Examples of Skeptics Cold Reading?

[TheBoyPaj]

Since you are still being civil, could I ask you to explain how you think Derren successfully predicted the number of pieces on the board at the end of the games?
You said he could 'engineer it', and I assumed you meant something paranormal (or hypnotic?), since I know it can't be done by normal chess means.

I said it was a display of how he could do it, much as I might describe a magician's act as a display of cutting a woman in half. To be honest I didn't bother trying to work out exactly how it was done or the full implications of how one might try to influence the games. I saw it as entertainment, and certainly not a display of true mental powers! Knowing Derren's background and as someone who does a few magic tricks himself I was aware that it probably wasn't as it first seemed. To be honest, if it was something as simple as an envelope switch then it seems a little cheap to me. I guess it's all in the presentation, though.

 

[Kerberos]

Oh dear.
You don't seem to understand.
You claimed that Derren could finish a game early by resigning (or agreeing a draw) to arrange that the correct number of pieces were left on the board.
You also gave an example of Derren being able to win when a massive amount of material ahead.
The example above is to show that games in the event finished when one player was only a bishop ahead. If Derren needed to resign (to get the right number of pieces left), he would have had to beat a Grandmaster with only a bishop start - quite ridiculous.
Also this example shows that international players will not play on when a ridiculous amount of material behind, so your example fails for that reason.

I think that what Ian is saying here, is that if one of the grandmasters that Derren was playing resigned, then Derren could influence the remaining game by chosing when to resign. This would indeed give Derren some small influence over the number of pieces, but clearly not enough to pull of the trick.

 

[glee]

I think that what Ian is saying here, is that if one of the grandmasters that Derren was playing resigned, then Derren could influence the remaining game by chosing when to resign. This would indeed give Derren some small influence over the number of pieces, but clearly not enough to pull of the trick.

Yes, that would be possible, but, as you say, not be enough to carry off the trick (since Derren would lose very quickly in the mirror game).
One counter example is that if Derren needs to stop one game before any more of his pieces are exchanged, then he either has to agree a draw (Ian has been asked to explain how that could possibly happen), or resign.
In either case Derren the beginner is now playing for a draw or a win against an international - simply not plausible.

 

[glee]

I said it was a display of how he could do it, much as I might describe a magician's act as a display of cutting a woman in half. To be honest I didn't bother trying to work out exactly how it was done or the full implications of how one might try to influence the games. I saw it as entertainment, and certainly not a display of true mental powers! Knowing Derren's background and as someone who does a few magic tricks himself I was aware that it probably wasn't as it first seemed. To be honest, if it was something as simple as an envelope switch then it seems a little cheap to me. I guess it's all in the presentation, though.

Ah, I read far too much into your use of the phrase 'engineer the result'.
(As there are believers in the paranormal on the thread, I assumed you meant something like that.)

As I've said, there is no hope of Derren playing any chess moves himself to achieve his target.
Instead he simply used misdirection.

I'm sorry you feel it's a little cheap - of course all magic is rather disappointing once you know how it's done.

 

[Polux]

As she watched the area I was focusing on, simple psychosomatic reasons and the initial suggestion had her 'feeling' this energy.

All quite simple.

Discussing Reiki with a believer (or perhaps deceiver), I claimed that the Reiki master's "energy" cannot be measured, or that at least there's no energy difference between a RM and anybody else (I wouldn't be surprised if the mere heat radiated from the body is measured and claimed to be reiki energy!). But he argued that this energy can actually be felt !!
Well, of course it can. The ever so handy subjective validation. It's so difficult to educate about these reasoning errors.

 

[Upchurch]

Not to beat a dead horse, my use of the term "personal attack" in reference to CFLarsen's post was based on a report I receieved. I am obliged not to reveal the identity of the reporter and I think that revealing the exact nature of what was reported would do just that. To that end, although it is not entirely accurate, I generalized the issue brought up under the broad heading of "personal attack".

I hope that helps clear things up a little.