How do we know what we know, if we know anything?

[Mudhammam]

Could something like telepathy be explained by science? If not, what do we make of such phenomena? Ignore it?

Telepathy and psychic phenomena are in my humble opinion, nothing but expert mental sleight of hand and the application of pattern recognition.

It's not unlike Déjà Vu: Your subconscious mind is recognizing a pattern your conscious mind has yet to. Most people I've talked to have had the experience of looking at an item on their way out the door in the morning, and thinking "I should bring that. Nah, what are the chances I'd need it?"

Then sometime later in the day, they realize they really could have used whatever the item was.

It's merely your subconscious mind being less burdened than your conscious mind, and more able to plan ahead.

What about maternal instinct? When a mother has a "gut feeling" that something is wrong with her child or her child is in some kind of trouble, and it proves to be a valid intuition? You don't think that ever happens?

[Rampant.A.I.]

Telepathy and psychic phenomena are in my humble opinion, nothing but expert mental sleight of hand and the application of pattern recognition.

It's not unlike Déjà Vu: Your subconscious mind is recognizing a pattern your conscious mind has yet to. Most people I've talked to have had the experience of looking at an item on their way out the door in the morning, and thinking "I should bring that. Nah, what are the chances I'd need it?"

Then sometime later in the day, they realize they really could have used whatever the item was.

It's merely your subconscious mind being less burdened than your conscious mind, and more able to plan ahead.

What about maternal instinct? When a mother has a "gut feeling" that something is wrong with her child or her child is in some kind of trouble, and it proves to be a valid intuition? You don't think that ever happens?

Why do you think a mother is less likely to recognize patterns of behavior in her offspring than psychically intuit illness?

It seems we're arguing the same thing, the only difference being the connotative worldview of the terminology used.

[Mudhammam]

What about maternal instinct? When a mother has a "gut feeling" that something is wrong with her child or her child is in some kind of trouble, and it proves to be a valid intuition? You don't think that ever happens?

Why do you think a mother is less likely to recognize patterns of behavior in her offspring than psychically intuit illness?

It seems we're arguing the same thing, the only difference being the connotative worldview of the terminology used.

I'm speaking of instances when a parent has that instinct but isn't in any position to be privy to the knowledge of any immediate danger facing the child, say, because they're separated by distance. This could be like a type of telepathy. I dated a woman once who on many occasions, when her children would lose something, she could find it by focusing on the item in her head and then let the "energy" guide her to it. Apparently, it worked many times. Her children, who were full grown when I knew her, could back it up. I'm not saying that proves anything or suggests psychic ability is legit, I'm just asking if we should discount all such instances if there isn't a scientific method for verifying it. Is that justified?