The results of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project, a 12-year study by Australian Skeptics, have been released. An in-depth report has been published in the latest issue of The Skeptic.
The project revealed that so-called psychics’ predictions are right only 11% of the time.
And when something momentous or infamous happens, they are unlikely to have foreseen it.
Under the supervision of Skeptics’ chief investigator Richard Saunders, the survey covered over 3800 predictions made between 2000 to 2020 by more than 200 Australian psychics. It took 12 years of diligent work by Skeptics, trawling through magazines, newspapers, TV and radio, websites, YouTube, and social media, to compile as comprehensive a list of predictions as possible.
It is easily the most detailed project of its kind ever attempted in Australia, and most likely the world.
And the results:
- 11% of predictions are “correct”.
- 15% expected (as in, stating “the bleeding obvious”)
- 19% too vague
- 2% unknown
- 53% wrong
The results indicate nothing better than educated guessing – or even uneducated guessing – and certainly no better than any non-psychic could do, and probably a lot worse.
