From Ignorance To Reason - From Spiritualism To Skepticism [ramble]

A ramble, felt like talking about experiences in general, not least religious delusions. excuse my unscripted ramble, a few errors are probable.

Paul Zenon: Secrets of the Psychics

Please note this starts in Bulgarian, but once Paul comes out it is all in English



Translated from Bulgarian:
Presentation forum for popular science Ratio: http://ratio.bg

Paul Zenon is one of the most famous British magicians with extensive experience in the representation of different tricks, illusions, frauds and paranormal topics. It has several hundred appearances in television shows and almost 30 years experience in participating in public. Began to earn money as a street magician and learns how people can be fooled and manipulated. Then apply their practical knowledge of human psychology and attention to good causes like exposing pseudoscientific "stars".

Gender Ratio of Zeno presented the most common techniques of mediums, illustrated with examples from the past few centuries. Cold reading (cold reading) and pre-collect information about companion enjoy the same frequency as in the 19th century and television fortune-tellers today.

Mediumship - Miracles or Manipulations - Starring Paul Zenon, Anthony Galvin and Sandra O'Hara

Miracles Or Manipulations takes a look at the world of stage mediums. With interviews from a real medium, skeptic, and a riveting seance in the infamous Hell Fire Club, this documentary is a fascinating look at a very controversial topic. Starring: Paul Zenon, Anthony Galvin and Sandra O'Hara.

Is There Such A Thing As Addiction To Psychics?

In this day and age we are often plagued by advertisements for various forms of psychics, whether they’re on television or a local party attraction. Those who manufacture cigarettes and alcohol can’t advertise with reckless abandon because of people who may become addicted but could a person become addicted to psychics?

People may imagine that the type of person who would become addicted to psychics are the elderly, the vulnerable, the kind of people that watch shows like Most Haunted while reading reviews of bingo sites, like those on pgbingo.com. The truth of the matter is that any person can become addicted to the feeling of a promise that otherwise seems unattainable.

This rush that the person gets when they believe that they are speaking to a relative is all too real and addictive. You believe that you are getting advice not from a stranger, not from the psychic/medium, but from your dead mother, your dead father. And whose advice would you want and trust more than those of people you loved the most, but are not with you any more. Nevermind the fact when they were alive you probably didn't take their opinion that seriously, but when dead surely all their advice MUST be the best advice, after all they have the spirit world to back them up! And this is the problem, the reality is you are not getting this expert advice from your dead mother, but from a stranger who is just telling you what THEY believe you want to hear.

The saturation of supposedly reputable psychics on television is another major problem facing our population. Although less now than in the mid to late 2000's. For the highly suggestable it won’t take much to believe these claims and from there it’s a small step before they engage in the practice themselves. Ask yourself, have you ever been to a psychic/medium and have them tell you that you also have "the gift"? Who doesn't want to hear that they are also special, and that they have magic powers like the person they believe in, it is all part of the con. These shows now come with disclaimers but it can be too tempting for people to forget their skepticism when faced with highly edited TV shows. Psychic Sally, Colin Fry and Derek Acorah have all been slated in the press for this exact practice, in which their editors take out any misses on the show. This turns a one in ten chance of them getting the questions right into a ten out of ten every time, which is incredibly deceptive, just think, a 30 minute TV show like Clin Fry's Sixth Sense, was actually filmed over a few hours, those camera shots of the audience nodding and looking impressed are often edited in out of context.

This happens in all TV shows, on Have I Got News For You, have you noticed how Paul Merton rarely laughs at jokes? Apparently he once found himself edited to look like he was laughing at a joke he never laughed at, and since then he tries not to laugh, so that he cant be edited in such a way.

Even at parties some hosts bring out a psychic to read everyone's future for their entertainment. The psychic's primary aim in this situation is to bring in repeat business and upsell to the party guests. They may get a few cold readings right and these guests will then be more likely to visit them. They give their business card to all guests and hope to get some of them as repeat customers.

These are just a few of the tricks that these psychics use to suggest that they hold some unworldly power. This power can be enticing for those who visit psychics, which then can be easily turned into an addiction. The fear of the unknown can be very real and by visiting a psychic people can stave this off and begin to feel a sense of control.

It is scientific and historical fact that Psychics do not see the future, and Mediums cannot communicate with the dead, but despite this people uneducated in the methods will still believe.

Psychics who hold themselves in high regard don’t come cheap either, so it’s a slippery slope as their customers become more dependent and can even be convinced to pay more. This is an addiction like any other for those who truly believe their claims, which is why we should be doing even more to debunk these fraudsters.

Think of psychics like you would a drug dealer, often the first hit is free, that gets you hooked, and then you keep going back for more.

My advice is don't even go for the first reading. The smartest people in society don't believe in psychics and mediums, and although we all like to think we are smart and cant be conned, we cant all be experts. I am an expert, and I am telling you that psychics and mediums are no more than a con.

Araddha Ekanto's Telekinetic Powers Debunked!

I don't know why I am even bothering here, but what the hell, Araddha Ekanto sent me the below video as proof of Telekinetic powers. Clearly they are using air from the movement of the hand to push objects. Clearly the first bits of paper are obvious, but then they move a can, first see their video.



And here is my video, doing the exact same thing, that I filmed without doing any practice, I just drank a can of pop, put the can on a rough surface (as opposed to the smooth surface they used which means even less friction, waved my hand, and voila!

Replication pic.twitter.com/EnT8jjYk1d

— Jon Donnis (@JonDonnis) December 1, 2015

Point is, if you see bullshit like this, there is ALWAYS a simple explanation.

Backup of their video if they now decide to remove it to hide the ridiculous