"She's Got a Vision"

[arthwollipot]

Sylvia probably dreams of having as much as Arison. She's a billionaire, and I doubt that Sylvia sells that many books. Arison owns like 40% of a major bank in Israel, plus Carnival Cruise Lines and all sorts of other goodies. She's not "the idle rich", she's "filthy stinking rich".

So like I said, an awfully large amount of money.

 

[Doctor Evil]

Yeah? Well, I have double vision!! Take that.

On second thought, maybe I should have picked double her money instead.

 

[Rodney]

If a self proclaimed psychic has a "premonition" that doesn't contain specific information, then it's not really a premonition after all, is it? If there is no specific information in the premonition, then any number of scenarios could be interpreted as fulfilling the prophecy, in which case it really isn't a prophecy at all.

It depends what you mean by "specific information". Predicting that there will be a major earthquake somewhere in the world this month is clearly too general to be of any use, but how about if a city is specified? That would be quite specific, but again, what are the authorities in that city going to do about the prediction? Let's take this out of the realm of the paranormal and bring it into the realm of scientific earthquake prediction. Suppose that seismologists at Cal Tech conclude that there is a better than a 50-50 chance of a major earthquake occurring in Los Angeles this month and inform the authorities. Will the city be evacuated based on that information? If not, will certain high-risk buildings be closed or certain high-risk bridges and roads be closed? What, exactly, can the authorities do, without knowing exactly when the earthquake will occur?

If she really believes she has psychic powers, she should get them confirmed in a controlled experiment. If her powers are validated, then people will take her seriously when she predicts a disaster. If she does have powers and refuses to get tested, she is still responsible for the deaths of those in Katrina and the tsunami.

You're looking at this as a black and white "either she can predict exactly what will happen or she has no psychic powers" situation. That's illogical.

 

[Rodney]

No, I'm saying that if I wanted to subscribe to a paranormal news-clipping service, I'd do so. I'd like Rodney to do a bit more than play "parrot" when he posts this woo glurge, and maybe throw in a few of his own words-maybe even his own opinion on the matter.

An article appearing in the Washington Post is a little different than an article appearing in the Weekly World News, don't you think? The main reason I created the thread is that skeptics frequently assert that, if there were such a thing as intuition, the intuitive would be rich. Well, Ms. Arison is rich. Now, I concede that may be simply an accident of birth or being a good businesswoman, but she attributes at least some of her success to her psychic powers, and so I think that's a subject worth exploring.

 

[Psiload]

An article appearing in the Washington Post is a little different than an article appearing in the Weekly World News, don't you think? The main reason I created the thread is that skeptics frequently assert that, if there were such a thing as intuition, the intuitive would be rich. Well, Ms. Arison is rich. Now, I concede that may be simply an accident of birth or being a good businesswoman, but she attributes at least some of her success to her psychic powers, and so I think that's a subject worth exploring.

I wish I had suffered this sort of accident of birth...

Ted Arison
In 1997 he headed a consortium that purchased the controlling share in Bank Hapoalim for more than $1 billion -- the largest privatization deal in Israel's history.

In 1999 Arison's father died, and bequeathed her[Shari] 35 percent of his possessions. Her estimated assets are around US$3.2 billion.

She's got this in common with Sylvia Brown... her powers of premonition don't seem to work when it comes to her personal life...

Arison is the mother of four children. She has been married three times, most recently to businessman Ofer Glazer. In 2007 her husband, Ofer Glazer, was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison, for sexual harassment and indecent acts on two women.

Hmm... you'd a thunk she woulda saw that comin'

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130597

Hard Times: Shari Arison’s $100 Million Yacht Up for Sale

(IsraelNN.com) Shari Arison, the controlling shareholder in Bank HaPoalim and whose net worth declined by more than $1 billion last year, has put her “My Shanti” yacht up for sale. The asking price is $100 million.

Arison bought the custom-built vessel two years ago, replacing the mere 164-foot yacht called the Teddy, named after her late father who left her with an inheritance that made her the richest woman in Israel.

He made a fortune by starting the Carnival Cruise Lines, in which she has a large share and which is managed by her brother, who lives in Miami, Florida.

Her worth in Bank HaPoalim collapsed by two-thirds during the collapse of financial stocks around the world this past year, and she was forced to put up more collateral for loans that she took out in order to increase her stake in the bank.

So much for her psychic business powers.

 

[blue sock monkey]

I'm willing to go out on a limb here, and guess that her ability to pick winning lottery numbers is no better than average.

 

[souper genyus]

It depends what you mean by "specific information". Predicting that there will be a major earthquake somewhere in the world this month is clearly too general to be of any use, but how about if a city is specified? That would be quite specific, but again, what are the authorities in that city going to do about the prediction? Let's take this out of the realm of the paranormal and bring it into the realm of scientific earthquake prediction. Suppose that seismologists at Cal Tech conclude that there is a better than a 50-50 chance of a major earthquake occurring in Los Angeles this month and inform the authorities. Will the city be evacuated based on that information? If not, will certain high-risk buildings be closed or certain high-risk bridges and roads be closed? What, exactly, can the authorities do, without knowing exactly when the earthquake will occur?

Admittedly, this is a question I don't have an answer to. I don't know what would be done if we could predict natural disasters with some certainty. It seems that if they were positive that a disaster would occur, they would evacuate. But, you mentioned a 50-50 chance, so evacuation might cause more harm than good. It seems that some safety measures would need to be taken, though.

You're looking at this as a black and white "either she can predict exactly what will happen or she has no psychic powers" situation. That's illogical.

It is possible that she does have visions of the future that are too vague for her to even comprehend, but then that's completely useless and she shouldn't claim that she predicted things that she really didn't predict with any certainty.

 

[Cainkane1]

"Israel's Richest Woman [Shari Arison] Says She Can See the Future . . . In her new book published this summer in Israel, the 51-year-old Miami native says she felt the Indonesian tsunami sweeping over the land two months before it happened and sensed Hurricane Katrina pummeling New Orleans. In an interview, Arison says she also 'saw the writing on the wall' before the global economic crash . . . Armed with the insight gained through work with Florida-based psychiatrist Brian Weiss, a proponent of regression therapy and the exploration of (take your pick) deep memories or past lives, she says she is ready to go public with her visions and bring together her spiritual and business goals." See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/30/AR2009083002473.html?hpid=artslot

She may have panic disorder and is misinterpreting the symptoms. The feel of fright and panic one has when they suffer this disease is very similar to the feeling one gets when something like an automobile accident is about to happen. In her case she may think shes "seeing" the future. Panic disorder comes out of the clear blue sky and is a very frightening experience.

 

[Cainkane1]

I wish I had suffered this sort of accident of birth...



She's got this in common with Sylvia Brown... her powers of premonition don't seem to work when it comes to her personal life...



Hmm... you'd a thunk she woulda saw that comin'



So much for her psychic business powers.

There was a woman here in Atlanta Ga named madam Bell who was into crystal ball scrying, tea leaf reading and palmistry. One day while going to her hotel after a psychics meeting she fell into the fountain and drowned.

I wonder why seeing the future never works on a personal level?

 

[Rodney]

There was a woman here in Atlanta Ga named madam Bell who was into crystal ball scrying, tea leaf reading and palmistry. One day while going to her hotel after a psychics meeting she fell into the fountain and drowned.

Are you sure that actually happened? I found only one on-line account, and it is prefaced by this statement: "We think this article, reproduced in its entirety, pretty much speaks for itself. We've since lost the correct notation, and have no idea where it came from." See http://jebzingo.tripod.com/psychics/youneversee.html