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Online ESP test-scary!

Darat said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/videohub/explanation.shtml
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zooterkin said:
Ah, that explains it. And I'm not at all surprised that this isn't really old footage.
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Is there any hope of sharing the trick with those who live outside the UK? :) I assume that there is some sort of cue in the video that informs you which of the shapes will be chosen next...

My favorite feature of the video is that the volume can be turned up to 11.

This reminds me of Peter Answers, a goofy website prank that works in pairs. Here's how it works.
 
Well, I started thinking of that david copperfield video where he get you thinking of one out of 6 picture cards.

Then removes the one you are concentrating on.!!!

The trick is that he removes all and replaces them with 5 others.
The one you were concentrating on is gone and hopefully you will not notice that the others are different.
 
I should have checked the video before linking it. Then I would have known it doesn't work one on one!
But to use on someone else it is brilliant!
 
Finally it makes sense. Very clever. As for the video being old yet having a pause button in it, I just assumed that whoever had uploaded it had recreated whatever pause/play breaks/cues had been incorporated in the original VHS/Beta tape. I was too busy thinking about the content to query that. And if you've ever watched the Open University, this was a damn good approximation.
 
It's pure math, and nothing more.

The probability of getting all three correct is 1/125. They say "If you get all three right, you may have some special talent." Or something like that.

If 1000 people look at it, 8 of them will think they have a special talent. But they only made three lucky guesses that happened to be correct.

For the record, I got them all wrong. But I know that I don't have a psychic "gift" of any kind.
 
MnJohnF said:
It's pure math, and nothing more.

The probability of getting all three correct is 1/125. They say "If you get all three right, you may have some special talent." Or something like that.

If 1000 people look at it, 8 of them will think they have a special talent. But they only made three lucky guesses that happened to be correct.

For the record, I got them all wrong. But I know that I don't have a psychic "gift" of any kind.
Click to expand...

You've missed the explanation video, here's how it works for those that can't watch it.

It is meant for one person who is in on it to test their friend who is the mark.
The person being tested is supposed to sit several feet away from the screen, so their friend administering the test must push the play button after each pause. The play button is actually divided into five areas.
  • The upper left quadrant is the circle
  • The top right is the cross
  • The bottom left is the wavy lines
  • The bottom right is the square
  • The center is the star.

At each pause, the mark states their prediction out loud, and their friend pushes the part of the play button that corresponds to what the mark has already predicted. Then a segment of video plays where what the mark has picked is correct. The fake aged look of the video is meant to throw viewers off the trail that the trick is based on technology.
 
Cavemonster said:
You've missed the explanation video, here's how it works for those that can't watch it.
Click to expand...


Heh, my husband and I have a "psychic" bar trick based on the same principle, but using pennies instead of Zener cards (used to be matchsticks until everything went non-smoking), and a cocktail napkin and a drink for the cues. It worked every time, and we would get free drinks for being psychic!

And yes, we would do a reveal at the end. After the free drink.
 
Anyone notice the faux cryllic font on the scientific institute's name? I really hope nobody takes this seriously.
 
I picked wavy-wavy-wavy
The video picked star-square-square*


*correction, I clicked star-square-square
 
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