Can you think of any good reason to consult any so called psychic?
I can think of a good reason for anything. I ask my brain “conditional upon it being a good idea, what might the situation be?” and the virtual outcome pump effortlessly generates scenarios. A professional fiction writer could produce a flood of them. Try it! For any X whatever, you can come up with answers to the question “what might the world look like, conditional upon X being a good idea?” For extreme X’s, I recommend not publishing them. If you find yourself being persuaded by the stories you make up, repeat the exercise for not-X, and learn from this the deceptively persuasive power of stories.
Why consult a psychic? Because I have seen reason to think that this one is the real deal. To humour a friend who believes in this stuff. For entertainment. To expose the psychic as a fraud. To observe and learn from their cold reading technique. To audition them for a stage act. Because they’re offering a free consultation and I think, why not? (Don’t worry, my virtual outcome pump can generate reasons why not just as easily as reasons why.)
You got me, there was no real question. It was all made up for fun. It would be fun to know of a rationalist’s experience and interpretation or desire to visit a psychic and whatever unusual circumstances and reasoning led them to it.
It would be fun to know of a rationalist’s experience
Even conditional on someone having those experiences I find it unlikey that the person would write an reply to a question on LW that posed as the question above.
Cold reading and externalizing your unconscious thoughts so as to allow conscious consideration thereof are very useful things sometimes. As can sometimes be manipulating symbols so as to deeply seat changes to said thoughts. There’s a great big grab-bag of tricks that human societies have come up with to do these things over the millennia including some activities practiced by the more interesting subsets of individuals using that label.
There are spaces within the occult philosophy scene that effectively say, for example, things like that coincidences and synchronicity are very important to pay attention to because noticing what you find synchronistic and interestingly-coincidental about the swirling morass of the world around you reveals what you’re actually preoccupied by and how you really feel about things. Or that by forcing yourself to have unconscious emotional reactions to fairly random charged symbols and trying to interpret what they mean to you (think tarot), you gain a better appreciation of what is important to you.
Can you think of any good reason to consult any so called psychic?
I can think of a good reason for anything. I ask my brain “conditional upon it being a good idea, what might the situation be?” and the virtual outcome pump effortlessly generates scenarios. A professional fiction writer could produce a flood of them. Try it! For any X whatever, you can come up with answers to the question “what might the world look like, conditional upon X being a good idea?” For extreme X’s, I recommend not publishing them.
Why consult a psychic? Because I have seen reason to think that this one is the real deal. To humour a friend who believes in this stuff. For entertainment. To expose the psychic as a fraud. To observe and learn from their cold reading technique. To audition them for a stage act. Because they’re offering a free consultation and I think, why not? (Don’t worry, my virtual outcome pump can generate reasons why not just as easily as reasons why.)
Can you think of any good reason to consult any so called psychic?
I can think of a good reason for anything. I ask my brain “conditional upon it being a good idea, what might the situation be?” and the virtual outcome pump effortlessly generates scenarios. A professional fiction writer could produce a flood of them. Try it! For any X whatever, you can come up with answers to the question “what might the world look like, conditional upon X being a good idea?” For extreme X’s, I recommend not publishing them. If you find yourself being persuaded by the stories you make up, repeat the exercise for not-X, and learn from this the deceptively persuasive power of stories.
Why consult a psychic? Because I have seen reason to think that this one is the real deal. To humour a friend who believes in this stuff. For entertainment. To expose the psychic as a fraud. To observe and learn from their cold reading technique. To audition them for a stage act. Because they’re offering a free consultation and I think, why not? (Don’t worry, my virtual outcome pump can generate reasons why not just as easily as reasons why.)
What is the real question here?
You got me, there was no real question. It was all made up for fun. It would be fun to know of a rationalist’s experience and interpretation or desire to visit a psychic and whatever unusual circumstances and reasoning led them to it.
Even conditional on someone having those experiences I find it unlikey that the person would write an reply to a question on LW that posed as the question above.
Thanks for the feedback.
Cold reading and externalizing your unconscious thoughts so as to allow conscious consideration thereof are very useful things sometimes. As can sometimes be manipulating symbols so as to deeply seat changes to said thoughts. There’s a great big grab-bag of tricks that human societies have come up with to do these things over the millennia including some activities practiced by the more interesting subsets of individuals using that label.
There are spaces within the occult philosophy scene that effectively say, for example, things like that coincidences and synchronicity are very important to pay attention to because noticing what you find synchronistic and interestingly-coincidental about the swirling morass of the world around you reveals what you’re actually preoccupied by and how you really feel about things. Or that by forcing yourself to have unconscious emotional reactions to fairly random charged symbols and trying to interpret what they mean to you (think tarot), you gain a better appreciation of what is important to you.
Good ones are good judges of character. Might want to befriend one rather than be a client, though.
Follow up question: has anyone on LessWrong ever actually consulted a psychic for any reason?
I’m technically on LessWrong and my biggest reason was desperation. I could PM you most of their answer if you’re curious.
Don’t PM me! This account is public, anyone can use it.
I can think of a good reason for anything. I ask my brain “conditional upon it being a good idea, what might the situation be?” and the virtual outcome pump effortlessly generates scenarios. A professional fiction writer could produce a flood of them. Try it! For any X whatever, you can come up with answers to the question “what might the world look like, conditional upon X being a good idea?” For extreme X’s, I recommend not publishing them.
Why consult a psychic? Because I have seen reason to think that this one is the real deal. To humour a friend who believes in this stuff. For entertainment. To expose the psychic as a fraud. To observe and learn from their cold reading technique. To audition them for a stage act. Because they’re offering a free consultation and I think, why not? (Don’t worry, my virtual outcome pump can generate reasons why not just as easily as reasons why.)
What is the real question here?