Replies to page 20:
Belz:
Belz post #778 said:
The best way to silence your critics (other than shooting them in the head) is to agree to a test protocol as soon as possible and proceed with the test.
I am working on it. I must explain my perspective in this paranormal challenge application. I sent what I thought to be a well-thought through test protocol suggestion to the IIG (with whom I am arranging the test), and we are now still in the protocol negotiations stage. Progress is very slow. There is no "handbook for psychic claimants". It is I as the psychic claimant who has to design the test procedure. It is challenging to take a real-life experience or phenomenon and find a way to adapt it to a laboratory test setting, and this is where the work is at now. I need to test every single test condition to get experience with each specific detail of the test before I can answer whether it can be included on a test. Even if I may be quite clear as to how the perceptions work in real life, the test will take place in an environment that is entirely different. So I am now arranging to have a study sometime after the holidays to experience various test conditions and to gain more clarity into how to apply my everyday experience in a test setting. There is more work involved than I had thought at first, applying especially with a claim such as mine is not a straight forward process, but that does not make it an untestable claim. I am working on it, I promise.
Belz said:
I honestly hope you truly are ready to accept that your claim is false, if the results of the test should show this. The alternative, that we've seen in so many others, is to ignore the result of the test and continue to convince yourself that you were right all along, anyway. But that wouldn't be very practical, would it ?
My objective in this investigation is to determine the source of the perceptions and the actual accuracy which will be revealed in a test setting. So I am fully prepared to accept any conclusion of the test. I am a scientist, there is nothing to be gained by holding on to misconceptions.
Belz said:
Okay... but could you tell emphysema from any other lung condition, for example ? And, if so, what's helping you make a diagnostic. If I had X-ray vision, for instance, how could I identify cavities in somebody's teeth if I don't have the necessary medical knowledge ?
What helps me make a diagnose is to see the image of the illness, as well as perceive a feeling of the illness. What little I know about medical conditions is often enough to let me make the connection and describe what I see. In other cases I give a description of the illness if I do not know it by name. If you had my vision you would definitely identify cavities in the teeth if you saw it.
Belz said:
I strongly suggest you retract that statement. Even the best professionals make mistakes in their field, so it's very hard to believe that you would be 100% correct. As I told you about cloud-busting, those folks also think they only get hits because they tend not to notice the misses, or explain them away. Test or no test, the best thing you could do is to start noticing the misses.
And if you still think you've got a 100% success rate, then you should be in for quite a shock following the test.
I will not take back that statement. I have often come across medical perceptions that seemed unlikely and impossible to me logically when I thought about it, or seemed so when I looked at the person with my eyesight to try to confirm the perception, so I have definitely been open to being incorrect, yet it has never happened. The upcoming study and tests will give plenty of opportunity for incorrect perceptions to be documented and revealed as such.
Diogenes:
When I said that my family is aware of the ability to some extent yet relatively unimpressed by it,
Diogenes said:
Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds ? ( nice pun though )
Well then that is criticism aimed toward my family and not me, I can not control how others react. But I can imagine if I knew someone who gave accurate medical information and I couldn't do this myself, then over time I would get used to it as well and consider it just a part of who that person is and how they perceive. There is nothing to be gained by being in disbelief toward how I describe others react to my ability, when all I can state time after time is that I am being honest.
Ashles:
Ashles said:
I'd like to build a hover car. Presumably if I study Physics (to deal with gravity), aerodynamics (so it's a good shape) and electrical engineering (so I can wire it all correctly) then I'll be able to build one?
The reason I have asked this is that your attitude towards science seems rather cavalier and without depth.
And if you attended a good school they would encourage you to have creative ideas in physics. As you study your courses you would realize whether to drop your idea or perhaps to focus on some detail aspect of it, such as levitation technologies. I have a fellow optics student whose dream project is to build teleportation technologies. No one is discouraging him, he will find out for himself whether it is a plausible research interest in this time. Besides my research ideas are very interesting and encouraged, there is plenty of work being done in the rearrangement of physical structures with the use of light.
Ashles said:
If you want to create entirely new devices based on new scientific concepts (which you can't describe or understand except referring vaguely to 'vibration') then there has to be some form of facts or discipline to build on. Without that your wishes are no different to me declaring I wish to build a hover car using 'ionising gravity reverse pulsations'.
What I refer to vibration will be supplied by radiation, light, electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic fields, and maybe other concepts as well. All of these can be constructed to contain structured variations that yield complex effects in the matter with which they interact.
Ashles said:
And if you want an understanding of human tissue wouldn't biology or medicine be more appropriate than chemistry? Biochemistry or physiology perhaps? Anatomy?
I think chemistry will give me a fundamental foundation for my understanding of what tissue is composed of, and the interaction between light and matter on the quantum physics level which is where some of it takes place. I will then complement this understanding by studying Histology (the study of human tissues) on the graduate level.
Ashles said:
(N.B. If you want to build these new devices based on known technology and theories then that's fine, makes sense and I apologise as I may have got the wrong end of the stick. That might be because you haven't detailed what specific devices or technology you would be using. Please, assume we can keep up with any scientific details you provide.)
I won't deny that my research ideas in science come from the perceptions I have, however I will apply a pure scientific approach to these ideas. Much of the science and technology that will be applied to my research is available and established (even if without depth), but I believe I will attempt to introduce new concepts, such as vibrational information, light structures, etc, and of course in a manner that is pure and acceptable science.
Ashles said:
Often with these claims (almost every time in fact) what the claimant is themselves perceiving and how they feel about the claim is very relevant.
A lot can be learnt by the descriptions of the sensations, the feelings, emotional weight attached to abilities etc.
In that case take what I say to you about my feelings about the perceptions as my honest attempt of truth and do not argue with what I have said, trying to get a different answer from me or making me admit to something else. No progress comes from that, just wasted thread-space.
Ashles said:
I have a degree in Experimental Psychology
Very good, I'm glad we have you here.
Ashles said:
Let me be clear. I do not believe you really think such an ability is or would be considered mundane or normal, and your behaviour reinforces my stance.
Repeating the analogy over and over will not change my opinion.
And I will not change my opinion that to me, the perceptions are a normal part of how I perceive, just like vision and hearing. However I do understand that my perceptions are not normal to others, who do not have them. I think we are both right.
Ashles said:
But I don't believe you are being entirely truthful in your descriptions of how you feel about your claimed ability.
I could be wrong, and I accept that. At the moment only independent testing is going to change my opinion, not requests or instructions to accept your statements as true.
All I can say is that I do my best to be as honest as I can.
Ashles said:
A certain amount of research or questions regarding the claimant have been known to quickly call their credibility into question to a degree that it has meant less time was wasted in trying to form protocols that were unlikely to happen.
Well I understand if that is what you are doing. I hope you can all see that so far I have shown no reasons for having poor credibility. Of course my claim is unconventional, however I am totally sincere in the perceptions I have. Also every aspect of my personal life that has been brought up here, such as my educational background, has all been thoroughly scrutinized by everyone and I think nothing has come up to give reason to seriously doubt my sincerety.
UncaYimmy:
UncaYimmy said:
How you are going to disprove ESP while at the same time maintain your belief that you are actually having perceptions? I'm continually amazed that you are not considering that your "perceptions" could be your imagination.
After a long discussion with Ashles several pages ago we both concluded that "perception" would be the word that refers to the images and information I perceive, whose origin and accuracy are to be determined by the test. We also agreed that "perception" would also imply that it has not been determined whether the perceptions are based on information from our real, mutual world or whether they are constructed by some form of subjective imagination. That is what is meant by the word. The perceptions will continue no matter what the outcome of the test is, but a test should give understanding as to what the perceptions
are. This is a wording issue, UncaYimmy.
Ashles:
Ashles said:
But it muddies the water when Anita also posts sentences like that that sort of give the impression that the perceptions are definitely real, but the only question is whether they are ESP or not.
The perceptions are real in the sense that I see and feel them, that is what I have meant. As to what their origin is, whether they are "real" as being part of our real, mutual world, or whether they are totally subjective to me, does not change the fact that the perceptions remain and are "real" to me in the sense that I perceive them. I hope this clarifies the issue.
desertgal:
desertgal said:
Yes, you did. You did so by even beginning this thread. You had the expectation that you could come here, post a link to your website, and people here would offer you analysis on those "observations" and help you develop a protocol for testing. If you didn't expect any of us to take them as evidence, since they were all you had to offer, you wouldn't have come here in the first place.
Incorrect. I document the perceptions I have on my website since I was specifically asked by Forum members to do so, so that we could have examples of what I perceive. We have all thoroughly agreed that those anecdotal experiences do not count as formal evidence toward an ability. Those anecdotes
can however be used as background with which to better construct a test protocol, since they show some of the specifics of my claim. I am here so far without any documented, official evidence toward my claim, and I am here anyway.
desertgal said:
I beg to differ. I think most people have remained objective. However, ALL your claims, taken together, strain credulity to the breaking point. As well, you contradict yourself repeatedly. You only wish for your claims in this thread to be taken into consideration regarding your ability, but ALL your claims point towards your credibility.
True, yet I have said that the other aspects of the perceptions occur less frequently and that I consider them to not be testable to the degree that the main part of my claim is.
Speaking of my ghost experiences (which you quoted from other threads), I am planning to start an investigations group into haunted sites, where I will participate both with the electronic equipment and mainly as the psychic. Our investigations will be made available on film over our website (which will be set up shortly). It is not intended to be taken as scientific fact, since it will not always be possible to verify our experiences in the investigation, such as whether we in fact felt a hand or a cold presence move by, and also since any measurements made with what "equipment" we will have, such as EVP, E.M., or thermal, can perhaps not be assumed to have a connection with the presence of human consciousness from people of the past. I will however do my best to collect historical data which can be checked against records. It will mainly be intended for entertainment purposes and as an interesting investigation into historical sites and into the lives of people of the past. I will keep you all updated.
Some of the contradiction you try to point out, where it appears that I say both that I will always believe that I have ESP, and that I would accept if I didn't have ESP, arise from the fact that I state that I will always continue to have the perceptions and therefore will always believe that I have the perceptions, but that their
origin,
source, and
accuracy might become established. There is no contradiction going on, just a misunderstanding on your part perhaps since I have not been clear enough.
And no, I do not dispense medical information based on these perceptions to people. I only do this with friends and family. What I meant was that I do not publicly do this and am not tempted to because of my strong sense of responsibility.
desertgal said:
Somehow, I find it really doubtful that you go into this whole long spiel every single time a family or friend 'nonchalantly' comes to you for a 'diagnosis'. In any event, when you get the chance, take a look at
http://www.stopsylvia.com A waiver doesn't dictate human emotion or pain when a "psychic" makes a wrong observation. You can have all the waivers you want - it isn't going to stop someone, somewhere, from getting hurt when they 'nonchalantly' trust what you are saying, and it turns out not to be accurate.
You are arguing at me for the wrong reason. I do not dispense medical information to people, especially since I am humble enough to realize that I could be wrong. And people don't come to me for a diagnose. I am the one who asks them if I could practice an attempt of psychic medical diagnose with them, because I am curious about what I am perceiving, so I do it in the comfort and safety of my home, with people and in situations where no one can get hurt.
I have expressed interest in doing this with people, however I am reluctant to do so. There is no discrepancy as I see it.
desertgal said:
My opinion remains that you are delusional and self deceptive. It's not a condemnation. The human mind is a complex software, and it's also fallible. Everyone suffers breaks from reality - sometimes big, sometimes small. There's no shame in seeking help. But, please, don't state that my opinion is unfounded. It isn't.
My opinion to proceed with an investigation into my perceptions is also not unfounded. And this investigation is why I am here. I perceive medical information to an apparent good accuracy and intend to investigate their source and actual accuracy. I don't see what I am doing wrong in any of this.
Diogenes:
Diogenes said:
When your claimed ability is " detecting ailments ", wouldn't failing to detect an ailment when there is one, a clear failure of the claimed ability ?
I don't think so, but why don't you guys tell me? My claim is not to detect every case of an ailment that is considered to be there, so when I do not detect something in a certain case I should still be within my claim. I claim that there is a possible ability for detecting ailments, but that it is not a super ability since it can only detect the "strongest" and "clearest" cases of ailments. Kind of like a metal detector. What if you had a metal detector that can find the larger objects, but not the very insignificantly small ones, it would still be a metal detector, albeit a bad one. I might be a psychic, who knows, but a bad one!

The accuracy of what I
do claim to perceive will be checked, and in a test will be ailments that are not detectable by ordinary means of perception, and the paranormal claim is then falsifiable.