefer the whacko crackpot guy nobody takes seriously who is willing to believe in the currently unexplainable that 100 years from now will be called “the father of modern ________”
How about people who refuse to associate with left-handed people, or people with red hair, because these are marks of evil (or just of “bad luck.”) I have personally known racists who invoke the “Curse of Ham” as the basis for their hiring discrimination.
In Haiti, not too very long ago, one man murdered another man, because he believed the other man put the “evil eye” on him.
There have been many, many black cats killed by superstitious people, especially near Halloween.
It is hard to limit stupidity to strictly ceremonial observations; there is too strong a temptation, among very weak-minded people, to act upon these beliefs. The only sensible tolerance is zero tolerance.
Would you do it for a million dollars…or are you yet another in a loooong line of “I’ve got magical powers…as long as I don’t show them to anybody/I’m afraid The Powers That Be will take me away if they find out about me…so I’m going to tell everybody about it on message boards” people?
So start documenting it. Write down your predictions ahead of time and then see if you’re right. See how often it happens.
I was going to say it’s confirmation bias, but I’m overwhelmed by the non-evidence you’ve posted. Seriously, confirmation bias is much more likely than (useless) psychic powers. If you think of a song and don’t hear it on the radio right away, you tell yourself (perhaps not consciously) that it didn’t have the right quality. You only remember the hits. Speaking of which, if you are listening to terrestrial radio - and only to particular stations - you may be aware that they have very limited playlists.
Well, let’s do a quick test: is there a radio antenna sticking out of your head? If not, I’m guessing there is another answer.
I agree that people who get spooked by science are unlikely to participate in studies, but really, give me a break. What are you afraid of? That a shadowy cabal of scientists will want to dissect your brain to figure out why you sometimes guess what song is on the radio? It’s hard to get anybody to care about that all, nevermind kill for it.
I don’t want it. I also can’t help noticing that you
Dagnabbit. I was going to say that David42 hadn’t responded to the requests for numbers: how often does he think he might be able to predict what song is on the radio by chance alone?
I recall in the 90s, a woman who was having a bad time with her boyfriend, and was a big fan of true crime books, presented herself as a psychic. She went to the cops with information after reading about the case, and fingered her boyfriend. The body was found about 25 feet from where she predicted it to be.
The boyfriend was arrested and tried and convicted, she got guilty and confessed she just made it up and she wound up in jail as well as the boyfriend, where they both protested their innocence.
A year or so later, the guy who did it was arrested on another crime and decided to confess to a few other murders he committed. The cops at first refused to believe he did it but he was able to name things only the killer would’ve knew.
So the boyfriend and pseudo-psychic were released. This was in Colorado I believe.
It just goes to show you how using information and intuition you can make decent and accurate guesses.
I was responding to your absolute statement that “…accepting superstitious claims without reasonable examination is always to the detriment of society.” If you concede that this is not *always *so then we probably have common ground. And there is not universal agreement about what is a detriment to society, so even if you identify how such things affect society, I may not agree that it’s a detriment. Certainly there are examples of harm done. But it’s like a pillow–usually a harmless thing that brings people comfort, but deadly if you use it to deprive someone of breath.
Note: Dismissiveness without any inkling of taking it seriously.
Nothing I said was about predicting anything. it’s about “I can tell you NOW what is on the radio while there is no radio playing.”
Now someone who would take the possibility seriously might ask, “Wow, that sounds incredible. You have any ideas what might be going on?”
To which I might say: “I dunno, but I wonder; I wonder if maybe, since I am always near a radio that’s turned off when it happens, it might be some kind of interaction between the unampliflied signal in the coil and certain brain cells I might have, maybe some of my cells have become hypersensitive to this energy?”
And someone who was seriously interested in science (rather than proving their pseudointellectual superiority over whackos) might say, “hey, we might make a hypotheses and test it.”
And I might say, “Well, I was thinking of what it would take to falsify this, and thinking there might be such and such that could be done, but the drawback is…”
Whereupon someone really interested in science might have a contribution to my idea or an entirely different one, and I might say, “ok, so long as it doesn’t seem too scary with large amounts of electricity and my brain in the same sentence, I might consent to a test like that.”
But nah, people who are more interested in seeming smarter than someone else simply dismiss it and laugh and make fun and trot out their speculation as fact.
Note again that you’re not answering the question - which wasn’t dismissive.
You’re right: I don’t take the possibility seriously because I know you are not able to predict what’s on the radio or to know what is playing without hearing it. It’s not possible. I wasn’t trying to keep that a secret. I think you’re mostly falling victim to confirmation bias, intentionally or not, making too much of concidence, and failing to note the fact that radio stations tend to have small playlists. Meanwhile, you’re not doing much to get anyone to take the possibility seriously.
I’m not that familiar with the inner workings of radios, but wouldn’t there have to be metal in your brain for that to work? And how is your brain supposed to be processing music (including determining its beat and frequency) without your ears being involved?
I suggested you start writing down when it occurs. You’re doing this instead.
Now, if you hadn’t already admitted your bias that “you know” this isn’t true, then I’d discuss this comment which is interesting enough. But I’m getting wrapped up in a whole bunch of talk about an anecdote meant to encourage another poster not to feel bad because some other posters laughed and made fun of the whole subject. At best, I think any encouragement you’d make to legitimately discuss it is not much more than trying to set me up so that you can further ridicule.
I did this long ago as a teenager for several years. I’m past investigating whether it’s confirmation bias.
Sounds like you’re looking for an excuse not to discuss it, then. I am pretty sure I’m right about this: if the radio is off, it’s not receiving anything that could then be passed to your brain; I don’t see how your brain would be receiving anything from the radio through any kind of coil; and I don’t think anything in your brain can determine the characteristics of sound without the involvement of your ears. You might as well suggest that you don’t need the radio at all because you can hear the signals being beamed out by the station. Or stations, you’ve never said if it’s just one or all of them.
You realize that science works by people convincing others, not themselves, right? We know what you think. You seem singularly uninterested in doing anything that would persuade anybody else that there might be anything to your story. It’s very unlikely you would be able to convince anyone here in any case, but it sounds like you’re just demanding people accept your story without your having to back it up.
Why just music radio? Why not cell phone conversation? Or garage door openers? Or remote controlled toys? These and many other things use radio signals.
There have been stories of people being able to pick up radio stations with the fillings in their teeth. In those cases, the tooth-to-metal interface was acting like a diode, and in the presence of a very strong AM radio signal, the demodulated signal could be heard via bone conduction I think.
However, that would only work for AM radio, and only in very special circumstances. Assuming that David42 is doing his testing with FM radio, then picking up the radio signal in his head just wouldn’t be possible. A couple of factors contribute to ruling it out - one is the 100x higher frequency, and the other is the FM modulation itself, which uses a constant amplitude radio signal.
And no, a radio receiver that’s turned off wouldn’t be causing it. An unplugged iron would be equally as unlikely, or your neighbor’s air conditioner.
David42, I just don’t believe that you’ve documented this yourself. You’re either exaggerating, or you’ve managed to fool yourself somehow. No one here is wanting to ridicule you; it’s just that we don’t believe you. If what you say is true, then you would have the heroic role of being the one person to open up a whole new area of science that the smartest, most educated people on the planet didn’t even know exists. And you say you’re shying away from this because, what, you don’t want to be inconvenienced? Sorry, not buying any of it.
You’d get a million dollars (and plenty more afterwards) and possibly help science understand more about the brain. You could give up anonymity for that, no?
What list did you look at? It would be considered a psychic power.
Bull. If you can demonstrate what you claim, there is nothing they’ve claimed that would exclude you from winning because your power is “spiritual.”
Incorrect. You don’t have to convince all of the above.
Lizzyerd: Think of how many moments you’ve been alive. Think of all the billions and billions of moments - large or small - that have occurred within your lifetime. Now, compared with the few coincidences you’ve told us about, think about all those moments that were not coincidences. The hunches that never came true, the dreams, wishes, fears that had no connection to anything that was happening beyond your actual knowledge.
Coincidences happen, but they are rare. Most of the time life goes by pretty much the way we expect it to. There’s nothing supernatural, no magic, no telepathy, no clairvoyance. And when coincidences do happen, it’s just dumb luck, nothing more.