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Sent in my application today.

That's probably the way Randi would call it, too. Give both parties access to the list of pictures, then they just have to get the order right. It prevents questions of interpretation and forces the receiver to judge the similarity for themselves.
 
The very best of luck with this, Neutralize.

The next step for you is to make sure you have a test protocol that will demonstrate your powers. In order for this demonstration to be as successful as possible, it should be something that has a calculable and high improbability, if performed randomly. From what people have told me, a probability of around 1 in 1000 is necessary for the preliminary test. Here's an idea for a test that would give 1 in 1000 probability of random success:

Take a pack of cards, divide into suits, and remove all the face cards, leaving you with four stacks of ten cards, running from ace to ten in each case. Take away the hearts, leaving you with three stacks. Someone other than you shuffles each stack of ten cards. Draw a card from the first deck at exactly 10:00 AM and concentrate on it for five minutes. Draw a card from the second deck at exactly 10:05. Draw a card from the third deck at exactly 10:10.

The odds of your receiver writing down the numbers you draw by random chance are around 1 in 1000.

Whichever way you decide to go with this, best of luck!
 
I want to join the other members of the forum in wishing you good luck.

Would you mind sharing with us the claim letter that you sent in with the application?
 
ChristineR said:
Actually no, my protocol has you sharing the list in advance. This is a protocol for people who can send pictures but not numbers for some reason. Both sender and receiver look at the pictures. Then sender goes into the other room, rolls a die to pick a picture and concentrates on the picture. Receiver reviews the pictures and chooses the one that matches.

That way there is no question of "sort of" matching. For example, if a picture of a building was sent and the receiver saw a building, there could be a question whether they are the same buildings. But if the receiver says "I saw a building, as in picture 7," then the only question is whether the sent picture was seven or not.
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Ah, I getcha. Yes, that makes sense, although I then don't see the difference between that and the numbers 1-20. Why not just 'send' the number?
 
tkingdoll said:
Ah, I getcha. Yes, that makes sense, although I then don't see the difference between that and the numbers 1-20. Why not just 'send' the number?
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I think the idea is that some people don't receive numbers very well and are more receptive to images.
 
Lamuella said:
I think the idea is that some people don't receive numbers very well and are more receptive to images.
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So if I draw the number 8 with a big marker pen, then I draw a very basic snowman with no features, the difference is...?
 
to me? Not so much.

However, some people remember concepts better than data. Which is easier to remember, a sequence of 25 digits in base 12, or the tune to "happy birthday"?
 
Hi Neutralize,

looking forward to your application getting processed. We have to remain patient until Mr. Randi gives the starting signal.

Should you have any questions regarding your protocol - I assume your application will get accepted - we will help you to the best of our abilities; as it already happens in this thread.

Finally, an application. Yeah. I hope you did your homework and read this: http://www.randi.org/research/faq.html

Good luck, Neutralize, and welcome to the JREF Forum.
 
Lamuella said:
to me? Not so much.

However, some people remember concepts better than data. Which is easier to remember, a sequence of 25 digits in base 12, or the tune to "happy birthday"?
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I get that, but I don't get how sending a psychic image of a drawing of a number can be any different to sending a psychic image of a drawing of a snowman. Isn't it just visualising the picture in front of you and sending it over? Or do numbers have some special power-blocking ability? What if it's a fairly abstract drawing of a number? Does the receiver have to be able to recognise the image in order to replicate it (for example, if you sent over an image of an animal they'd never seen, like a naked mole-rat, would they be able to recreate that image on paper or would it only work with animals they recognised?)
 
well, it depends how the communication works.

If it works by sending thoughts, then there shouldn't be anything to stop you sending a number one. If it relies on sending memories or feelings, there might be more trouble.

Have you ever had a dream where you were reading a book or a computer screen? I had one last night. I was trying to type a website URL onto the screen and I kept screwing it up. For whatever reason, the part of my brain that usually handled the comprehension of written words and stringing them together in coherent form wasn't working right. However, I got a very clear sense of where I was, what I felt about the people around me and so forth. It was just reading and writing that were beyond me.

It could be that this communication ability connects to feelings or images rather than to developed higher-brain concepts like words and numbers.
 
Lamuella said:
well, it depends how the communication works.

If it works by sending thoughts, then there shouldn't be anything to stop you sending a number one. If it relies on sending memories or feelings, there might be more trouble.

Have you ever had a dream where you were reading a book or a computer screen? I had one last night. I was trying to type a website URL onto the screen and I kept screwing it up. For whatever reason, the part of my brain that usually handled the comprehension of written words and stringing them together in coherent form wasn't working right. However, I got a very clear sense of where I was, what I felt about the people around me and so forth. It was just reading and writing that were beyond me.

It could be that this communication ability connects to feelings or images rather than to developed higher-brain concepts like words and numbers.
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Sorry, I'm confused. What's the difference between a thought and a memory, exactly? And, physically, how are you defining 'feelings'?
 
sorry, I'm explaining myself very badly.

I don't think you can transmit anything telepathically anyway.

all I was trying to say was that the part of the brain that deals with numbers and other components of language and the part of the brain that deals with images are different. It could be that the connection this person has with their receiver allows them to get an idea of what he is looking at or thinking about without anything as clear cut as the number seven coming through.

I apologize for this not being very clear. As I'm not the challenge applicant, I have no idea what kind of connection he has or claims to have.
 
Lamuella said:
sorry, I'm explaining myself very badly.

I don't think you can transmit anything telepathically anyway.

all I was trying to say was that the part of the brain that deals with numbers and other components of language and the part of the brain that deals with images are different. It could be that the connection this person has with their receiver allows them to get an idea of what he is looking at or thinking about without anything as clear cut as the number seven coming through.

I apologize for this not being very clear. As I'm not the challenge applicant, I have no idea what kind of connection he has or claims to have.
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That's OK, I'm understanding badly, so we're even :D

I think the main problem is that what you are suggesting sounds like a plausible explanation (especially if one was claiming to have such powers), but when you examine it closely, for example, what if you are visualising a picture of a number rather than the number itself, the hypothesis falls apart somewhat.

But my experience is that these claims don't stand up to that sort of scrutiny anyway, in that as there is no physical explanation for them, it's little use trying to rationalise any particular exception in mundane terms. Psychics are likely to say they don't know why it's a particular way, it just is.
 
Good luck with your test mate.

A suggestion for practice is getting a neutral third party to ask you to write a number down at a specific time, the friend should be away from the location or at least inaccessible to you. They try to 'receive' what your sending. You could try doing it every minute for ten minutes (start with numbers 1-10). Be sure the tester is aware of the situation. They are not there to help but make life hard for you. Its a test.

Only my thoughts though.
 
The only obvious reason I could think of for preferring pictures of pictures of numbers would be that someone might confuse 6 and 9. After all, we don't know that telepathy might not invert pictures.

You could go on in this way. What's actually transmitted might be a blurry visual image, or it might be a histogram of the different colors in the image, or sounds or smells. The important point is to choose something that the claiment feels he can easily work with and something unambiguous.

A lot of the early "positive" telepathy experiments were remote viewing and pictures. Someone would draw a picture and the "telepath" would sketch a cylinder or a blob and people would call it a hit. I think some people still get hits this way when experimenting with their friends.

Neutralize says he/she has been reading friend's thoughts, which is something that is difficult to objectively judge. So I was looking for a protocol which could use a list of things that friends often think about, but with no ambiguous interpretations. A set of twenty pictures of everyday objects could work. The claiment simply has to choose twenty objects that can be distinguished by telepathy. If there is a possible problem with homonyms, or similar tastes, or colors, the claiment just chooses objects that don't have that problem.
 
thaiboxerken said:
It amazes me that people actually believe that they have superpowers.
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"Super" is a relative term - Gellar considers spoon bending a profound and inspiring human achievement (the only two other known public figures supportive of this notion being Michael Jackson and the Wachowski Brothers), while David Copperfield shakes his head and sighs. Sylvia Browne thinks wrapping herself up in a multi-colored tarp and playing dice with people's feelings is right conduct and a charming way to approach the absolute. Benny Hinn thinks crudely executed stage hypnosis is a way to get rich quick (and goddamint, he's right). Ok, back to reality. My co-worker can shoot 2 foot balls of fire out of his rear end. Ok, so it isn't breaking any conserved constants, but it can approach a practical comic book superpower at times. One time he seriously let the cat out of the bag and unleased one that we all agreed would make at least Batman pivot to one side.
 
Welcome Neutralize.
Other posters have given you plenty of good advice to get you started.
Look forward to seeing your test protocol developed.
 
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