will not be the next
step in rocketry (“Come on, Charlie, think!
think! damnit! We have to send that rocket into
space!”).
As for mind-to-mind
communication (telepathy), there is some evidence
that this might exist as well. Some experiments
were done at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn in
the 1970s purporting to show that telepathy works
best when the recipient is sleeping. He incorporates
the telepathic message into his dreams. If the sender
is thinking of an axe, the sleeper dreams that he
is hacking away at his mother-in-law.
Certainly, premonition
or prophecy is a long established part of human
culture. Recall how Pontius Pilate’s wife told
him that she had had a dream about this man, Jesus;
a dream warning her to warn Pilate not to harm him.
Mr. Pilate washed his hands of Mrs. Pilate’s
dream, then washed his hands of Christ’s crucifixion
and that washed him right out of history. Recall
all the people who are at this very moment waiting
for the end of the world because Nostradamus predicted
it. (I believe that Nostradamus also predicted that
if you send all your money to Frank Scoblete in
care of this site, you will be spared suffering
when the end of the world comes. Of course, I could
be wrong about that.)
The Amazing Randi, a magician who makes a career
of debunking psychics, thinks this whole ESP thing
is, well, a lot of bunk. He has a standing bet for
$100,000 that no one can do any of this ESP stuff
in his presence without him figuring out the trick.
Randi thinks all such psychic claims have thus far
been so much hogwash. Still, to this day, psychics
and schemers interpret dreams with an eye to the
future (and an ear to the cash register) and some
writers even write whole books where they put forth
their theories as to how you can hone your psychic
abilities at home in your spare time.
But could any of these
powers be used to get an edge in casino gambling?
J.B. Rhine, a psychologist at Duke University in
the 1950s, thought so. He did a series of experiments
that purported to show that some people could psychically
manipulate the dice. The only problem was that the
longer the person played, the less influence he
had. Finally, after sufficient time had passed,
the game became totally random.
ESP And Gambling
Part 2
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