Can Palmistry Predict Your Future? Science vs Belief | Ink Explainer — Transcript

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1. 0:00Friends, you must have looked at the
2. 0:02lines on your palm at least once.
3. 0:03Perhaps someone told you that this is
4. 0:05your life line. It tells you how long
5. 0:07you will live. This is your money line.
6. 0:09It shows whether or not you will become
7. 0:11rich. And someone else might look at
8. 0:13another line and say how your marriage
9. 0:15will be or how much success you will
10. 0:16get in life. But just think, if our
11. 0:18entire future was truly written in our
12. 0:20palm lines, wouldn't we all be able to
13. 0:23know what's going to happen in our
14. 0:25lives just by looking at our palms? And
15. 0:27if it's written in someone's palm that
16. 0:29they will remain poor, no matter how
17. 0:30hard they work, can they never become
18. 0:32rich? Today we will understand what
19. 0:34these palm lines actually tell us. How
20. 0:37do palm readers get so many things
21. 0:39right about people, and what does
22. 0:41science say about it? First, let's
23. 0:43understand where these lines on the
24. 0:45palm come from. Actually, these lines
25. 0:47on our hands are not magical marks.
26. 0:49They are natural skin creases that help
27. 0:52us bend our hands and grip things.
28. 0:54These lines start forming while the
29. 0:56baby is still in the mother's womb.
30. 0:58Meaning, even before you are born,
31. 0:59these marks are already formed on your
32. 1:01palm. But some people linked these
33. 1:04lines to human age, marriage, money,
34. 1:06and fate. An ancient practice
35. 1:08associated with this is what we call
36. 1:11palmistry. Even today, many people show
37. 1:13their palms wanting to know when they
38. 1:15will get married, when they will get a
39. 1:17job, and if they will become rich or
40. 1:19not. But here is a question: if these
41. 1:21lines don't predict our future, then
42. 1:23how do palm readers sometimes tell
43. 1:25things that seem completely accurate?
44. 1:27To understand the answer, you need to
45. 1:29understand a habit of your brain.
46. 1:31Suppose I tell you that you look strong
47. 1:34from the outside, but deep down, you
48. 1:35sometimes get very troubled. You want
49. 1:38people to like you, but often you feel
50. 1:40that people don't understand you
51. 1:42properly. Sometimes you want to stay
52. 1:44alone, while at other times you enjoy
53. 1:46spending time with people. Now tell me,
54. 1:49do some of these things feel true about
55. 1:51you? Probably yes. But think, I didn't
56. 1:54know anything special about you. Yet,
57. 1:56why does it feel like I understand your
58. 1:58personality? This is what is called the
59. 2:00Barnum Effect. What happens here is
60. 2:02that when someone tells us things that
61. 2:04can apply to many people, we relate
62. 2:06them to our own lives. We feel that the
63. 2:08person in front of us knows something
64. 2:10special about us. While in reality,
65. 2:12their statements are quite general. Now
66. 2:14, look at this in connection with palm
67. 2:15reading. A palm reader tells you that a
68. 2:17big change is about to happen in your
69. 2:19life soon. Now, what could a big change
70. 2:22be? You might change your job, finish
71. 2:24your studies, start a new relationship,
72. 2:25or something new might happen in the
73. 2:27family. If any of these things happen,
74. 2:29you will feel that the palm reader's
75. 2:31prediction came true. But they did not
76. 2:34specify exactly which change would
77. 2:36occur, when, or why. They simply said
78. 2:39something that could be true in many
79. 2:41people's lives at some point. But the
80. 2:43story does not end here. Some palm
81. 2:45readers also mention things that sound
82. 2:48very personal. Another technique called
83. 2:50cold reading might be at work behind
84. 2:52this. Understand this with an example.
85. 2:54Suppose you go to a palm reader.
86. 2:57Looking at your palm, they say that you
87. 2:59have been worried about money for some
88. 3:01time now. Now, if you have a job,
89. 3:04support a family, or are trying to
90. 3:06build your career, being worried about
91. 3:08money is not very surprising. You reply
92. 3:11, yes, there is a little trouble
93. 3:13regarding money. Now they ask you if
94. 3:15there is any problem at work as well?
95. 3:18You tell them about work pressure at
96. 3:20the office or issues with your boss.
97. 3:22After this, they start saying more
98. 3:24things based on what you have said.
99. 3:27Gradually, they get more information
100. 3:29about you, and you start feeling that
101. 3:31they knew everything about you
102. 3:32beforehand. While in reality, you were
103. 3:35the one giving them a lot of
104. 3:36information during the conversation. By
105. 3:38watching your answers, your facial
106. 3:40expressions, and your reactions, they
107. 3:42can tell which of their guesses are
108. 3:43hitting the mark. This is a method of
109. 3:46cold reading. Now understand the third
110. 3:48thing that makes this whole matter even
111. 3:50more interesting. Suppose a palm reader
112. 3:53told you 10 things. Eight of them
113. 3:55turned out wrong, but two things were
114. 3:57correct. Some time later, when you
115. 4:00recall that meeting, you might remember
116. 4:01those two correct things the most. You
117. 4:04might just forget the other eight wrong
118. 4:05things. Then you tell another person
119. 4:08that a palm reader looked at my hand
120. 4:09and told me something that turned out
121. 4:11to be completely true. Gradually, you
122. 4:13yourself start to feel that the person
123. 4:15can truly see the future. This is
124. 4:17called confirmation bias. In simple
125. 4:19terms, we often remember those things
126. 4:22that prove our beliefs right. And we
127. 4:25easily ignore the things that go
128. 4:27against our beliefs. But now a question
129. 4:30arises: if such things work behind
130. 4:32palmistry, then why do we find stories
131. 4:34in history where some people's
132. 4:36predictions came true? To understand
133. 4:38the answer to this, remember one thing.
134. 4:40A prediction made before an event
135. 4:42happens and a story told years after
136. 4:43the event has occurred are two
137. 4:45different things. If a person claims
138. 4:48that they predicted the year of
139. 4:49someone's death many years ago, we have
140. 4:51to see if there is any record of that
141. 4:53prediction made before the event took
142. 4:55place. If we only have the story told
143. 4:58by that person, we cannot say for sure
144. 5:00that they actually made the prediction
145. 5:02beforehand. It is possible that some
146. 5:04parts of the story are true, but
147. 5:05without evidence, we cannot assume they
148. 5:07had foreseen the future. In science,
149. 5:09one or two stories are not enough to
150. 5:10consider something as true. We need
151. 5:12evidence that can be tested and whose
152. 5:14results can be replicated repeatedly.
153. 5:16And so far, no reliable scientific
154. 5:18evidence has been found to prove that
155. 5:20someone's age, wealth, or future can be
156. 5:22accurately determined from palm lines.
157. 5:24But this does not mean that palm lines
158. 5:27are useless. In fact, they also have
159. 5:29significance related to our body. For
160. 5:31example, some people have a prominent
161. 5:33line on their palm that goes all the
162. 5:35way across. This is called a single
163. 5:37transverse palmar crease. This line can
164. 5:39be seen more frequently in people with
165. 5:41certain genetic conditions, such as
166. 5:42Down syndrome, compared to the general
167. 5:44population. But this does not mean at
168. 5:46all that a person with a single
169. 5:48prominent line on their palm must have
170. 5:50Down syndrome. Many healthy people also
171. 5:52have such a line on their palm. Doctors
172. 5:54do not look at just one palm line to
173. 5:56diagnose an illness. They also take
174. 5:58into account other symptoms and
175. 5:59necessary medical tests. This means the
176. 6:01structure of the palm can sometimes
177. 6:03provide some information about our body
178. 6:05. But this does not prove that it can
179. 6:07also tell our fortune. Now, let's
180. 6:09understand the whole thing. When a palm
181. 6:12reader tells you something by looking
182. 6:14at your palm, there can be many reasons
183. 6:16why their words seem correct to you.
184. 6:18They might be making general statements
185. 6:19. They might be taking cues from your
186. 6:21reactions, and you are more likely to
187. 6:23remember the things they got right.
188. 6:25Because of all this, you might feel
189. 6:27that they have seen your future. But, a
190. 6:29thing feeling correct and it being
191. 6:31scientifically proven are two different
192. 6:33things. And one more thing, this
193. 6:35doesn't mean that everything in your
194. 6:37life is under your control. There are
195. 6:39family, society, money, opportunities,
196. 6:42and many such circumstances in life
197. 6:44that we cannot always change at will.
198. 6:47But you can definitely change the
199. 6:49direction of your life through your
200. 6:51decisions, habits, and hard work. That
201. 6:53is why, next time someone looks at your
202. 6:55palm and says you will never succeed or
203. 6:57your luck is bad, don't consider their
204. 6:59words the final verdict of your life.
205. 7:01Because the lines on your palm are just
206. 7:03drawn on your skin. This is no proof
207. 7:05that your future is already
208. 7:06predetermined. And now I want to ask
209. 7:09you a question. Have you ever shown
210. 7:11your hand to a palm reader? What did
211. 7:13they tell you about yourself? And did
212. 7:14their words actually turn out to be
213. 7:16true, or did only a few things seem
214. 7:18right?