Approved F^or'feeiease 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789RbWdoTf8S5l
THE IEEE, MARCH 1976
Fig.
IS.
Subject (S4) described
a formal garden “very well manicured”
behind a double colonnade.
Note that the subject has learned not to rush into interpreta-
tion as to the nature or purpose of the place.
This
is a result
of our cautioning based on the observation that such efforts
tend to be purely analytical and in our experience are almost
invariably incorrect.
If a subject can limit himself to what he
sees, he
is often then able to describe a scene with sufficient
accuracy that an observer can perform the analysis for him and
identify the place.
The second
target visited was the fountain at one end of a
large formal garden at Stanford University Hospital (Fig.
15).
The subject gave a lengthy description of a formal garden be-
hind
a wall with a “double colonnade” and ‘Very well mani-
cured.”
When we
later took the subject to the location, she
was herself taken aback to find the double colonnaded wall
leading into the garden just as described.
The third target was a children's swing at a small park 4.6 km
from the laboratory (Fig.
16). The subject repeated again and
again that the main focus of attention at the site was a “black
iron
triangle
that the outbound experimenter had somehow
walked
into or was standing on.”
The
triangle was “bigger
than a man,” and she heard a “squeak, squeak, about once a
second,” which we observe is a match to the black metal swing
that did squeak.
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA
Fig. 17.
Subject (S4) described a very tall structure located among city
streets and covered with “Tiffany-Hke glass.”
The final target was the Palo Alto City Hall (Fig.
17).
The
subject
described
a
very,
very
tall
structure
covered
with
“Tiffany-like glass.”
’She had it located among city streets and
with little cubes at th,e base. The building is glass-covered, and
the
little cubes are
a good match to the small elevator exit
buildings located in tl|e plaza in front of the building.
To obtain a numerical evaluation of the accuracy of the pre-
cognitive viewing, th£ experimental results were subjected to
independent judging pn
a blind basis by three SRI scientists
who were not otherwise associated with the experiment. The
judges were asked
t<| match the four locations, which they
visited,
against
the unedited typed manuscripts of the tape-
recorded narratives, ajong with the drawings generated by the
remote viewer.
The transcripts were presented unlabeled and
in random order and jwere to be used without replacement. A
correct match required that the
transcript of a given experi-
ment be matched with] the target of that experiment.
All three
judges independently batched the target data to the response
data without error. Under the null hypothesis (no information
channel and
a random
selection of descriptions without
re-
placement), each judge independently obtained a result signifi-
cant at p « (4!)" 1 » 0.042.
For reasons we do not as yet understand, the four transcripts
generated in the precognition experiment show exceptional co-
herence and accuracy jas evidenced by the fact that all of the
jfi
the transcripts to
rRDP96-00789R0031 001 20001 -4
pui^off
20001 -4
the corresponding target locations. A long-range experimental
program devoted to the clarification of these issues and involv-
ing a number of subjects is under way. The above four experi-
ments are the first four carried out under this program.
Currently, we have no precise model of this spatial and tem-
poral remote-viewing phenomenon.
However, models of the
universe
involving
higher
order
synchronicity
or correlation
have been proposed by the physicist Pauli and the psychologist
Carl Jung [62]
.
ACAUSALITY.
If natural law 5 were an absolute truth, then of
coun*e
there
could not
possibly be any processes that deviate
from
it.
But since causality 5
is a statistical truth,
it holds good
only on average and thus leaves room for exceptions which must
somehow be experienceable, that
is to say, real .
I try to regard
synchronistic events as acausal exceptions of this kind.
They
prove to be relatively independent of space and time; they rela-
tivize space and time insofar as space presents in principle no ob-
stacle to
their passage and the sequence of events in time
is in-
verted so that
it looks as if an event which has not yet occurred
were causing a perception in the present.
We
shall
see
in
the
next
section
that such a description,
though poetic, has some basis in modern physical theory.
V.
Discussion
It
is important
to
note at the outset that many contempo-
rary physicists
are of the view that the phenomena
that we
have
been
discussing
are
not
at
all
inconsistent
with
the
framework of physics as currently understood.
In this emerg-
ing view,
the often-held
belief that observations of this type
are incompatible with known laws
in principle
is erroneous,
such
a concept
being
based on
the
naive
realism prevalent
before
the
development
of
modern
quantum
theory
and
information theory.
One hypothesis, put forward by
I. M. Kogan of the USSR,
is
that
information
transfer
under
conditions
of
sensory
shielding
is
mediated
by
extremely
low-frequency
(ELF)
electromagnetic
waves
in
the
300-1 000-km
region
[37]-
[40].
Experimental support
for
the
hypothesis
is
claimed
on the
basis of slower than inverse square attenuation, com-
patible
with
source-percipient
distances
lying
in
the
induc-
tion
field range as opposed to
the radiation
field range; ob-
served
low
bit
rates
(0.005-0.1
bit/s)
compatible
with
the
information carrying capacity of ELF waves; apparent ineffec-
tiveness of ordinary electromagnetic shielding as an attenuator;
and standard antenna calculations entailing biologically gener-
ated currents yielding results compatible with observed signal-
to-noise ratios.
M. Persinger, Psychophysiology Laboratory, Laurentian Uni-
versity, Toronto, Canada, has narrowed the ELF hypothesis to
the
suggestion
that
the
7.8-Hz “Shumann waves” and
their
harmonics propagating along the earth-ionosphere waveguide
duct may be responsible.
Such an hypothesis
is compatible
with driving by brain-wave currents and leads to certain other
hypotheses such as asymmetry between east-west and west-
east
propagation,
preferred
experimental
times (midnight-4
A.M.),
and
expected
negative
correlation
between
success
and
the U
index
(a
measure
of
geomagnetic
disturbance
throughout
the
world).
Persinger claims
initial support
for
these factors on the basis of a literature search [63]
, [64]
.
,
On the negative side with regard to a straightforward ELF
interpretation as a blanket hypothesis are the following: a) ap-
parent real-time descriptions of remote activities in sufficient
d;etail to require a channel capacity in all probability greater
than that allowed by
a conventional modulation of an ELF
signal; b) lack of a proposed mechanism for coding and decod-
ing the information onto the proposed ELF carrier; and c) ap-
parent precognition data. The hypothesis must nonetheless re-
gain open at this stage of research, since it is conceivable that
counterindication
a) may eventually be circumvented on the
basis that the apparent high bit rate results from a mixture of
low bit rate input and high bit rate “filling in the blanks” from
imagination; counterindication b)
is common to a number of
normal
perceptual
tasks and may therefore simply
reflect
a
lack of sophistication on our part with regard
to perceptual
functioning
[65]
;
and
counterindication
c) may
be accom-
modated by an ELF hypothesis
if advanced waves as well as
retarded waves are admitted [66], [67].
Experimentation to
determine whether the ELF hypothesis is viable can be carried
out by the use of ELF sources as targets, by the study of para-
metric
dependence on
propagational
directions and
diurnal
timing, and by the exploration of interference effects caused
by
creation of a high-intensity ELF environment during ex-
perimentation,
all of which are under consideration in our lab-
oratory and elsewhere.
Some
physicists believe that the
reconciliation of observed
paranormal functioning with modern theory may take place at
a more fundamental level-namely, at the level of the founda-
tions
of quantum theory.
There
is a continuing
dialog,
for
example, on the proper interpretation of the effect of an ob-
server
(consciousness)
on
experimental
measurement
[68],
and there
is considerable current
interest
in the implications
for our notions of ordering in time and space brought on by
the observation [69], [70]
of nonlocal correlation or “quan-
tum interconnectedness” (to use Bohm’s term [71 ]) of distant
parts
of quantum systems of macroscopic dimensions.
The
latter,
Bell’s theorem
[72], emphasizes
that “no theory of
reality compatible with quantum theory can require spatially
separated events to be independent”
[73], but must permit
interconnectedness of distant events in a manner that
is con-
trary
to ordinary experience [74] -[75].
This prediction has
been
experimentally
tested
and
confirmed
in
the
recent
experiments
of,
for example, Freedman and
Clauser
[69],
[70].
E.
H. Walker and
O.
Costa de Beauregard, independently
proposing theories of paranormal functioning based on quan-
tum concepts, argue that observer effects open the door to the
possibility
of nontrivial coupling between consciousness and
the environment and
that
the
nonlocality
principle permits
such coupling to transcend spatial and temporal barriers [76]
,
[77].
Apparent “time reversibility”—that
is, effects (e.g., observa-
tions) apparently preceding causes (e.g., events)—though con-
ceptually difficult at
first glance, may be the easiest of appar-
ent
paranormal phenomena
to assimilate within the current
theoretical structure of our world view.
In addition to the
familiar retarded potential solutions f(t - r/c), it is well known
that the equations
of, for example, the electromagnetic field
admit of advanced potential solutions f(t + r/c ) -solutions that
would appear to imply a reversal of cause and effect.
Such
solutions are conventionally discarded as not corresponding to
any observable physical event.
One
is cautioned, however, by
statements such as that of Stratton in his basic text on electro-
5 As usually u
'ffiflYtivod For Ro loaoo 2000/08/08
:
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CPYRGHT
PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, MARCH l-97<
ii.i.v.wj. na
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The reader has doubtless noted that the choice of the function
f{t - r/c)
is highly arbitrary, since the field equation admits also
a solution fit + r/c). This function leads obviously to an advanced
time, implying that the field can be observed before
it has been
generated by the source.
The familiar chain of cause and effect
is thus reversed and this alternative solution might be discarded
as logically inconceivable.
However, the application of “logical”
causality
principles offers very insecure footing in matters such
as these and we shall do better to restrict the theory to retarded
action solely on the grounds that this solution alone conforms to
the present physical data.
Such caution
is justified by the example in the early 1920’s of
Dirac’s development
of the mathematical
description
of the
relativistic electron that also yielded a pair of solutions, one of
which was discarded as inapplicable until the discovery of the
positron in 1932.
In an analysis by O. Costa de Beauregard, an argument is put
forward
that
advanced
potentials
constitute
a convergence
toward
“finality”
in
a manner symmetrical to the divergence
of
retarded
potentials
as
a
result
of
causality
[77].
Such
phenomena are generally unobservable, however, on the gross
macroscopic
scale
for
statistical
reasons.
This
is codified
in
the thermodynamic concept that for an isolated system entropy
(disorder) on the average increases.
It
is just this requirement
of isolation, however, that has been weakened by the observer
problem in quantum theory, and O. Costa de Beauregard argues
that the finality principle
is maximally operative in just those
situations where the intrusion of consciousness as an ordering
phenomenon
results
in
a significant local reversal of entropy
increase.
At this point, further discussion of the subtleties of
such considerations, though apropos, would take us far afield,
so we simply note that such advanced waves, if detected, could
in certain cases constitute a carrier of information precognitive
to the event.
The above arguments are not intended to indicate that the
precise
nature
of
the information
channel
coupling remote
events and human perception
is understood.
Rather, we
in-
tend to show only that modem theory is not without resources
that can be brought to bear on the problems at hand, and we
expect
that
these problems will, with further work, continue
to yield to analysis and specification.
Furthermore, independent of the mechanisms
that may be
involved
in remote
sensing, observation of the phenomenon
implies
the
existence
of
an
information
channel
in
the
information-theoretic sense.
Since such channels are amenable
to analysis on the basis of communication theory techniques,
as indicated earlier, channel characteristics such as bit rate can
be determined independent of a well-defined physical channel
model in
the sense
that thermodynamic concepts can be ap-
plied
to
the
analysis of systems independent of underlying
mechanisms.
Furthermore, as we have seen from the work of
Ryzl discussed in Section II, it is possible to use such a channel
for error-free transmission of information if redundancy coding
is used.
(See also Appendix A.)
Therefore, experimentation
involving the collection of data under specified conditions per-
mits headway
to be made despite
the formidable work
that
needs
to
be
done
to
clarify
the
underlying
bases
of
the
phenomena.
VI. Conclusion
For the past three years we have had a program in the Elec-
tronics and Bioengineering Laboratory of SRI
to
investigate
those
facets of human perception
that appear to
fall outside
the raj£igppf-ov&Ghl«on3R^eiaseu2(H>Q/a8(/Oi8g: cQiA-l
bilities.
The primary achievement of
this program has beer
the
elicitation
of high-quality “remote viewing”-the
ability
of
both
experienced
subjects and
inexperienced
volunteer,
to
view,
by means
of innate mental processes, remote
geo-
graphical
or
technical
targets
such
as
roads,
buildings,
and
laboratory apparatus.
Our accumulated data from over fifty
experiments
with
more
than
a
half-dozen
subjects
indicate
the following,
a) The phenomenon
is not a sensitive function
of distance over a range of several kilometers,
b) Faraday cage
shielding does not appear to degrade the quality or accuracy of
perception,
c) Most of the correct information that subjects
relate
is
of
a nomnalytic nature pertaining to shape, form,
color,
and material rather than
to function or name,
(This
aspect
suggests
a
hypothesis
that information
transmission
under
conditions
of sensory shielding may be mediated
pri-
marily
by
the
brain’s
right
hemisphere.)
d) The
principal
difference
between
experienced
subjects and
inexperienced
volunteers
is not that the latter never exhibit the faculty, but
rather that their results are simply less reliable,
(This observa-
tion
suggests
the
hypothesis
that remote viewing may be
a
latent
and
widely
distributed,
though
repressed,
perceptual
ability.)
Although the precise nature of the information channel cou-
pling remote events and human perception
is not yet under-
stood,
certain
concepts
in
information
theory,
quantum
theory, and neurophysiological research appear to bear directly
on
the
issue.
As a result, the working assumption among re-
searchers
in
the
field
is that the phenomenon of interest
is
consistent with modem
scientific thought, and can therefore
be expected
to yield to
the scientific method.
Further,
it
is
recognized
that
communication
theory
provides
powerful
techniques, such as the use of redundancy coding to improve
signal-to-noise ratio, which can be employed to pursue special-
purpose application of the remote-sensing channel independent
of an understanding of the underlying mechanisms. We there-
fore consider
it important to continue data collection and to
encourage others to do likewise; investigations such as those
reported here need replication and extension under as wide a
variety of rigorously controlled conditions as possible.
Appendix A
Signal Enhancement in a Paranormal
Communication Channel by Application
of Redundancy Coding
Independent
of
the mechanisms
that may
be
involved
in
remote
sensing,
observation of the phenomenon implies the
existence
of
an
information
channel
in
the
information-
theoretic
sense.
Asjwe have seen from the work of Ryzl dis-
cussed in Section
II,f
it
is even possible to use such a (noisy)
channel
for
error-ffee
transmission
of information
if
suf-
ficient redundancy coding is used [30], [31].
Following is a
general procedure
that we have
used successfully
for signal
enhancement.
We
shall assume
ttyat the “message” consists of a stream of
binary
digits
(0,1)
^f equal probability
(e.g., binaiy
sort of
green/white cards as in RyzTs case, English text encoded as in
Table X and sent long distance by strobe light on/off, and so
on).
To combat channel noise, each binary
digit to be sent
through the channel requires the addition of redundancy bits
(coding).
Efficient coding requires a compromise between the
desire
to maximize
reliability and the desire
to minimize re-
work done by
CPYRGHT
PUTHOFF Aj
001 20001 -4
TABLE X
5-Bit Code for Alphanumeric
Characters
E
00000
Y
01000
T
mil
G
, J
10111
N
00001
W
01001
R
uno
V
10110
I
00010
B
01010
11101
10101
A
000 11
01011
s,x,z
11100
10100
D
00100
01100
H
11011
10011
L
00101
01101
C,K,Q
11010
10010
F
oo no
OHIO
P
11001
10001
U
oom
01111
M
nooo
•
10000
Note: Alphabet characters listed
in
order of decreasing frequency
in English text.
See, for example,
A.
Sinkov
[79].
(The
low-fre-
quency letters, X, Z , K, Q , and /,
have
been
grouped
with
similar
characters
to
provide
space
for
numerics
in
a
5-bit
code.)
In
consideration
of the uneven
dis-
tribution of letter frequencies
in
English
text,
this code
is chosen
such
that
and
have
equal
probability,
dundancy.
One efficient coding scheme for such a channel is
obtained by application of a sequential sampling procedure of
the type used
in production-line quality control [80].
The
adaptation of such a procedure to paranormal communication
channels,
which we now
discuss,
was
considered
first
by
Taetzsch
[8J].
The sequential method gives a rule of proce-
dure for making one of three possible decisions following the
receipt of each bit; accept
1 as the bit being transmitted; reject
as
the
bit
being
transmitted
(i.e.,
accept
0); or continue
transmission of the
bit under consideration.
The
sequential
sampling procedure
differs from
fixed-length coding
in
that
the number
of
bits
required
to
reach
a
final decision on
a
message
bit
is not
fixed before transmission, but depends on
the results accumulated with each transmission. The principal
advantage of the sequential sampling procedure as compared
with the other methods
is that, on the average, fewer bits per
final
decision
are
required
for
an
equivalent
degree
of
reliability.
Use of the sequential sampling procedure requires the speci-
fication of parameters that are determined on the basis of the
following considerations.
Assume that a message bit (0 or
1)
is being transmitted.
In the absence of a priori knowledge, we
may assume equal probability
(p = 0.5) for the two possibili-
ties (0,1).
Therefore, from the standpoint of the receiver, the
probability of correctly identifying the bit being transmitted
is
p = 0.5 because of chance alone.
An operative remote-sensing
channel
could
then
be expected
to
alter the probability of
correct identification to a value p = 0.5 +
i//, where the param-
eter
\[/
satisfies 0 < \\p\ < 0.5.
(The quantity may be positive
or
negative
depending on whether
the paranormal
channel
results in so-called psi-hitting or psi-missing.)
Good psi func-
tioning on a repetitive task has been observed to result in
\p =
0.12,
as reported by Ryzl
[31].
Therefore,
to indicate
the
design proce^pto\^da^UM"eRete»S®2OO0ie®/Q&:
= 0.1 and design a communication system on this basis.
DECISION
Accept "1"
as
the
Bit
Being
Transmitted
^"'DECISION 3^
Continue
fransmission^'''^
DECISION
Accept
"0"
as
^
the
Bit
Being
Transmitted
NUMBER OF TRIALS
Fig. 18, Enhancement
of signal-to-noise
ratio by sequential sampling
procedure (p 0 = 0.4, p x = 0.6, a = 0.01,/? = 0.01).
The
question
to
be
addressed
is
whether,
after
repeated
transmission, a given message bit
is labeled a “1” at a low rate
Po commensurate with the hypothesis H0 that the bit in ques-
tion
is
a “0,” or
at
a higher rate p x commensurate with the
hypothesis H x
that
the
bit in question
is indeed a “1.”
The
decision-making
process
requires
the
specification
of
four
parameters.
/?o
The probability of labeling incorrectly a “O’
1 message bit
as a “1.”
The probability of labeling correctly a “0” as
a “0”
is p = 0.5 + \pb
as 0.6.
Therefore, the probability
of labeling incorrectly a “0” as a “1” is
1 - p = 0.4 = p 0
.
Pi
The probability of labeling correctly a “1” message bit
as a “1,” is given by p x = 0.5 +
\jj b = 0.6.
a
The probability of rejecting a correct identification for
a “0” (Type
I error). We shall take a - 0.01.
The probability of accepting an incorrect identification
for a “1” (Type II error). We shall take 0 = 0.01.
With
the parameters thus specified, the sequential sampling
procedure provides
for construction
of
a
decision
graph
as
shown in Fig.
1 8.
The equations for the upper and lower limit
lines are
Z, =<*1 +SN
Z 0 =-tfo +SAT
where
log £ii^£iL
Po
1 “ Pi
I - a
108~
Pi
1 ~ Po
’P o
1 ~ Pi
,
Pi
1 - Po
log—
Po
1 - Pi
generated responses to the
target
bit
is compiled until either