Do you believe in prophecy?

Isn't there a theory that de ja vu is simply your brain putting a memory that's just happened into your long-term memory as opposed to short-term, making you feel Like you've seen that exact moment before?
 
I know a couple of people who believe so fervently in what they're told by mediums that they will, without realising it, adjust their own path to fit what they've been told - which is of course so vague you could apply it to almost anyone and have it be 'true'.
 
PardonTheWait said:
I know a couple of people who believe so fervently in what they're told by mediums that they will, without realising it, adjust their own path to fit what they've been told - which is of course so vague you could apply it to almost anyone and have it be 'true'.
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I have a set of tarot cards, I love the idea that you can essentially 'inception' people - put an idea into their head and watch them follow it through to the end. Not in any malicious way, just how being asked to draw comparisons from a picture to your life can be so suggestive.
 
Exactly, mediums and similar let the client (victim, whatever) do 95% of the work by throwing out vague statements that feel specific and letting them fill in the huge blanks.

If people want to believe it they will, and if they don't want to believe it then they probably wouldn't be there in the first place.
 
trojan698 said:
So your fear of not being in control interferes with your belief on the topic? Not very objective. I don't believe in fate, though I do think certain things are meant to happen. Why would 'fate' make your life meaningless? If you derive meaning through events or achievements as opposed to building and maintaining relationships then I can understand a little more.
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Irrelevant. If the future is fixed, then it is fixed. That includes relationships, obviously.

In any case, most people derive meaning through a mixture of those things, which aren't mutually exclusive or even entirely seperate. But it doesn't matter - if you believe that the future is predetermined and fixed (a prerequisite for prophecy) then it applies to everything, including relationships.
 
Oooo oooo, after complaining about my psychology degree I'm about to use it. Just because you think you've seen something before, doesn't mean you have. A simple misfire of a neuron can make you think you are retrieving something from your memory as you are witnessing it, making you believe that you have seen it before.

Edit: Rhodri got there before me, so credit to him. :p

Some dreams also can be spookily close to reality, but for this to be true, you need to keep a dream diary (Not just remember this one time you had a dream that came true), log all your dreams and date them, then have a premonition. I've kept a dream diary for a while (a few years) and I used to think that maybe I was having dreams that weren't coming true, but that were coincidentally happening in a similar manner. Since then I don't believe at all.

Sorry if I've covered anything anyone has said.
 
PardonTheWait said:
I know a couple of people who believe so fervently in what they're told by mediums that they will, without realising it, adjust their own path to fit what they've been told - which is of course so vague you could apply it to almost anyone and have it be 'true'.
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It's a form of confirmation bias.
 
I predict in the coming moon that somebody will RSS dump some insignificant yet over sensationalized news article into a thread without giving their own view on the matter.

Bow to me weak minded hippies.
 
Monkey00 said:
Oooo oooo, after complaining about my psychology degree I'm about to use it. Just because you think you've seen something before, doesn't mean you have. A simple misfire of a neuron can make you think you are retrieving something from your memory as you are witnessing it, making you believe that you have seen it before.

Edit: Rhodri got there before me, so credit to him. :p

Some dreams also can be spookily close to reality, but for this to be true, you need to keep a dream diary (Not just remember this one time you had a dream that came true), log all your dreams and date them, then have a premonition. I've kept a dream diary for a while (a few years) and I used to think that maybe I was having dreams that weren't coming true, but that were coincidentally happening in a similar manner. Since then I don't believe at all.

Sorry if I've covered anything anyone has said.
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Well said, the same can be said about people who think they have seen god, experienced the afterlife, or claimed to have had a NDE.
 
Yes, of course, it's just coincidence. I mean, when you look at the book of Isaiah for instance, and realise that over 300 of his prophecies about Jesus would become true. It's all just coincidence, isn't it?? ;)

After all, the probability of something like that happening by chance without error is less than one in 10^2000
 
Lucero said:
Yes, of course, it's just coincidence. I mean, when you look at the book of Isaiah for instance, and realise that over 300 of his prophecies about Jesus would become true. It's all just coincidence, isn't it?? ;)
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Yep. Vagueness and confirmation bias are strong at work here. That and retroactive restructuring of the original writing.
 
I take it you have heard of the dead sea scrolls right? Which show the complete accuracy of the old testament to what we have today. Was that retroactively re-written too? ;)
 
Lucero said:
Was that retroactively re-written too? ;)
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It's the interpretation that is retroactive as well as any meaning just being just crowbarred into whatever message you wish to peddle... I think it was James Randi that showed you could take any old cook book off a shelf and come up with any of the same prophetic nonsense from a bunch of sauce recipes as you could any religious texts. Will have to dig that up as it's entertaining stuff :D
 
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