Can humans predict the future?

[Sailerius]

http://mostuseful.co.uk/articles/56-art ... the-future

tl;dr version: A series of studies has shown that human consciousness apparently has a measurable effect upon random number generators.  When a large number of random number generators is connected, they appear to collectively react to global events (such as the tsunami and September 11)...sometimes hours before the actual event happens.

Normally I'm a skeptic to the paranormal and pseudoscience, but there doesn't seem to be any real legitimate claims against its validity.  If this is true, its implications could be pretty amazing.  As if quantum mechanics wasn't convoluted enough without having to take into account the presence of people passively affecting random outcomes.

 

[Grathea]

Well, probably not.
But animals have shown to seem to be prescient of natural disasters, so it's possible for humans to do the same, I guess.
I still call randomness and the fact that people notice coincidences WAY more often than they do lack of coincidence.

 

[gavdaddy]

i can predict the future...
my teacher will give me an E for my science report.

As far as gut feelings go, sometimes theyre right, sometimes theyre not.

 

[Neverplayd]

I don't really know what to think about these random generators since they have been successful thus far. However, it is still an early discovery, so there are still ways for it to be proven false. I'll remain open minded to the possibility instead of believing it or being skeptical, although it would be intriguing to see all of the psychic utility and industries that will bloom if this continues to be true. I'm more curious of the previous theories and beliefs that are contradicted and made false if this is to be true. For example, this would mean we would have a predetermined fate and not a changeable one like many, including I, believe.

 

[Stardust]

This is very, very interesting, partially because I created my plane hypothesis off of an incident where my mom saw into the future with a dream.  I think we can feel the future, not necessarily see the future.  We know if something bad is going to happen, but that's it - no details.  I believe we've gone beyond our natural instincts, which is why animals tend to sense stuff better than us.  We've been taught to do just about everything against our instincts.  It wouldn't affect predetermined vs. changeable fate, though, because our actions still influence things.  For example, if we utilize this new-found ability, we may be able to prevent tragedies.

However, I do have to say that it seems foolish to work on this now.  We're in the middle of an economic crisis and scientists are studying whether or not we can see into the future.  Unless someone manages to create oil from air, they would be better placed somewhere where they will have an immediate impact.  Unfortunately, we're very curious creatures, so I doubt they'll give up their experiment unless something major disproves everything or if their funding is cut.

 

[Despain]

Bullshit. It's pure coincidence.

Animals can predict weather patterns and shit because they can feel it, not because they're psychic. A lot of people can feel it too, I'm sure you guys have heard some old woman or whatever say something like "A storm's a-brewin', I can feel it in me bones."

I'd hardly call this paranormal or seeing the future.

 

[Stardust]

The question is, how do we feel it?  Is it caused by humidity, atmospheric pressure, or something else?  I guess atmospheric pressure would explain it pretty well.  Yeah, you have a point, but there is a lot of data that seems to point to the idea that it's not coincidence.  It's always good to be open-minded about things like this because you never know when you may be relying on them in the future.

 

[bedi nik bzez emak]

;D

 

[Stardust]

but there is a lot of data that seems to point to the idea that it's not coincidence.

Source?

I will laugh if you mention religion

I was referring back to the article.

 

[bedi nik bzez emak]

;D

 

[Sailerius]

Bullshit. It's pure coincidence.

Animals can predict weather patterns and shit because they can feel it, not because they're psychic. A lot of people can feel it too, I'm sure you guys have heard some old woman or whatever say something like "A storm's a-brewin', I can feel it in me bones."

I'd hardly call this paranormal or seeing the future.

Though I agree about the animal part, regarding the article, it states that there's a 50,000 to 1 statistical probability of it being coincidence.    If we move away from the 'humans can feel the future' argument, then what do you think about the 'humans affecting probability' point that was raised? 

By the way, I found Princeton's site for the experiment, for a bit more credible of a source.
http://noosphere.princeton.edu/

 

[Incognitus]

I didn't open the article, but surmised that it was going to be talking about Vahn's Black Boxes.... (*opens article to check* Oh good, I was right! Hurray for my future-predicting)

The results, however, were stunning and have never been satisfactorily explained. Again and again, entirely ordinary people proved that their minds could influence the machines and produce significant fluctuations on the graph. According to all of the known laws of science, this should not have happened - but it did. And it kept on happening.

Actually I believe they have been explained. He was working with dodgy results - one repeat test subject was (probably subconsciously) disturbing the results enough to push it too far in one direction and upsetting the averages... something like that... :\

 

[Tindy]

I've predicted what'd be on the radio a whole bunch of times :/  I'd be thinking of a song, and when I turned on the radio it'd be playing.  Am I just recieving radio signals in my head?

I think we have a 6th sense, but I don't think it's a predicting sense, more of a heightened sensitivity to certain things that we just generally ignore.  I had a friend a few years back that I was so close with we said we were psychically connected - we stopped talking, but a few years later at college I got a big shiver up my spine and when I turned around, there she was.