Do you believe in the paranormal?

I agree, very reluctantly, that it exists.
I read an anthology of studies by the CIA and Russia into clairvoyance.
The studies documented the controlled experiments and peer-reviewed checks.
They showed that psi-powers do exist, but are far weaker than popular culture likes to believe.
Only 1 in 10,000 people could demonstrate genuine clairvoyance in fool-proof tests.
The talent tended to be inherited, but if so, by only one child.
The talent worked best when there was a strong emotional link.
And the talent could be strengthened with practice.
The findings were sufficient for both the USA and Russia to decide that it was feasible to employ and train psychics.

But within the general population, such powers are so rare as to make no difference to how we live.
Consider, if psi-powers were strong and fairly common, how would that affect gambling, the stock-exchange, and insurance premiums?

There have been so many stories that the US army decided to investigate the military significance in a professional manner, first to protect the country, second to see if there was any application to war. 

They found nothing.

I believe in a lot of tings that I do not discuss, because I already seem too crazy.

How paranormal? I believe it all occurs by natural means. 

Everybody who believes in psychokinesis raise my hand.

IIE (NO), I do not think the paranormal exists. Scientists never find any reason to think it exists. I prefer scientists to amateurish hoaxers by far. A proverb states that if your mind is too open, your brain falls out. It is proper to close your mind to patent nonsense.

It occurs to me that most people do not know what the word means. It means "alongside", as in the geometrconcept "parallel". We have a field called "parascience" which deals with how we can be sure we know what we think we know. It is not a subject that is often discussed, because scientists really really hate to admit they don't know something. But still it is a field and some people keep track of such things.

Other "para" words: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-para

So the concept of "alongside" does not always have the same meaning, even though it always means "alongside". And "paranormal" is a difficult word because there is nothing you can point to as an example. "Abnormal" has plenty of examples, but "paranormal" does not.

Bottom line: you can't even talk about what you can't talk about, because you don't know what the word means, even though everybody knows it means "alongside".


This post was edited by Not Sure at April 8, 2018 5:31 PM MDT

The ninja acolyte kneels in the traditional Japanese manner. The sensei approaches from behind, holding a sword. For a beginner, the sword is made of wood, but for advanced levels, it is a real sword. For a time nothing moves. Then suddenly, like a missing frame in a movie, the acolyte has rolled away and the sword has missed. 

That is the test to pass in a ninja school. And nobody can explain how they do it.