We need to make assumptions to function normally every single day of our lives as James Randi once pointed out. When sitting down on a sofa you don't check it first to make sure its not been switched by a fake one made of jelly, no you make the safe assumption its a normal sofa. When crossing a road you assume its a normal road and not a sticky glue that will hold you in place only to get squished by an oncoming bus. We need this ability to be able to function normally but sometimes we can be very very wrong. If you have noted my photo (not a pretty sight) you yourself may have already made assumptions about me. The first assumption you might have made was that I wear glasses....I don't and I couldn't even see the images on my PC screen while I was wearing them, secondly you may not even have considered that the teeth gnawing at my pen in the photo are in fact fake teeth that fit over my real ones...the assumption was made subconsciously that they were real. Not a major revelation I know but it proves that we automatically make rational logical assumptions. If you are walking through a woodland park and you hear flapping of wings above your head you assume that it is probably a bird perhaps a Robin or something similar. That would be such a safe assumption that we 'normal folks' wouldn't even bother looking up, however others may conclude that it might be a rare parrot of some kind never before seen in the country...it's possible but let's face it highly unlikely. Then you have the last batch of people who hear the flapping and would conclude that it was probably an angel watching over them or the last undiscovered Dodo. When I am alone in the house at night and I hear a noise in the house I make the pretty safe assumption that it is the boiler, the cats or maybe next door crashing around but I do not automatically assume it's a ghost or any other paranormal event....but so many people, who are normally quite intelligent logical thinking folks will jump straight to that bizarre conclusion. Similarly we see the likes of Uri Geller, Jonathon Edwards and Sylvia Brown on our TV sets and because they appear to be very successful rich and famous Psychics the assumption is made that they must be genuine. In the same way we see old film footage of Russian experiments where subjects seem to be moving compasses and other objects using only their mind and because it appears to be set in a controlled environment the assumption is made that it must be genuine. They are not genuine and here then begins my cause.
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