SG1B Approved For Release 200A OBO eT IA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3 DST=1810S-387-75 September 1975 — Wom: terminology, or terms such as "interpersonal subconscious reactions!’ "mention" forces.. In any event, the classical ESP experiments with? animals are no longer of interest in the USSR. The typical Vabilev-- experimentation from 1920 to 1955 has been replaced with sophisticated‘ research protocols which study complex interactions between man,. animals.s and plants. (U). Dr. Pavel Naumov, who bears no relation to the now imprisoned .Edward <i Naumov, conducted animal biocommunication studies between a submerged. Soviet Navy submarine and a shore research station; these tests ‘inm:-- volved a mother rabbit and her newborn litter and occurred around:-1956%, three. years prior to the U.S.S. Nautilus disclosure. According: ;to:.. Naumov, Soviet scientists placed the baby rabbits aboard the; submarine.:. . They: kept the mother rabbit in a laboratory on shore where they implanted: electrodes (EEG?) in her brain. When the submarine was submerged: assisite-- ants. killed the rabbits one by one. At each precise moment. of deathj:.thdic mother rabbit's brain produced detectable and recordable reactionaw:. Asis late as.1970 the precise protocol and results of this test describédbysy Natmov were believed to be classified. Many examples can bé. foundin dDoviet::: literature dealing with dogs, bears, birds, insects, and. fish.idn. conjupmiinmn with ‘basic psychotronic research. The Pavlov Institute in ‘Mos.cowymaysyhavere béen involved in animal telepathy until 1970. 12 CONFIDENTIAL Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3
SG1B Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3 Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3
Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3 Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3
Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3 UNCLASSIFIED DST-1810S-387-75 September 1975 SECTION III - TELEPATHY (ENERGY TRANSFER) IN MAN PART A - Classical Theories and Experiments (U) Over: the past 25 years, Soviet scientists have reported that abilities such as extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, and telepathy have been demonstrated in the laboratory under rigorously controlled conditions. Many of these claims have been published in the Soviet technical and pop- ular literature. Just how far the Soviets have really gone in their ef- forts to learn about the mechanisms of human telepathy is not known. If the Soviet reports are even partly true, and if mind-to-mind thought trans- ference can be used for such applications as interplanetary communications or the guiding of interplanetary spacecraft, the Soviets have accomplished a scientific breakthrough of tremendous significance. (U) For many years, any attempt to study telepathic phenomena was de~ nounced in the Soviet Union as mysticism and idealism. From 1922 to 1959, however, this attitude gradually changed. Official recognition of para- psychology as a legitimate science was prompted to a considerable extent by the Party's recognition of other disciplines which had previously been rejected as bourgeois idealism (quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity, and cybernetics). In 1959 Professor L.L. Vasilev published his "Mysterious Phenomena of the Human Psyche," followed in 1962 by his "Experiments in Mental Suggestion."’ These two publications caused some surprise among Western scientists, but the possible military implications were apparently - overlooked in the West. The first attempt to illustrate the possible military and intelligence impact of Goviet research in telepathy and psychokinesis was published in 1972. 5 (U) The publication of Vasilev's first book in 1959 was followed by the appearance of countless studies by other Soviet researchers and numerous articles in the Soviet periodical press. Soviet parapsychology research gained impetus and sophistication, growing from a single laboratory into a coordinated USSR-wide effort; laboratories were also established in Czechoslovakia. Funds for research (reported at 20 million rubles in 1973) are believed to be primarily from military sources. This high level of support advanced Soviet research on human telepathy far beyond that of the West and the USSR became the leader in sponsoring and participating in international parapsychology symposiums. Such international meetings have served Soviet interests by allowing them to benefit from Western research. (U) After 1959 large numbers of Soviet scientists began investigating telepathic communication. In 1965, a bioinformation department was formed 15 UNCLASSIFIED Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3
Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96- 00792R000600350001 -3 UNCLASSIFIED DST-1810S~-387-75 September 1975 at the Moscow section of the Scientific-Technical Society of Radio Engineering and Telecommunications imeni A.S. Popov, with the purpose of furthering scientific research on information transmission "in the living part of nature." The early Soviet objectives which were made public were: (1) to study and organize relevant materials from the world literature; (2) to record and systematize observed occurrences . of "spontaneous" telepathy; and (3) to develop and organize experiments on artifically initiated telepathic occurrences. _(U) At a meeting of the Bionics Department of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1965, I.M. Kogan raised the following three questions: (1) is telepathy possible in principle; (2) does it contradict natural laws; and finally, (3) do the observed facts agree with the concept of electromagnetic fields? To answer these questions, the following hypotheses have been advanced in the USSR: (1) The electromagnetic hypothesis (1892), advanced as a result of the discovery of electromagnetic waves in 1888. By the mid 1960s this hypothesis had been subjectd to considerable criticism. The entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum from gamma rays to radio waves had been studied; throughout this range there was not a single sector in which telepathic communication could be established. Experiments with reliable forms of metallic shielding had not prevented the percipient from receiv- ing messages transmitted to him (also verified in the West). Moreover, the effectiveness of "signals" transmitted over hundreds or thousands of kilometers should, according to the theory, diminish in proportion to the square of the distance; this has never been established in relevant exper- imentation. The electromagnetic hypothesis has not been rejected and some evidence indicates that there may be electromagnetic waves of some unknown length emitted by the brain which are capable of penetrating metallic obstacles. (2) The metaethereal hypothesis, borrowed from French parapsychology. This presupposes the existence of some unknown methaetheredl energy, the oscillations of which can be detected only by special organs of "crypto- aesthetic sensitivity," possessed by persons endowed with parapsychic abilities. (3) The psychic energy hypothesis. According to this ;:theory, bio- electrical charges in the “working” brain of the inductor are transformed into psychic energy which is transformed back again into bioelectric charges in the "receiving" brain of the percipient. (4) L. Vasilev proposed the gravitational hypothesis, first formulated by the German physicist Pascual Jordon and Einstein's former collaborator Dr. B. Hoffman. Vasilev suggested that an interaction between the 16 Approved For Release 200N08/031 EIAFRDP96-00792R000600350001-3
Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3 UNCLASSIFTED DST-1810S-387-75 September 1975 gravitational field and some existing but unexplained factor, possibly produced by the cerebal matter itself, might be involved in telepathic communication. He also suggested that thought transmissions might be connected with the laws of cybernetic systems. Vasilev also referred to the action of neutrino particles formed during nuclear reactions. If it could be established that such particles (which have no electric charge, move with a speed approaching that of light and are capable of penetrating obstacles of enormous mass) are generated during the neuro- psychic activity of the brain, it might conceivably be shown that these particles serve as the medium for telepathic transmissions. (U) The Soviets’ renewed interest in the problem of parapsychology during the 1960s constituted, to a certain extent, another aspect of the trend away from doctrinaire control which had previously dominated all areas of intellectual effort in the USSR. The easing of intellectual control was exemplified by a quote from Laplace's "Essai Philosophique sur les Probabilities" used by Professor Vasilev: "we are so far from knowing all the forces of nature and their various modes of action that it would be unworthy of the phi- lospher to deny phenomena simply because they are inexplicable at the present state of our knowledge. The more difficult it is to acknowledge their existence, the greater the care with which we must study these phenomena." Vasilev himself said: "Tt has happened more than once in the history of science that the establishment of new facts that were unexplainable by what was already known gave us a glimpse of unforeseen aspects of existence." (U) Such was the climate of Soviet parapsychological research in the early 1970s; Soviet science, for all its characteristic pragmatism, had apparently begun to free itself gradually from the restraints of an out- worn materialistic foundation which on more than one occasion had shown its flimsy bases when faced with new discoveries. However, as noted in Section I, there may now once again be a fairly concerted effort on the part of some highly placed Soviet scientists in other disciplines to undermine parapsychology on political-ideological grounds. (U) In 1966, F. Zigel, a renowned Soviet astronomer, concluded that telepathy is the science of the future. In order for it to become a service to mankind, research in telepathy must be organized on a state- wide basis. Otherwise, after a short while, "reproaching ourselves for past mistakes, we again would have to catch up with foreign countries. If the insulting remarks addressed to scientists engaged in telepathic 7 Approved For Release 2004/08(92,.GA4RBP96-00792R000600350001-3
Approved For Release 206A68/A86! EIAIRDP96-00792R000600350001-3 DST-1810S~-387-75 September 1975 Hl d studies were made privately they could simply be ignored. Such criticisns, however, are aired publicly in the press by people of. incontestable auth- ority in other fields. What happened to genetics and cybernetics is now being repeated again and again. One can no longer remain silent, but must take the full responsibility of stating that "criticism" of telepathy is tantamount to militant obscurantism." Zigel's words did not go unheeded because by 1968 the Soviets already had: (1) established several research centers specializing in telepathic experiments on an academic and scientific level; (2) organized teams of scientists--physiologists, physicists, psychol- ogists, mathematicians, cyberneticians, neurologists, and electronic engin- eers--to investigate telepathy, find out how it works, and devise means of practical application; and (3) conducted experiments involving long-range thought transference (Leningrad-Moscow (600 km); Moscow-Tomsk (4,000 km)). (U) Without actually taking an gyneduivocal stand on the controversial issue of telepathy, Ye. Parnov, in 1966, cited at least three parodoxes: (1) telepathic communication is independent of distance; (2) telepathic communication is achieved without the use of the known sensies and has no apparent relation to electromagnetic waves; (3) some cases of spontaneous telepathy and clairvoyance contradict the law of causality. It should be mentioned that if Parnov had stated his third paradox a few years sooner it would have meant certain scientific and intellectual exile. However, Parnov attempted to ascertain the extent to which these paradoxes might fit into the fundamental laws of natural science, and thereby remained aa, somewhat within the bounds of traditional dogmatic, materialistic princi- ples. . (U) Parnov felt that the first paradox might be resolved if: (a) the material carrier of the telepathic effect is some type of energy unlikely to dissipate in space, or (b) all people are linked together by a special "telepathic field." In the first case, the material carrier could con- ceivably be the neutrino which, at least within the earth's biosphere, is not absorbed by matter. In the second case, it might be surmised that, in addition to the inductor and percipient, telepathic phenomena involve an unspecified number of people for amplification of the telepathic signal, just as a photomultiplier amplifies light. (U) A similar explanation was applied to the second paradox; the "neu- trino hypothesis," however, has its drawbacks. It is not quite clear, for instance, which type of neutrino is responsible for the transmission of telepathic signals. It is possible that all people are interlinked by a neutrino field, and this would support the amplification theory. (U) The third paradox is the least palatable to traditional scientists and the most susceptible to criticism by opponents of telepathy. Its ex- planation requires, by implication, the breakdown of well-established concepts regarding time and space. One of the ideas advanced by some 18 ~ Approved For Release 2004/99/02 1G 14, RDP96-00792R000600350001-3
Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3 CONFIDENTIAL DST-18108-387-75 September 1975 theoreticians is that of "closed time" in which such notions as past and future become relative even beyond the theory of relativity. By accepting such an idea, it must be assumed as a matter of fact that the human brain can somehow "locate" the future by means of the neutrino. Parnov observed that other theoreticians had hypothesized that the neutrino's peculiar behavior is due to the fact that this particle moves from the future into the past rather than the other way around. Such a concept would do justice to the third paradox. It is interesting to note that these paradoxes were expressed before theoreticians began extensive discussions on tachyons (particles said to have a velocity greater than that of light). Mental ions ("mentions"), having similar velocities of propagation, have also been postulated. They are discussed further in Part B of this section. (U) Another theory which could help explain the third paradox is based on the law of conservation of combined parity, advanced by L.D. Landau. Ac cording to that law, symmetry is preserved in any system whenever the "left" is substituted by the "right" and a particle by an antiparticle. It then appears that all relationships are invariant with respect to time inver- sion. Thus, Parnov concluded, the third paradox may contradict the letter, put not the spirit of modern physics. (U) I.M. Kogan, referred to earlier, was the first to publish experimental results in human telepathic communication in the post-Vasilev era.”"? 222 Only the qualitative and quantitative results will be presented here; the interested reader can peruse the above references for Kogan's research protocol. Kogan arranged his experiments in four groups (excluding experi- ments involving the use of hypnosis which can be found in an excellent article by Velinov) ; the four groups included: (1) mental suggestion of an act involving objects at short distances; (2) mental suggestions of the image of an object and selection of a given object at short distances, (3) mental suggestion of object images over long distances; and (4) mental transmission of object images over long distances. None of the experiments reported by Kogan were inconsistent with the Soviet electromagnetic hypoth- esis. An analysis of the results revealed certain qualitative and quanti- tative characteristics common to all experiments. They were: (1) the rate of telepathic information transmission varied between 0.005 and 0.1 bit/sec.; (2) the rate of information transmission depended upon the distance the information had to travel, ranging from 0.1 bit/sec for a distance of several meters to 0.001 bit/sec for a distance of 4,000 km; (3) in telecommunications, the percipient did not take cognizance of the logical concept of the type of object being transmitted; normally, only qualitative images eliciting some kind of sensation (shape, color, hard- ness) were perceived; and (4) the best perception of telepathic information eccurred when the messages were short (up to one minute). Transmission of simple, brief, coded combinations of elements (images, emotion) ap- peared to be the proper way of handling coded telepathic information. 19 A CONFIDENTIAL pproved For Releag¢@12004/98/02 ; CIAGRDP9G?08592R000600350001-3