http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/business/05psychic.html?emc=eta1
Here is a New York Times article about a "highly reputable" psychic trained by Nepalese monks in the art of time travel, precognition, and remote viewing. Claiming to be able to predict the stock market Sean David Morgan and his wife took in millions of dollars from investors, funneling the money through a number of religious and spiritual businesses owned by Morgan.
Where's the psychology? First, why do people continue to buy into these things? Even in the face of no evidence for anything the least bit psychic a vast majority of people still believe that these abilities are possible and that some people already do possess these skills. Credulity? Faith? Ignorance?
Second, isn't it amazing that even Morgan himself refuses to admit he's wrong? I believe that he truly does believe that he can predict the future, and his inability to predict this lawsuit and the impending fines, jail-time, etc. are not viewed as counter-evidence, or failures in his mind. Instead he explains these away as being malicious attacks on his person, such that he could not have predicted them, etc. etc. This is a common tactic used by psychics, when they are right it's proof, when they are wrong (and this is frequent) it's because of other people or some flaw in the universe and not seen as a counterexample or possible evidence against their viewpoint.
Thirdly, what if he really is seeing into the future and he made a mistake in interpretation? It does seem like purposefully manipulating people is a far worse crime than trying to help, and simply making a mistake. Which is going on here? And how do we know that? Given the large number of people who believe in this type of thing why ought we assume he's a fraud? Is he any different than any other investor who makes a mistake?
Does this article call into question all psychics and their claims, or merely the claims of this one man? Do claims regarding the success of one psychic demonstrate the existence of psychic phenomena in general, or are they merely a statistical oddity to be explained in light of other evidence?
Psychics have been around for as long as religion. There have been the seers of Ra in Egypt, the Delphic Oracles in Greece, and the French-born Nostradamus.
Today, we have names like John Edward and Miss Cleo. The major difference between the past and present psychics is not whether they believe their "readings", but their gain. In the past, psychics were used to predict good harvests, if the Gods were pissed, or view the outcome of choices. Today, psychics will typically use their "skills" for personal gain. Of course, whenever something that interferes with personal gain occurs, most people would find a means to defend their positions. In the case of psychics, being wrong is demonstrating their lack of ability. In the case of John Edward, he simply uses nondescript questions that people answer to. Miss Cleo, of course, got sued for her readings and is California-born. In short, whenever fame and money is involved with a psychic, then it becomes dollars and cents talking to them; not the deceased.
Is it these "psychics" believe in their power? No. Just like great actors, the people want to believe them. Psychics are all about playing with others' psyche's, and in some cases, not at all about following the law.
In regards to psychic phenomena, I believe it can happen. The trick is that you can't control how or when it happens. With the billions of people on this planet, it is possible for a person to occasionally "predict" the future by means of, "I had a dream that...", "I heard a voice that said...", or so on.