Saturday, October 30, 2010

Got This In The Mail

I received all of these political ads in the mail just today.  I haven't made up my mind on all of the issues or candidates yet, but I do know that I don't plan on using any of this information. If I did, I wouldn't have anyone or anything to vote for.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Are You Psychic?

I have a list of ideas for politically oriented postings, but since you and I are both sick of the political blitzkrieg going on before the election, I decided to pick a non-political topic.

Researchers at Cornell University claim to have demonstrated that our brains can "see into the future".  The researcher, Dr. Bem, showed college students a list of words then gave them a memory test.  After the test, the students practiced the words.  The results showed that practicing after the test improved the score on the test they already took.

Your reaction is either:
  • You ignore the results or explain them away.
  • You are willing to believe that this is actually possible.
  • You don't get it (A link to the original article is at the end of this post).
I happen to be one of those that believes the results.  There's some pretty crazy counter intuitive stuff from Relativity and Quantum Mechanics that has proven to be right.  

So why can't we be affected now by events that happen in the future?  I think we can.

The problem is that I don't know how to find a practical application for this.  For example, how long can someone wait after taking a test to study and still get a benefit? Minutes? Hours? Days?  Should I encourage my son to postpone his cramming for a test until it's over?  When does studying give you the most benefit?  Before, after or both?

So are we psychic?  I recommend reading the original article here. (It's short).