Why don't psychics win the lottery every week?

[RiffRaff]

*Originally posted by RiffRaff *
See, now if it were me that was about to call everybody stupid, I’d go ahead and make that quick spelling/grammar check before I did it… but to each their own.

And before that punk RiffRaff wrote some smart-aleck remark like this, he should have checked to make sure that he didn’t have any grammar goofs in his own post (like this one below)

*Originally posted by RiffRaff *Same reason you don’t get free milk and eggs and the grocery store.

Duh. Sometimes that RiffRaff ain’t as smart as he thinks.

[donkeyoatey]

Anyone that believes in psychokinesis please raise my hand.

[FEotU]

Any time I see a TV ad for a psychic hotline, I concentrate hard on my phone number. Any psychic that recieves it can call me collect, and I will pay their fees.

[Biotop]

Ok, I’m not believer in psychics.

However, it does seem that the trouble with any discussion in this area is that we have so many Hollywoodesque, crystal-ball-reading, Cleo-card-turning, jeweled-turban wearing, dead-person-finding etc. etc. images of psychics that anyone who attempts to use the term to describe seemingly unusual phenimena is met with ridicule. And that’s bad, it seems to me, because the world is too confusing a place to be quite so sure that EVERYTHING that comes under the “psychic debate” umbrella is completely without merit.

For instance, does memory exist? If so, how come you can’t remember what you had for dinner last Tuesday. And if I could give you a million bucks to tell me the exact totals of the last five grocery bills you had in 1999, could you do it? Hummph. Guess that “memory” thing doesn’t exist. Now assuming psychic ability is a lot weaker than memory, why does everyone assume the psychic could sit down and tell you exactly what’s going to happen next week.

All I’m saying is, if we use ridiculous arguments to “prove” that psychics don’t exist, then we’re not doing a whole lot better than the seers themselves. Can’t we just say that there is little scientific evidence for such abilities, and leave it at that? From my experience, science and common sense will cover most areas in life, but there’s no harm in leaving the door open, just a crack, for other possibilities.

[donkeyoatey]

This site was linked in another thread a while ago:
http://www.popcomm.com/

Kinda sums it up for me. I want to believe but it just doesn’t stand up to a closer look.

[Kamandi]

*Originally posted by Biotop *
Can’t we just say that there is little scientific evidence for such abilities, and leave it at that?

Can’t we just say that there is NO scientific evidence for such abilities, and leave it at that?

[glee]

*Originally posted by Biotop *
For instance, does memory exist? If so, how come you can’t remember what you had for dinner last Tuesday. And if I could give you a million bucks to tell me the exact totals of the last five grocery bills you had in 1999, could you do it? Hummph. Guess that “memory” thing doesn’t exist.

I can play blindfold chess. This (and countless other examples) demonstrate the existence of memory.

*Originally posted by Biotop *
All I’m saying is, if we use ridiculous arguments to “prove” that psychics don’t exist, then we’re not doing a whole lot better than the seers themselves.

Your example of memory testing above is indeed ridiculous. But psychics are welcome to choose anything they are good at - and demonstrate it to James Randi for $1,000,000!
Since none of them have, you may like to draw a conclusion.

In any case, we’re not trying to prove psychics don’t exist.
They claim they exist, but, as Kamandi said provide no evidence at all

*Originally posted by Biotop *
From my experience, science and common sense will cover most areas in life, but there’s no harm in leaving the door open, just a crack, for other possibilities.

You talk as if science puts up ‘boundaries’. **Anything that can be measured + tested instantly becomes part of science! **
‘Common sense’ is just based on your personal experience and has no relevance here.