If anybody could pass the challenge, why would they?

bruto said:
If I had a secret power that allowed me to ... whisk money out of bank vaults ... I don't think the challenge would be the best way to exploit it.
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What do you think the best way to exploit such a power is?
 
Lots of transparent excuses in this thread. I particularly like the one about "not daring to demonstrate my powers out of fear of what 'they' might do to me".

Take autistic savants, people who can, for example, do complex sums in their heads -- do you see Illuminati snipers forming lines to shoot then? Do all of them try to hide their abilities? Are they surrounded by scientists and paparazzis 24/7? What about the CERN people who discovered the "God particle", have any of them disappeared yet?

Of course not. Why would they be? We don't live in a bad Conspiracy flick, after all, we live in the real world.
 
Safe-Keeper said:
Lots of transparent excuses in this thread. I particularly like the one about "not daring to demonstrate my powers out of fear of what 'they' might do to me".

Take autistic savants, people who can, for example, do complex sums in their heads -- do you see Illuminati snipers forming lines to shoot then? Do all of them try to hide their abilities? Are they surrounded by scientists and paparazzis 24/7? What about the CERN people who discovered the "God particle", have any of them disappeared yet?

Of course not. Why would they be? We don't live in a bad Conspiracy flick, after all, we live in the real world.
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What you say is true. The error that these potential applicants make is thinking that they are as powerful as Professor X or Magneto. If such characters existed, the government would at least take an interest in them.

Sometimes this over-inflated sense of importance is the result of mild or severe mental illness. Sad cases - and often difficult to get these folks to see medical professionals.


...............
While poking around the internet checking up on the exact powers the X-men had, I came across the term "cyberpath." Using one's mind to control computers. That would be awesome - I would always win at Mario Cart.
 
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Jomante said:
So to my original question for the thread: If anybody could pass the challenge, why would they?
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Moon-Spinner said:
If I had a special "Gift", and could rake in big bucks, I think I would be more on the side of caution - I wouldn't let anybody know what I was able to do. It's hard to say what may come over me if put into that situation though.

So for me, I wouldn't take the million dollar challenge, and try to live under the radar.
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I think I would take the challenge myself for two reasons:

I would rather live honestly. Using a paranormal ability to dishonestly steal money from other people, even if I could make more money that way, would make me feel bad. Secondly, the million dollars would be only the beginning. I could still make lots more money after that. People would pay me to give demonstrations of the ability. I could write a book that would probably be a bestseller. Or have a ghostwriter write one for me. Scientists would want to study me. In short, there would be no shortage of honest ways to make scads of money without resorting to using the ability to steal.
 
Puppycow said:
I think I would take the challenge myself for two reasons:

I would rather live honestly. Using a paranormal ability to dishonestly steal money from other people, even if I could make more money that way, would make me feel bad. Secondly, the million dollars would be only the beginning. I could still make lots more money after that. People would pay me to give demonstrations of the ability. I could write a book that would probably be a bestseller. Or have a ghostwriter write one for me. Scientists would want to study me. In short, there would be no shortage of honest ways to make scads of money without resorting to using the ability to steal.
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Interesting perspective. I am fascinated by how differently people define stealing. In another thread, some posters suggested that psychically placing a roulette ball in a specific slot was not stealing, while others held that it was.

Which of these is stealing (if any)

seeing the future and buying land before oil is discovered.
seeing the future and buying stocks to make a profit.
seeing the future and playing blackjack in a casino.
seeing the future and betting on sports.
seeing the future and playing poker
reading minds and playing poker.
telekineticly manipulating the dice while playing craps.
 
I'd be going for a Nobel instead. After testing myself I would work with an experienced skeptic experimenter to produce something publishable. Maybe even some folks from around here.

I wouldn't be worried about being the focus of unwanted government attention. I think it would be more a case of bringing new attention on alleged psychic phenomena. After all if the average proponent is to believed, everyone has potential to do such things.

This is of course a pipe dream as such phenomena have been repeatedly tested and with zero indication that there is anything in the claims.
 
Ladewig said:
Interesting perspective. I am fascinated by how differently people define stealing. In another thread, some posters suggested that psychically placing a roulette ball in a specific slot was not stealing, while others held that it was.

Which of these is stealing (if any)

seeing the future and buying land before oil is discovered.
seeing the future and buying stocks to make a profit.
seeing the future and playing blackjack in a casino.
seeing the future and betting on sports.
seeing the future and playing poker
reading minds and playing poker.
telekineticly manipulating the dice while playing craps.
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All of them.
 
Since casinos make it their business to spot people who're luckier than they really ought to be, perhaps a better way to identify concealed psychics is instead to research patent applications from people with absolutely no prior knowledge of the field to which their patent applies, but which immediately precedes a discovery which makes their patent a moneyspinner.

That's what I might do if a) it wasn't morally repugnant and b) psychic powers actually existed, which they don't.
 
If a 'psychic power' is defined as something that does not exist, it's a safe bet there are no psychic powers.
 
r-j said:
If a 'psychic power' is defined as something that does not exist, it's a safe bet there are no psychic powers.
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It's not a very useful definition and psychic powers aren't defined that way. They're phenomena which contradict what we presently believe we've established about how the world works.
 
And the reason no one has passed it, is because no one has any powers. They don't exist.
 
deaman said:
And the reason no one has passed it, is because no one has any powers. They don't exist.
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You are correct. There is zero evidence for the observation of, the existence of, or the mechanism behind psychic powers. There is overwhelming evidence that the brain can easily make mistakes in processing information and remembering events. There is also overwhelming evidence that some people lie about possessing powers either for financial gain of just for grins.
But the purpose of the MDC is not to show that such powers do not exist - the purpose is to show that folks who make money off their scams are always unwilling to submit to controlled testing: even testing that tests exactly what the scammers claim they can do.
 
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Ladewig said:
I am in more agreement than disagreement.

How about dowsing beaches looking for lost objects? Is that stealing, cheating, or otherwise immoral?
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No, although in some cases it would be honorable to return the objects to their rightful owners if possible. If one could locate sunken treasure, the owners of which are dead, I think that would be honest.

The buying stocks thing seems like you could rationalize that, but it's similar to insider trading, which is illegal, in that you are taking advantage of information that the other party isn't privy to make a trade that is to their disadvantage although they don't realize it.

If you could find oil, there's probably an honest way to use that ability to make lots of money, without ripping anyone off. Oil companies would probably pay you a lot of money to help them find oil for example. I'm sure there's a way that this could be done ethically without keeping the info secret from unsuspecting landowners.
 
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