rr>
yi-tu
j-jz
pflcprprovea For ReTeas^O0 1/03/26
: CIA-RDP96-007B7^0g02tr00800 1 3-0
1 rounder quits
anti-psi committee, cites
media
blitz
’
FRONTIERS OF RESEARCH,
THEORY AND PRACTICE
December 19, 1977
Marcello Truzzi of Eastern Michigan Uni-
versity, founding editor of the journal Zetet-
ics and co-founder of the controversial Com-
mittee for the Scientific Investigation of
Claims of the Paranormal, has resigned his
editorship,
co-chairmanship
and member-
ship, Truzzi charged
that the committee’s
executive council
is
interested only
in
de-
bunking—not investigating—psychical phe-
nomena.
HhW approves education
project
to explore transpersonal realm
The federal government will sponsor s project designed to explore the farther
reaches of human
capability.
Mary
F.
Berry,
assistant
secretary
for
education
of
the
Dept,
of Health,
Education and Welfare, approved the project, titled The Limits ofEducability, early
in December.
It will inquire into such topics as altered states
of consciousness, values, cultural
‘visions,’ emotional blocks
to
learning, new
scientific paradigms,
creativity,
synergy,
“myths
of transformation, ”
psychic phenomena,
paradox,
non-linear processing capabilities, extraordinary human capa-
bilities, “superhealth” and the
politics of personal growth.
The project will culminate in articles, a book and a conference.
’ -
,<In any absolute sense we can probably never know what
the 'limits of educability’ are," the project description states, “Yet we can specify
areas where we believe there are great disparities between what is being achieved by
current educational practice and either known limits achieved through optimal use of
current practices or achievable limits through known alternative practices.”
Various federal agencies will participate in the project, but half its $300,000 cost
is
to be raised
privately, Jerry Fletcher of IIEW
told Brain/Mind Bulletin that
co-sponsors are eagerly sought.
“We’d
like
the
participation
of as many
organizations,
large
or
small,
as
possible,” he said. The Institute of Noetic Sciences already has become a co-sponsor.
For information: Fletcher, Education Division/HEW, 200 Independence Ave.
Room 317-H, Washington 20201,
(202) 245-8266.
Pribram
at AHP seminar
MBS
Under his editorship. Zetetics was a forum
for critical reviews of parapsychological re-
search.
Truzzi said he deplored “the media blitz,”
the committee’s recent attacks on the report-
ing
of unusual phenomena
in newspapers
and on television. Paul Kurtz, co-chairman
wi
urn
i-uiuimitLg,
ences in recent months urging the media to
quell reports of psychic phenomena.
More
recently,
after
Truzzi’s resignation,
Kurtz filed the commit-
tee’s complaint with the
Federal Trade Commis-
sion
on
the
airing
of
NBC’s Exploring the
Unknown,
a 90-minute
special on psychic phe-
nomena,
hypnotic
regression
and
related
topics. NBC was accused of presenting
controversial materia!
that “may
result
in
harm
to the public.” The network’s
“fre-
quent disclaimers” were considered “inade-
quate protection.”
The committee demanded equal time for
‘‘the critical scientific viewpoint” in re-
sponse
to this and
all other programs,
network and
local, that may deal with
psychic phenomena.
It
said
that
possible
:onscquences of such programs may be
Continued on Page 2
i
i
l
l
i
\
Future to bring ’hard-nosed' work
in
'soft' sciences
Stanford neuroscientist Karl Pribram has
predicted that within another 10 cr 15
years
"all of the really hard-nosed
scien-
tific work will be going on in fields that arc
now considered soft.”
Under the auspices of the Assn, for Hu-
manistic Psychology, Pribram led two small,
day-long invitational symposia in San Fran-
cisco earlier
tills month
to discuss
his
theory
of holographic brain
function
iti
a
universe whose matrix, “the frequency do-
main,”
is expressed
in holographic principles. (See B/M'B special
issue, July
4,
1977.)
Pribram has suggested that the model is part of a major shift in the
scientific description of reality.
It attempts to explain phenomena of
normal perception, accounting for remarkable laboratory data, and
simultaneously helps to explain many events previously categorized
as paranormal. A number of persons well-known in psychology were
invited, as well as specialists
in other fields: education, medicine,
philosophy,
religion,
physics and
the
arts.
As
historic examples of
’soft’
disciplines becoming
central and
scientifically rigorous, lie cited the shift in emphasis from behavioral
to cognitive psychology that began in the late 1950s as well as the
increasingly non-material world of quantum physics: “relationships
between observations—not observables,"
According
to the holographic theory of brain
function,
the
fre-
quency domain
is important in neural processes, just as
it is in sub-
atomic physics.
Stimuli are perceived by
the senses
via complex
mathematical transforms, an interpretation of interference patterns,
much as a hologram
is reconstructed by
its
light source. Pribram
presented data on his laboratory findings indicating
that the visual
system responds
to
spatial
frequencies. Other evidence
indicates
that
atl sensory systems obtain their information by “reading out”
information from a frequency domain.
Synthesizing his and other
findings supporting holographic brain principles with speculation by
physicists that the universe itself may be holographic in nature (that
is. interference patterns of frequencies), Pribram suggests that con-
crete
reality
is apparent rather than fundamental.
Mystical insights may be a type of "lenslcss knowing,” a more or
less direct perception of the holographic state. Pribram noted wryly.
"I think
it must be
a very compassionate
universe — it gave
us
Continued on
*
Approved For Release 2001/03/26
: CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080013-0
Sniff/- Mind Bulletin—
Approved For Releas^ 2001/03/26
: CIA-RDP96-0078£g00020008001 3-0
New findings: valium,
marijuana,
alcohol,
heroin
Marijuana research update: Cannabinoids do not cause muta-
tion in human cells, according to Arthur Zimmerman of the Uni-
versity of Toronto department of zoology and Hans Stich of the
Cancer Institute, University of British Columbia.
.
.
. Marijuana
causes
constriction
of the
pupils,
not
dilation
as
popularly
believed, according to Brian Brown of Smith Kettlewell
Institute, San Francisco, and his fellow research-
ers. But they found no pupil changes in subjects
using alcohol—or marijuana in combination with
alcohol! .. .Tetrahydrocannabinol,
the
active
principle
in
marijuana,
supresses
luteinizing'!
hormone in rats, judging from tests at Duke Uni-
versity by Lee Tyrey and
his
associates. The
dose equivalent of one or two marijuana cigar-
ettes for humans suppressed
all LI I secretion.
The therapeutic virtues of heroin and marijuana will get a
serious look by the National Cancer Institute and other federal
agencies by
virtue
of
a memorandum
from
Peter
Bourne,
President Carter’s special assistant for health.
Health undersecretary Julius Richmond was directed to
evaluate the potential medical benefits of the drugs, which are
classified as “dangerous.” One study comparing heroin and
morphine for terminal cancer patients had indicated that heroin
caused less nausea, was less constipating, increased the appe-
tite, was less soporific and more mood-enhancing. Heroin
is
effective in smaller doses, and it is more soluble. Marijuana, in
addition to its promise in the treatment of glaucoma, reportedly
has been helpful in relieving nausea from cancer chemotherapy.
Acupuncture eases withdrawal pain in heroin addiction. Wen
Hsiang-lai of Tung Wail Hospital, Hong Kong, reported. Fifty-
one
per
cent
of
the
addicts
treated
by
acupuncture
were
drug-free a year after treatment, compared to 28.5 per cent on
methadone. The National Institute of Mental Health has
granted Wen $100,000
for further research.
Vallum may reinforce alcoholism, say J.
A. Deutsch and Nancy Walton of the Univer-
, ^
sity of California-San Diego. Thirty-two alco-
V
IViCSL
holic
rats showed an
increased craving
to
drink when they were given Valium during
their drying-out period.
Librium,
structur-
ally similar, may have the same effect.
.
. .David Warburton, a
psychologist at the University of Reading, England, charged
that Hoffmaiin-La Roche has spent more than $400 million on
the promotion of Valium and Librium. He said that 19 per cent
of the women and seven per cent of the men in Great Britain
were prescribed tranquilizers
in any one year.
Barbiturates cause 5,000 deaths a year and are “probably not
effective” in the treatment of insomnia anyway. The National
Institute on Drug Abuse has asked the FDA to take appropriate
action, such as requiring manufacturers to note on the labels
—unless they can meanwhile prove otherwise—that the drugs
are not effective on a longterm basis.
Truzzi quits ‘debunking’ committee.
.
.
of Oregon, acknowledged that he and Truzzi
Continued from Page
I
worse than those resulting from excesses of
violence, rigging of sports presentations and
game shows or biased news reporting.
Copies of the complaint were sent to the
Senate and House subcommittees on com-
munications.
Truzzi said that the committee’s by-laws
allow voting only by Us executive
council.
The
other
35 members,
termed
‘fellows’
(including B.
F. Skinner and
Carl
Sagan),
can advise but cannot vote. Truzzi said he
refused
to continue
editing Zetetics when
the board voted to make
it a "hard-hitting"
popular publication. He had founded Zetet-
ics as a newsletter before the committee was
organized
in 1976.
“1 felt we should keep
the debate
in
a
scholarly framework," Truzzi said. "Except
for Ray Hyman, the other members of the
executive council are primarily debunkers,”
Hyman, a psychologist
at the University
Future research.
.
.
Continued from Page
I
physics so wc could understand what those
other people who
didn't have
physics
al-
ready knew.”
He acknowledged
his own
difficulty
in
really comprehending the idea of holo-
graphic mind
in
a fundamentally
timeless,
spaceless
universe.
"But when
the
next
generation comes along
it won’t be so hard
for them.”
An abridged version
of the proceedings
will appear at a future date in Re-Visions, a
new journal (see Tools and Resources, page
4). Tapes will not be available.
were
at the
“far end of the spectrum”
in
that they did not automatically equate belief
in the paranormal with irrationality. Hyman
said, "I believe that o«r job is to present the
skeptical
point
of
view—responsibly.
But
some of the others believe that we can’t get
attention if wc argue in an academic journal
or if we qualify our sta tements. They feel we
have to paint things in black and white or the
media won’t pay attention.
“So far they’ve been right in getting pub-
licity—but at the price of embarrassing
people like Marcello, who didn’t want
his
name associated with what they're
doing.
It’s a question of tactics."
Hyman said he agreed with the complaint
against the NBC special, “but some of the
things our committee protests are just sense-
less, pointless,
a
lot of noise.”
Truzzi said he had objected
to Zetetics’
continued
association
with The Humanist
(which has an
anti-religion stance) and
to
Kurtz’s
frequent
television
talk-show
ap-
pearances purporting to represent the com-
mittee. He said he felt Kurtz was unfamiliar
with tire parapsychology literature and also
presented the experiments of authors pub-
lished in Zetetics as
if they were investiga-
tions done by the committee.
^
Subjective reports contradictory
Physical
arousal
noted
in
‘frigid’ women
It
is possible that women who never or
rarely experience orgasm actually undergo
I normal
physical
arousal
that
they
either
refuse to acknowledge or
fail
to recognize.
In a study conducted P™*
by Julia Ilciman and Pa-
tricia Morokoff, State
University of New York,
11 non-orgasntic women
and 55 controls were in-
structed
to
fantasize
about sex, then listened
to an erotic live-minute
tape, fantasized again
for three minutes, watched a film, then fan-
tasized
for another three minutes.
Their
subjective
reports
of
non-arousal
did not correlate with the physiological
measurements.
There
was
no
significant
difference in the criterion of arousal—vaso-
congestion in the vagina—between the clini-
cal group and the controls, who were women
from the surrounding community.
The mean age of the non-orgasmic women
was
28,
that of the controls 30.
Surprisingly,
the women whose
physio-
logical
response was
greatest were
those
who reported the least arousal during inter-
course at home. Ilciman suggested that they
may
not have
learned
to
recognize
early
stages of sexual excitement, may hold
dif-
ferent expectations of what arousal should
feci like or may harbor negative feelings that
short-circuit the awareness of arousal.
Ilciman: Dept,
of Psychiatry, SUNY
School of Medicine, Stony Brook, N.Y.
11790.
Approved For Release 2001/03/26
: CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080013-0