Psychics were also bizarrely wrong in 2023
An evaluation of future forecasts shows: Fortune tellers are not doing well this year either. Spectacular hits? Not a chance. And the world hasn't come to an end either.
Armadillos and penguins invade cities, the Earth's orbit changes drastically and an economic crisis drives people into cannibalism: according to an evaluation by the Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parascience (GWUP) in Roßdorf, southern Hesse, the year 2023 was also very bad for clairvoyants. "There were no really spectacular hits. If there were any hits, they were trivial," the report states. King Kong didn't show up again, the end of the world didn't happen and no squirrel caused a blackout in New York.
"Psychics always predict things that have already happened," says Mainz mathematician Michael Kunkel, who has been scrutinizing the sometimes crude predictions of astrologers, fortune tellers and clairvoyants for 22 years. "The fantasy doesn't go so far as to say that something new will happen." For example, new viruses were predicted after corona and a new resignation of the Pope after Benedict XVI. "If something has happened, it goes into the fundus."
For Charles III's coronation in May, there were predictions that he would not remain king for long, that he would have a difficult year or that the ceremony would be postponed. "Nobody said that the coronation would be canceled. There wasn't much confidence," says Kunkel. It was predicted that former US President Donald Trump could run into legal problems. It was also predicted that Croatia would join the eurozone and that the last nuclear power plant in Germany would be shut down. All of this was already clear or had already been decided beforehand. "Apart from that, there wasn't much going on with celebrities," says Kinkel about the predictions and speaks of "standard blah blah blah".
Animal invasions?
The focus had changed with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. In addition to the annual disaster forecasts of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, there have also been some bizarre ones. According to a Canadian media outlet, several cities are facing animal invasions. Armadillos, deer, stags, penguins, elephants and locusts were to invade them. However, according to Kunkel, the medium did not specify which cities would be affected. The name of the island on which a giant ape like King Kong is supposed to be hiding was also not revealed.
There are already many predictions for disasters in 2024. The evaluation is based on two principles. They are taken literally as far as possible and the probability of occurrence is taken into account. "A real prediction should be clearly formulated, i.e. it should state what should happen when and where." However, this is rare, as they are often ambiguous statements into which everything or nothing can be interpreted.
According to the GWUP, more than 200 prognostic texts from books, almanacs, websites, social media, blogs or press articles were evaluated in 2023, of which a significant number were published anonymously. But frequent prognosticators were also busy again. One medium from Canada had more than 1,300 forecasts on its website.
The German Astrological Association had repeatedly criticized the GWUP's sweeping criticism in recent years and described it as lacking differentiation. "That also applies this year," says Chairman Wolfgang Steven.
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Despite the numerous predictions made by psychics and astrologers for the turn of the year 2024, international evaluations reveal that their accuracy remains questionable. For instance, no major astrological alignment was found to have caused the invasion of cities by unusual animals such as armadillos, deer, and penguins, as some psychics had suggested. Similarly, the prophecies of a new economic crisis or political upheaval did not materialize as predicted. It appears that while the turn of the year might be a time for reflecting on the past and making new resolutions, relying on astrology for predicting future events may not be an accurate or reliable practice.
Source: www.ntv.de
