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From: hadeishi%husc4@harvard.HARVARD.EDU
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re:  Mind reading
Message-ID: <244@sri-arpa.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 12-Nov-86 12:36:37 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.244
Posted: Wed Nov 12 12:36:37 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Nov-86 21:40:36 EST
Lines: 33


	I have discussed this issue at length (psychic coincidences)
however your exposition does not convince me.

	I believe you failed to see my point.  What I meant was, I was
able to detect the unusual nature of the event BEFORE it was verfied
to be a "coincidence."  In fact, this type of thing has happened to me
several times in the last few years (in a big way) and many, many
times in small ways (where I haven't detected the coincidence before
it way verified.)

	That is to say, these so-called psychic events have had
characteristics which set them apart from everyday phenomena; this is
the point of my article which you seem to have totally overlooked.

	Now when your friend began to talk to you about that comic
strip, I am sure you didn't think at the time "aha, this is strange,
I'll bet something weird comes of this."  That event may or may not have
been psychically driven (most likely not) but it did NOT have the
characteristic of being identifiable BEFORE the coincidence was
verified.

	What I don't understand about your attitude is your clinging
to your ideas about how the world works as if your life depended on it.
Why are you so convinced that psychic phenomena are impossible (so
much so that you fail to see an elementary point in my article?)
What is clear is that you should not confuse the map with the territory;
just because your map doesn't have any symbols for "psychic phenomena"
on it doesn't mean they're not out there.  I would personally take a much
more skeptical view of my own conception of how the world works . . .
to me that is TRUE skepticism.

				-Mitsu