[thedoc (OP)]

hannah hortman asked the Naked Scientists:
   I say things and then they happen sometimes. I went to sleep at 9 something pm. Someone texted me at 2 am.  But the sound on my phone was off. I woke up 1 or 2 Minutes later. Also one time while I was watching Doctor Who I texted EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!  and right after it showed a Dalec saying EXTERMINATE!  EXTERMINATE!  but it could have just been a coincidence. And a lot of other stuff but weirder.
What do you think?

[chris]

I think you are experiencing the power of coincidence...

[Space Flow]

I think from what you say you must definitely be psychic, and I think you should imediately start chanting Space Flow wins the lottery.
Ohh keep doing it until I say stop.

[Bored chemist]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlewood%27s_law

[puppypower]

There is way for ESP to happen, without requiring any new laws of science.

As way of an example, if you ever bought a new car, in your favorite color, after you begin to begin to drive the car around, you will start to see the exact same car, with greater frequency. This can be also true of an article of clothing that one thought was unique that you felt good about.

The duplicate cars have always been there. This difference is, your focus, induced by your purchase and your pride, has created a type of finer tooth screening process in your mind for this unique data. This allows you to filter the data with a finer sieve. Since the new yield will higher, than it had been, the higher yield appears to exceed the laws of coincidence. This is often defined as ESP. This fine tooth comb is one aspect of ESP. This technique is also how a good scientist, in any given field, through years of training and obsession, sees things that others may not see. They will sieve tiny little data that others miss. It may appear to be magic to others; dark science.

On the other hand, the sieve can also be designed to let data go through. When the earth was assumed flat, the sieve of the middle ages mind, allowed certain data to pass through. The sieve was designed to not collect this data, so the theory will appear better than it was. This is the opposite of ESP, or could be called LSP, lowered sensory perception.

If we had a sieve of teflon fibers, water would bead up, due to surface tension and be collected. But oil would wet the surface and slide through. The water would be governed by ESP and the oil by LSP. This technique is also useful since it makes the sieve less cluttered, so we can better differentiate the data we try to collect. This can further exceeds the odds.