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in*
General conclusions and guidelines
The picture of ESP research derived from attendance at this conference
and supplemented by a study of publications in the open literature forms
the basis of the following general comments.
f
1. Knowledge of normal perception and neural data processing in the brain
is still limited,
even though the physical basis of normal perception
is well-founded.
The wide area of ignorance or partial knowledge
: surrounding even normal mental function is indicative of the possible
impediments
to attaining a coherent understanding of paranormal perception.
.1
The physical paradoxes of ESP are severe,
but even were a physical
basis of ESP established, much would remain unknown.
In short,
progress in this area may require not only increased understanding
of the physical basis of the phenomena,
but also advances in cybernetics
and neurophysiology as well.
2.
The ideas of Costa de Beauregard form the most auspicious point of
departure for development of a physical understanding of ESP.
These
ideas ore favored because of their broad physical base,
their use of
general information concepts,
and because they contain a minimum of
ad hoc assumptions.
Although some elementary deductions are immediately
t
possible,
this theoretical framework is,
as yet,
insufficiently articulated.
Additional analysis and calculation is needed to explore detailed
consequences of the basic general idea.
Experimentally verifiable
i
predictions and relations should be sought,
and
the theory should be
scrutinized for guidelines to meaningful experimental efforts.
Such
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a program would represent a firm physically-based attempt to understand
some of the mechanism of ESP ,
but could not be expected to produce
immediate results;
J. Eor practical purposes- the investigation and experimental verification
of empirical regularities governing the occurrence,
content,
and
reliability of paranormal events should not be disdained.
Although
theory is always valuable,
it may not be absolutely essential.
It is
quite possible to know enough about a phenomenon to use it effectively,
or to evaluate its use, without possessing any deep understanding of
its nature.
Hie human race used fire for thousands of years without
understanding chemistry.
Identification and quantification of physical
and psychological conditions for inhibition and enhancement of psi
effects is especially desirable.
The apparent spontaneity of these
phenomena and their independence of most referents poses the most
i
serious obstacle to their application.
It is difficult to perceive
the purpose served by research in parapsychology which does not attempt
to relate the phenomena
to controling conditions.
Parapsychology may
have application provided such relationships exist on some level,
even
the level of total empiricism,
4* Regardless of the level of understanding of paranormal perception it
is clear that information derived by this means
is incomplete,
subject
to error and distortion,
and sometimes completely erroneous.
In many
cases the accuracy is amazing,
but complete errors are also frequent,
A percipient may bo unable to reliably estimate his own accuracy.
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These inherent features raise the fundamental problem of how such
erratic information can be utilized*
How can the output of paranormal
perception be assessed according to its completeness and/or reliability
so as
to optimize its use and minimize the effect of errors?
The
peculiar features of ESP derived information demand that these problems
be addressed if such information is
to serve a useful function.
SGI
I
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APPENDIX
A Summary and Critique of Each Paper Presented at the Conference
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1.
FOUNDATIONS OF PABAPHYSICAL AND PAPJIPSYCHOLOOICAL' MENOjffJA .
Evan Harris Walker,
BRL, Aberdeen Proving Grounds,
Maryland.
SUMMARY:
The oral talk consisted only of an outline summary of ideas and results.
Study of a written version
(69 pages)
of this talk together with previous
papers referenced therein
is required to evaluate the thinking of Dr. Walker.
The written version of this talk explains
a theory of psi phenomena resting
upon several foundations:
1.
A theory of consciousness developed by Dr. Walker
(referenced but not
explained)
in which triggering of nerve synapses
is influenced by
single quantum-level processes,
and in which there are computed
basic rates of data processing in the brain,
a.)
Subconscious data rate
2.4(l0)
bits/sec.
.
b.)
Conscious data rate
7.5(10)
bits/sec.
v
c.)
Attention set or "will" data rate
3(10)
bits/sec.
2.
The notion of "hidden variables" in quantum theory.
These "hidden
variables" are not present in standard quantum theory,
and are called
"hidden" because they are inaccessible
to direct measurement.
There
is no experimental verification of necessity for such variables,
but
they have been conjectured solely for philosophical or logical motives.
The roll of these variables
is
to fix the precise outcome of a quan-
tum event
(or measurement),
nn outcome which in standard quantum theory
is only determined in terms of its probability.
The outcome of a quan-
tum event must be the same for all observers regardless of location
or time lapse,
so
"hidden variables" potentially provide
a communica-
tion channel independent of space and time.
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3.
The assertion that the attention set or
"will* data rate in the brain
is the rate at which
"hidden variable "-governed quantum processes are
influencing the mind,
or at which the mind can influence quantum proc-
esses.
Such a mind-mind or mind-object link provides
a
"hidden varr
iable" theory of psi phenomena,
suitable for telepathy,
clairvoyance,
precognition,
and PK.
Since according
to
this theory the
"will" or paranormal data rate,
3(l0)
bits/sec,
is
a very small fraction of the conscious data rate,
7.5(l0)8
bits/sec,
th© rarity of paranormal cognition is explained.
Assuming a perceptive cue may
occur at random from either data rate permits
a calculation of the incidence
of psi ability in an individual or
a population.
Fair agreement results.
A detailed calculation is presented of the effect of quantum uncertainties
in the initial position and velocity of a cubical die which bounces down an
inclined plane.
This experimental situation amplifies initial quantum uncer-
tainties into macroscopic differences in the final position of the die.
The
results of PK placement experiments on rolling dice are consistent with these
calculations, lending credence
to
the belief that PK operates by resolving
quantum uncertainty.
CRITIQUE:
1.
The somewhat dubious contention that the triggering of nerve synapses
is a quantum process requires more substantiation.
The author's ar-
guments leading to
this contention,
though published or reported,
are
not readily accessible.
A like statement applies
to his calculation
and Interpretation of the three fundamental data rates in the brain.
All the author's ideas form an interlocking system which has
evolved
over several years.
To secure acceptance,
or even objective consid-
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eration,
these thoughts should be combined into
a single,
concise,
®nd self-contained presentation,
which the present paper
is not,
2.
Hidden variables are controversial and by no means form a part of ac-
cepted physical theory.
No compelling physical evidence requires
them,
unless psi phenomena itself constitutes such evidence.
Invocation of
physical hidden variables for
a theory of consciousness
is a radical
assumption,
justifiable only by successful results.
3.
The theory has not yet predicted anything.
The calculations of the
incidence of psi ability,
and of the influence of quantum uncertain-
ties upon dice rolling,
show consistency with experiment but do not
test the fundamental assumptions of the theory.
The former calcula-
4»
'
tion depends only upon a single number
(the ratio 1:10
),
and the
latter
is
a physical calculation.
4.
Regardless of its validity,
Dr. Walker's theory is
the most explic5.t,
detailed, and quantitative theory of psi phenomena presented at this
conference j
though perhaps not the most fundamental.
Unlike some of
the other papers its contents are sufficiently explicit
to permit de-
tailed criticism and evaluation,
and
to at least offer some possibil-
ities of experimental assessment.
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2,
PRECGGNITION-A MEMORY OF THINGS FUTURE?
Gerald Feinberg,
Department of Physics,
Columbia University,
New York.
SUMMARY:
The suggestion is advanced that precognition may be knowledge of a future
state of the percipient's mind rather than prior knowledge of an objective
state of the physical world.
Thus,
like memory where the past state of the
mind is recalled,
precognition is perception of
a
future state of the mind.
Professor Feinberg notes that the theory of electromagnetic radiation,
and
other physical theories,
in principle permits both time retarded and time ad-
vanced solutions.
The time advanced solutions which propagate information from
future to past are customarily excluded for the reason that they have not been
observed experimentally.
The possibility exists of some small admixture of
time advanced solution together with the dominant time retarded solution.
In
the case of electromagnetic theory experiments are presently testing this pos-
sibility to
the accuracy of one part in 10
.
If one assumes that the mechanism of memory, whatever it may be,
likewise
permits a small admixture of time advanced solutions as well a3
the usual time
retarded ones which we
call memory,
we have the phenomena of occasional pre-
cognition based upon perception of a future state of the mind.
Precognition
of events
is possible only if the percipient learns of the event at some time
in the future.
These speculations would receive experimental substantiation if precog-
nition is influenced by the same factors as influence memory.
CRITIQUE:
Basically a trivial paper,
containing one idea expressed in the title,
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together with some standard physics which
is only related
to psi phenomena
ty
virtue of a strained analogy between electromagnetic radiation and memory
processes.
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PARAPSYCHOLOGY.
QUANTUM LOGIC AUD INFQRUATIQI! THEORY
C«T.K,
Chari, Madras Christian College,
Madras,
India
( Professor Chari did not attend the conference.
His paper was read by
Harold Puthoff.
)
i
SUMMARY:
In addition to three types of conventional biological information;
1.)
ge-
netic,
2.)
environmentally conditioned,
and 3.)
symbolic and recorded communi-
cation;
the author postulates
a 4th type of information network,
the psi-net-
work.
The logic of this network would be non-Booiean.
Understanding the psi
network may require use of recently proposed concepts in the quantum theory of
measurement and in information theory,
CRITIQUE:
A paper written in the context of philosophy and formal logic without,
however,
a clear internal organization.
It provides no theory clear enough
for experimental verification or further development.
The principal value of
the paper
is its numerous
citations of recent work in the philosophy of quan-
tum mechanics and in information theory.
Indeed this paper reads like an over-
abbreviated review article.
Since
C.T.K.
Chari did not attend the conference he read advanced drafts
of some of the presented papers and submitted a written version of his reac-
tions to them entitled:
An Indian Parapsychologist’s Reactions
to the Geneva Conference on
"Quantum Physics and Parapsychology"
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QUANTUM PARADOXES AND ARISTOTLE'S TWOFOLD INFORMATION CONCEPT
0.
Costa de Beauregard,
Institut Henri Poincare, Paris,
Prance
SUMMART:
The problems of relativity,
time reversibility,
and entropy increase
lead to consideration of measurement processes in the context of information
theory.
A measurement process by which information is acquired produces
an increase in entropy,
since negative entropy must be supplied equal to
I
or greater than the information acquired.
Such a process
i3 a learning
or a perceptual process.
An entropy increasing process
is dissipative,
and' dissipation is a requirement of macroscopic causality in the normal
sense of past determining the future or,
equivalently,
retarded waves.
The author proposes the reverse process
( an ordering process)
whereby pre-existing infomation is converted into order,
a process
which occurs whenever any conceptual scheme
is actualized to produce
macroscopic order.
Ordering decreases entropy.
An entropy decreasing
process- is the reverse of dissipative and implies macroscopic acausality
(or finality)
in the sense of the future situation determining the past,
or advanced waves.
Both processes, which were foreshadowed in Aristotle’s thinking,
can be represented by the two chains of equivalence
t
Measurement--^ Information
Information—-y» Ordering
Entropy Increase
Entropy Decrease
Dissipation
Anti-Dissipation
Causality
Finality
Retarded Wave
.
Advanced Waves
Past to Future
Future to Past
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Although de facto
the first column predominates in natural macroscopic
processes,
the inverse process of the second column is a theoretical
possibility and indeed must also occur.
At the microscopic level of
elementary quantum processes one might expect a symmetry between the two
columns,
similar to the other symmetries of microscopic physics
( time
reversal,
charge conjugation,
etc.).
Since probability plays a central
role in quantum theory,
the two types of process depending respectively
on increasing and decreasing order,
have tight consequences.
Some of
these are PK by use of corfbious information to control a quantum process,
and telepathy by the linked outcome of quantum measuring processes.
Basically these considerations are summarized in the statement that the
wave function of quantum mechanics propagates probabilities.
It is not
a physical field which propagates, but rather an information field.
CRITIQUE
:
Though scarcely providing an explicit theory,
this paper hews closely
to established physical. understandings
It provides a theoretical framework
which not only may connect observed ESP effects with quantum mechanics,
but which also places ESP in the very general context of information
theory.
Whatever else it may be or may involve, ESP does deal with
information.
In addition the paper points up how information theory may
underlie some very deep physical principles.
This is
a provocative paper,
perhaps the most profound physical discussion at the conference.
It may
perhaps formulate a general foundation upon which could be built an
intelligible physical theory of ESP.
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LIFE AND QUANTUM PHYSICS
V.A.
Firsoff,
Royal Astronomical Society,
London, England
SUMMARY:
This paper uses
the ideas expressed by Monod
' (Jacques lbnod.
Chance and
Necessity .
1972
)
as
a framework for Grounding the theme that mental proc-
esses have a fundamental role in nature which cannot be understood on the basis
of classical mechanism,
logic of the excluded middle,
cybernetic models,
or
any other conventional ways of thinking.
Numerous illustrative examples are
citec)
to support this assertion.
Life
is too rare and strange
a phenomenon to
be explicable in terms of statistical probability.
Its characteristics of
genetic invariance coupled with dynamic evolution^adaptsbil ity indicate a di-
rective force of mental type.
Visual perception may use only
a few photons,
and neural processes in the brain are sufficiently sensitive
to respond to
quantum effects.
In turn PK experiments have demonstrated mental influence
upon radioactive decay,
a quantum process.
Thus there
is
a deep,
and not
understood,
connection between life,
mental processes,
and quantum physics,
CRITIQUE:
-
Not precisely an objective paper,
but rather expressive of the author’s
sense of awe and wonderment at the mysteries of nature,
citing examples of in-
explicable processes,
and weaving some possible general implications from them.
Basically
a philosophical essay, more lucid
than many, but offering no testable
hypotheses nor firm points of departure for subsequent analysis.
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6,
PHYSIOS, ENTROPY AND PSYCIIOKENESTE
Harold Puthoff and Russell
Tnrg,
SRI, Menlo Park,
California
7.
REMOTE VIEWING OP NATURAL TARGETS
Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff,
SRI, Menlo Park,
California
•
SUMMARY:
Both of these papers describe experimental tests with gifted paragnosts.
The first describes PK experiments influencing sophisticated physical instru-
ments,
and the second describes extrasensory perception of remote targets
in
such detail as
to imply high rates of data transmission.
No detailed summary
is hecessary since the papers are experimental and the descriptions are
clear.
Some general features of PK and speculations about its nature are given
in the first paper,
to wit:
1»
PK phenomena are close to noise level and appear
to derive their
en-
ergy from mobilisation of random thermal energy.
2.
Results seem to appear as
a result of coincidence rather than of
specific cause.
3.
PK- phenomena are intrinsically spontaneous and hard to produce on cue.
4.
Close control and observation inhibit the phenomena.
5.
Phenomena are known to occur on the microscopic quantum level which
are similar
to observed PK phenomena.
CRITIQUE:
\
Belief in the experimental results depends upon confidence in the integ-
rity and skill of the experimenters.
The results described,
if valid,
estab-
lish the existence of the phenomena and are a first step toward establishing
its patterns.
'
'
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Some of the features observed are compatible with the general ideas ex-
pressed in the paper of Professor Beauregard.
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PARAPSYCHOLOGY AS AN A7-TALYTICAI-DEDUCTIVE SCIENCE
J.H.M. Whiteman,
University of Cape Town,
Cape
Town,
South Africa
SUMMARY:
I am utterly unable
to understand this paper.
It appears
to outline
a
•
complete logical—mathematical system, which
is also expressive of an entire
philosophy or world view sufficiently rich in structure
to permit parapsychol-
ogy and much else besides.
CRITIQUE:
-I am neither
a philosopher nor
a logician,
but as a physicist
I doubt
whether such artificial constructs,
however beautifully articulated,
are fruit-
ful unless narrowly constrained by experimental fact.
Such is apparently not
the case here.
\
\
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9.
A_LOGICALLY CONSISTED MODEL OF a
IfflRLD WITH PSI INTERACTION
Helmut Schmidt,
The Institute for Parapsychology,
Durham,
North Carolina
SUMMARY:
An empirical description of psi phenomena
is proposed wherein
a psi source
strength
is defined a3
a multiplicative factor applied to
the ratio of apriori
probabilities for random events.
Tlius psi can change relative probabilities
of events.
Different experiments can be conceived as chains of random events,
and whether an event occurs
in the chain or not can depend upon previous
events in the chain.
Various experimental structures are proposed which could serve
to test
the consistency of this model.
Psi sources
could be superimposed to test the
linear addition of weak psi effects,
multiple stimulation of the psi source
( an animate object
)
could be tested,
and various logical connectivities can
be constructed to test equivalence of
PIC,
precognition,
etc.
CRITIQUE:
This empirical approach to the quantification of psi effects
is moti-
vated by Dr*
Schmidt’s successful experiments in the psi control of random
quantum events.
The approach furnishes no deep mechanism or understanding,
but can be very valuable for sorting the logical consistency of models.
i
Whether these specific ideas prove consistent by surviving further experimen-
tal checks or not,
the general approach of empirical quantification in the
context of a simple logical structure seems quite appropriate and reasonable
at the present stage of understanding of psi phenomena.
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-*-0,
BETWEEN EVENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE
COfUjlNATIONAL MODEL FOR A
QUANTO! PROCESS
Ted Bastin,
Cambridge Language Research Unit,
Cambridge, England
SUMMARY:
i
Tliis paper refers
to,
but does not describe
in detail,
a mathematical
structure which is under development by the author.
The mathematical model
has as its object,
nothing less than attainment of a fundamental theory under-
lying all objects and phenomena.
It hopes
to derive such things as elementary
particles and their characteristics,
as well as
the very structure of space
and time.
Despite the occasional mention in the paper of more conventional
physical ideas,
the chain of speculative logic remains obscure.
Little ex-
plicit mention is made of parapsychology.
. CRITIQUE:
This paper
is so confusing to
the reader as
to prevent any effective
evaluation,
other than
to record the impression that such speculations are not
only disorganised but very remote from conventional physical
theory.
Their
relation to- parapsychology is at present extremely tenuous,
although
trie au-
thor's interest in parapsychology may provide part of the ultimate motivation
for his thinking.
NOTE:
At the conference
Dr.
3a stin circulated
a paper, without permitting copies
of it to be made.
This paper,
authored by Hasted,
Bohm,
Bastin, and O'Regan
and dated June
??, 1W4,
was
n narrative description of experiments with Uri
Geller.
Geller's ability
to modify counts of a Geiger counter
^perhaps by
control of electrical currents
in the counter shell),
to bend spoons,
and
to
bend molybdenum disks
is reported.
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PARTICIPANTS
Ted Bastin, Cambridge Language Research Unit
Cambridge, England
C, T. K. Chari, Madras Christian College
Madras, India
O. Costa de Beauregard, Institut Henri Poincare
Paris, France
Gerald Feinherg, Columbia University
New York, U.S.A.
V, A. Fiusoff, Royal Astronomical Society
«
London, England
Harold Putiioff, Stanford Research Institute
Menlo P^rk, California, U.S.A.
Helmut Schmidt, The Institute for
Parapsychology
Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Russell Taro, Stanford Research Institute
Menlo Park, California, U:S.A.
Evan Harris Walker, Ballistic Research
Laboratories
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, U.S.A.
J. H, M. Whiteman, University of Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa
i
PROGRAM
23RD ANNUAL
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
La
Reserve, Geneva,
Switzerland
August
26-27,
1974
QUANTUM PHYSICS
AND
PARAPSYCHOLOGY
OBSERVERS
Arthur Koestlf.r, London, England
Emilio Servadio, Rome, Italy
Charles Panati, New York, U.S.A.
•
PARAPSYCHOLOGY FOUNDATION, INC.
Eileen Coly—President
Allan Angoff—Chairman
Domestic and International Programs
PARAPSYCHOLOGY
FOUNDATION,
INC.
Robert R. Coly—Administrative Secretary
29 West 57th Street, New York, N. Y.
10019
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DAY ONE—Monday, August 26
DAY TWO—Tuesday, August 27
9:00 a.m.
Introduction
Allan Angoff
Greetings
Eileen Coly
9:15 a.m.
“Foundations of Paraphysical
and
Parapsychological
Phenomena”
Evan
Harris Walker
10:15 a.m.
“Precognition—A Memory
of
Things Future?”
Gerald Feinbcrg
9:00 a.m.
“Physics, Entropy anti
Psychokinesis”
Harold Puthoff and
Russell Targ
10:00 a.m.
“Remote Viewing of
Natural Targets”
Russell Targ and
Harold Puthoff
11:00 a.m.
Intermission
11:15
a.m.
Intermission
11:30 a.m.
“Parapsychology, Quantum
Logic and
Information
Theory”
C. T. K. Chari
(Read by Harold Puthoff)
11:15
a.m.
“Parapsychology as an
Analytico-Deductive
Science”
J. II. M. Whiteman
12:15-2:30 p.m.
Recess—Lunch
12:30-2:45
p.m.
Recess—Lunch
..-2:45 p.m.
“Quantum Paradoxes
and Aristotle’s Twofold
Information
Concept”
O. Costa de Beauregard
3:45
p.m.
“Life and Quantum
Physics”
V. A.
Firsoff
4:45
p.m.
Recess—Refreshments
2:30
p.m.
“A Logically Consistent
Model of a World with
Psi
Interaction”
Helmut Schmidt
3:30
p.m.
“Connections between Events
in the Context of
the
Combinatorial Model
for
a Quantum Process”
Ted Bast in
4:30 p.m.
Intcrmissioti
4:45-6:00
p.m.
Round Table Discussion
*
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