Posts tagged "psychism"
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(At LessOnline)
You come to talk to someone you hadn’t noticed before. After some chitchat, she tells you she’s psychic and can read minds.
• Oh really?
It strikes you as a ridiculous claim to make, especially at a rationalist event.
• Is there any way you can prove your claim?
• Sure there is. Think about a number.
You think of 43.
• You thought of the number 43.
She wasn’t even asking for confirmation, like magicians sometimes do (“Is this your card?”). She seemed to know she was right.
• … Wait! This is the old xkcd trick: you try it multiple times, each time with the same confidence, until it works. I’m just the 1/100th guy. (Cf. xkcd.com/628)
• That might be it. How about I guess the next one?
• The… you think you…
• 27.
• …
• Now the odds are 1 in 10.000. I sure must have done this…