From: dave@hyla.hyla.biosci.missouri.edu (Dave Zaloz)
Subject: Re: Precog not possible?
Organization: J. Random Misconfigured Site
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 03:38:10 GMT
X-Posted-From: hyla.biosci.missouri.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

I would like to thank Mark Schnitzius and Mr. McGrath for their replies to  
my previous post.  I always try to maintain an open mind and am very  
receptive to the replies presented.  I would like to obtain a common  
footing, so that we can have a concrete example to work from.  The  
following is an account of the first time I recognized that I had a deja  
vu experience.  As my first realization, it has stuck in my mind the most  
and I can recall it the best.  Thus ....

=========================================================================
I was young, around 5-6 years old.  My parents were going out for the  
evening and had arranged to get a baby-sitter for us kids.  I was in the  
living room watching TV.  The baby-sitter came in.  She was in the kitchen  
with my parents, who were giving her the usual parent-to-baby-sitter  
interchange.  I looked up from the TV and noticed the baby-sitter.  She  
was up against the kitchen wall, with my parents in front of her.   
Although this was the first time I had ever seen her, something seemed  
familiar about her.  It was then that I realized that I had dreamed this  
before.  In the dream the situation was exactly as it was then: I was in  
the living room, my parents and the baby-sitter were in the kitchen, she  
was against the kitchen wall, she was exactly as in the dream.  Everything  
was exactly like the dream.  I said to myself, "Ah, I dreamed this  
before."  Then I went back to watching TV.
=====================================================================

Since that time I have had similar occurances, quite frequently.  Being  
exposed to them all my life, I have become "insensitive" to the event.  I  
handle it as "Oh here we go again" and go on with my life.

That being said, it baffles me that I can relive a dream, in exact detail.

Mr. McGrath says:
"..humans predict the future all the time.  I stand up and walk across
the room, grab the door, and open it.  All these actions are based on
accurate predictions about what will happen as I do these things.
Further, I can predict many mundane things with fair accuracy, fairly
far in the future."

I did not predict the future.  It just appeared to follow a dream (since  
the dream came first).  What happened was not mundane, no everyday  
activity occured.  I had never seen the lady before.  She had never stood  
in our kitchen before.  Still, yet it happened and I don't know how to  
explain it.  It still happens, and I still don't have an explanation for  
it.

Mr. McGrath says:
"..just how "close" does an experience
have to be to the memory to be "a match"?  We all have repeated
experiences that are similar (e.g., my experience of breakfast is 
pretty much the same every day) so it is certainly possible to
imagine a "false match" of an event that is very similar to, but
actually a close replication of, a previous event."

It was an exact match.  The occurances are exact matches.  Some people  
rant about interpreting dreams, I believe that some of mine occur exactly  
as they are, thus, no interpretation is required.  I could see myself  
watching TV being a repeated experience.  I could even see having a  
baby-sitter being a repeated experience.  I am curious as to how that  
baby-sitter was in our kitchen just as in my dream.

I agree with you Mr. McGrath, that it would be hard to come up with the  
odds of this occuring.  I have no idea.  As a matter of fact there are  
more dreams that don't occur than those that do occur.  Thus, you could  
say the ration of dreams that don't occur to those that do occur is  
Blah-se-Blah.  But, what amazes me is, what about that one time that it  
actually does occur?  There is something to say about that one event.   
Something has just happened which is "conceivable, but as far as we
know, not possible."

I am not arguing for nor against the possibility of precognition.  I am  
just curious as to what is happening to me.  Like a kid with a toy, I will  
break it apart and learn how it operates.  I have no idea how this occurs,  
but it baffles the heck out of me, and I am curious as to the why, how,  
and what-for.