Do you think ESP is a reality?

[naomi24]

Just a bit of light relief from all the recent dismal warnings of Armageddon. :o)

[rowanwitch]

I think some people have a slightly enhanced awareness of things around them that enables them to react to dangers...or pick up things more readily... I suspect its just they are at one extreme of a continuum with others showing far less than normal awareness

But things like telepathy etc... not too sure.. although I had a strange experience once with a very close frind

My normal journey from work was walk out of office cross road...get bus to end of road where I lived. on one day I walked from my office to Embankment station (about 30 mins walk)
Got train to Earls court then to Southfields (approx additional 45 mins) walked out of station to find friend in car outside waiting...he said he knew I'd come... make of that what you will but he was very upset due to a bereavement

[Old_Geezer]

The phrase extra-sensory perception is very wide ranging. I'd not rule out being able to sense more than we realise.

[redcrx]

my sister once saw my grandad stood at side of road as she was driving (in her usual quick manner) towards a bend with a roundabout just the other side.
My grandad is dead and so she slowed the car right down and tried to see better, he wasnt there. But as she hadnt had a chance to speed up again she managed to miss ploughing into a car accident the other side of the bend.

I was driving a route i took often, it was dark, and this route had never posed any problems to me before. I suddenly recalled a story my dad had told me about about a stag and his car. this made me slow up and as i drove 50m further on there was a stag in the middle of road.

I believe there is a lot out there which we are yet to learn about

[Ankou]

"reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. A still more broad definition includes everything that has existed, exists, or will exist."

what is your definition of reality in respect of esp ? generally i would agree with og.

[naomi24]

My definition of reality is irrelevant. I'm asking what other people think.

[naomi24]

methyl, that refers to recent posts on here.

[Ankou]

then, no

[DTCwordfan]

I agree with the comments that there is a lot we have to learn about the brain and its ability to perceive and detect things, i.e ESP. I also believe there could be energy forms that we do not yet know about.

We do know that many other animals have amazing perceptions too - radar, positioning sensors, and we have not unleashed these in our own brains, or rather, found the trigger mechanisms to doing so, probably as we have developed "enough to suffice."

[Sqad]

I have never seen any reliable research that suggest that ESP actually exists, but I have seen the results that would indicate that there is no evidence of it's existence.

It is more difficult to prove a negative than to prove a positive and all the evidence that i have seen would suggest that the easier option,( the positive ) has not been substantiated.

Once you have told your brain of your unsubstantiated belief, then it will do it's best to substantiate them.

I was brought up in a very religious and very spiritualistic environment, but in retrospect I think that i can explain on scientific grounds all the ESP experiences that I was told about.

[pa___ul3]

I don't think it is a reality but I don't think I'm necesarily right in that thought. I'm there to be proven wrong but as it doesn't make sense to me then I can't really bring myself to just believe that it is real.
The same with ghosts and stuff like that, I'd like to believe but my current level of knowledge leaves me on the 'naah, surely not' side of the fence.

[jno]

I don't think it can be literally extra-sensory since senses are by definition how we perceive things. But it's possible that they could perceive more if we knew how to use them better.

For instance I read a while ago of an F1 driver (Prost maybe?) slowing down ahead of a corner; around the corner there'd been an accident. He couldn't see or hear the accident but when he thought about it afterward, the spectators on the corner looked odd, and this alerted him. He realised it was because he was accustomed to a sea of light colour - their faces - and what he saw this time was much darker - their hair - because instead of looking at him they were turned to look at the accident.

[jake-the-peg]

If you can demonstrate it there is $1 million with your name on it

http://www.randi.org/...php/1m-challenge.html

This prize has stood unclaimed for over a decade.

I guess everybody with ESP must already be rich

[jomifl]

A lot of our thinking occurs at a level below conciousness, which is why we sometime wake in the morning with the solution to a problem in our concious mind that wasn't there when we went to bed. There is also the phenomenom of 'gut feeling' where our subconcious brain recognises situations that we have previously experienced and put up a 'warning flag'. I think these phenomena are sometimes mistaken for extrasensory perception. We also take in information at a subconcious level, there are people who are blind in the concious part of their brain but can catch things thrown towards them. The brain works at more than one level but we are only aware of one level. I don't think anyone has senses other than the normally accepted ones, but some people make exceptional use of normal senses and process information from these senses at a subconcious level in a very effective way.

[RATTER15]

Personally I think it is nonsense.

[naomi24]

Jake, Yes, that challenge has been up for a very long time, but what if ESP occurs randomly? If you can't demonstrate it at will, how can you prove it happens?

[Sqad]

naomi........if it occurs randomly in a subject and not at all in others, then there must be a difference, anatomically or pharmacologically.

Studies have shown that MRI scans with injected dye shows no difference at all in the "normal" person and the "ESP" gifted person......surely there must be some difference.

This brings us back to "spurts" of neurochemicals causing the ESP effects, but I have seen no studies showing this.

[naomi24]

Maybe any studies carried out didn't quite catch the moment, sqad. ;o)

[Sqad]

naomi...maybe....maybe.....we will keep looking ;-)

[naomi24]

Yes, lets! Got to be better than talking about death and misery!! ;o)