Quote:
Originally posted by Grojlach:
I don't think there are any.
The fact that you've heard of "psychics" solving a case or making a good prediction is more the result of coincidences and luck than anything substantial - for every "good" prediction, there are many predictions by the very same person that were dead wrong, though which we won't ever hear about.
There are known cases however in which criminal investigations only took a turn for the worse because the police put too much trust in the word of psychics - having them chase cold trails and waste time, while the real perpetrator simply continued on his killing sprees for a while longer. I'd say they do more harm than good, leeching on gullible souls looking for some strain of hope, only to be severly disappointed in the longer run; and any person claiming to see into the future is in my opinion either a fraud out to make a quick buck or just plain nuts.
And if you want to see some different views on the subject other than some tv show that could manipulate facts in such a way that psychics had anything to do with the respective happy endings, try to catch the Penn & Teller: Bullshit! episode on psychics and Nostradamus.
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While I agree with a lot of what you've said, I don't tend to buy into the 'if they were psychic, they'd always be right in their predictions' argument. If you can do something, it doesn't mean you'll always be able to do it perfectly. A high jumper may have the world record for a jump, but they don't jump that height every single time they jump; in fact, they may only do it once. But they still are capable of jumping that height. Of course, not the perfect analogy, but I'm sure the point is clear. I do agree, though, that because there are so many shonksters and frauds, that it is, at the very least, a waste of resources to have psychics involved in police investigations.
I find John Edward's show sort of weird. He spends most of the time showing off that he knows (however that may be, most likely he has staff casing the audience's houses and employs all those little tricks to get people to tell him when he's on the scent) all about the person's relative, rather than saying anything meaningful to the person about what their relative wants to let them know. It's always a 'Uncle Jimbo says to be strong' or something tacked onto the end as an afterthought
