1 MARCH 1984
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SRI
STUDIES
IN REMOTE
VIEWING:
A PROGRAM REVIEW
For the
past eleven years,
a
small
group
headed by Dr.
H.
Puthoff
has
sought evidence
that would support
the case
for extrasensory perception.
In
recent years,
the
focus
of these
studies
has centered on
"remote
viewing"
by
subjects claiming
to visualize
the
scene
at
a
point beyond
the
field
of vision,
and
in many cases,
in
a
remote part of the world, typically not
known
to them
by actual
experience.
The
implication of success
in remote viewing,
if
it
exists, are revolutionary;
since
as described to
the
review team,
it
is mani-
festly incompatible with currently accepted scientific
principles.
Remote
view-
ing
of future events--"precognition"—evidently violates
causality;
real
time
remote viewing clearly requires
a
transmission mechanism other than any
known
process:
electromagnetic,
gravitational,
etc.
The
lack of
a physical
model
should not
be
taken
to preclude
the existence
of
the capability
to view
a
remote
location.
However,
this circumstance
has
thus
far limited application of the classic methods
of scientific
investiga-
tion to less cogent issues,
such
as controls for inadvertent cueing,
statistical
evaluation of the incidence of positive findings, estimation of false-positive
and false-negative responses, and
in particular,
the design of experiments
that
would limit
as
far as possible
intrusion
of extraneous
factors relating
to
personal
interaction and observer biases.
The evidence shown
to us
is
too impressive
to dismiss
as mere coincidence.
Certain similarities between
the
SRI
and Princeton
results, obtained
in very
different circumstances
by unrelated
investigators,
are particularly compelling.
The Princeton work
is
somewhat more quantitative
than
that
at
SRI
and
leads
to
an estimate by Dr.
R.
Jahn
that
the
phenomena
he
has observed could
be
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explained by
a
transfer of information above noise
at
a
level
of about one
bit
per thousand.
This
of course raises
the question of how much
information
is
required
to construct the impressions
gained by remote viewing ,
a question
which the investigators cannot presently answer.
Therefore,
the
review team
feels
that remote
viewing
is either
real
or due
to
some
sort of experimental
interference
from one or some of
the
participants;
something one might describe
as "inadvertent
cueing.'*
Although,
on
the basis
of our brief exposure
to
the
SRI program,
we
found no obvious evidence of cueing or collusion between
the
viewer and the experiment monitors.
The briefings strongly emphasized
the
investigator’s ability to train
others
in their techniques.
This
training program has developed over the
past
five years through
the dedicated participation
of
Hr.
Ingo Swann.
His diverse
talents have
been devoted
to self-training which
he now feels competent
to
impart
to others.
Approximately
a dozen trainees
have completed instruction
to
various levels
of claimed competence.
An
important aspect
of Swann’s
contribu-
tions
relates
to
his dissection of separate elements
in
the
perceptual
process.
Under
his guidance,
the technique centers around
the
use of
a coordinate method
to describe
the
remote location, expressed
in degrees of latitude
and longitude.
It
is
here that any attempt at
a
rational
understanding of the perceptual
process
is lost.
Since the significance of the coordinates
so expressed
is
unknown
to the viewer
in most instances,
it
is
impossible
to understand why
such
a method
should be translated
in
the
viewing process into
a
precise delin-
eation of geographic characteristics
of
the
target
site.
The arbitrariness
of
this approach
has
not escaped
the
investigators,
but repeated attempts
to
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elicit
a
rational
basis for this
procedure,
or to secure definitive
informa-
tion about possible success or failures
with other methods
that
they may have
tried, were uniformly unsuccessful.
The investigators’
attitude was that
since
they had found the coordinate method
to work,
they were not disposed
to query
the mechanistic
basis of
its applications,
nor
to seek
an appraisal
of other
potentially successful methods.
Hr.
Swann
has distinguished
three
phases
in his subjective interpretation
of his viewing capabilities.
The
Initial
percept appears
very rapidly with
a
latency stated
to be as short as
1/50 of
a
second.
Thereafter,
for
a period
that may persist for several minutes,
increasing detail may be added.
There-
after, and only after as much material
has been added to the
Initial
percept
as
possible,
is
the subject encouraged
to examine
his
subjective
image
in
a
crit-
ical
way, or
to make syntheses or judgments about the significance of the
perceived material.
Swann pointed out that intrusion of
a judgmental
or
inter-
pretive attitude
too early
in the
building of
the percept was
generally
destructive,
and to be discouraged
in
the course of training
others.
8 considerable variety of material
was presented with photographic
backup
in support of the validity of the
perceptual
method.
Much
of
this was highly
impressive.
The data showed the effects of training on the success
rate,
which typically reached a sustained plateau at
a
level
higher than
prior
to
training,
both for groups of subjects as well
as
for individual
trainees.
What then may be anticipated
if
the program
is continued?
In
the absence
of a physical model
for the perceptual
process,
no predictions
are possible
about higher success
rates
in larger groups
of viewers concentrating on
the
same target,
nor about the effect on success
rates
to be expected
if
the
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technique were extended to those with special
intellectual
abilities or
professional
backgrounds.
Exploration of the phenomenon should not be restricted
to specific
applications.
Rather,
remote viewing should
be studied
as
a
scientific
research program aimed
at establishing the existence or non-existence of
the
phenomenon.
In
this way,
a comprehensive and credible evaluation of the
phenomenon should
be available from continuing effort over the
next
five
to ten years.
The potential
impact of this phenomenon
is clearly profound.
Therefore,
a mandatory requirement would be the existence of
independent
but
related programs conducted by others, with the
free exchange of techniques
and results.
Only through independent reproducibility can
a
phenomenon
so
unconventional
ever become accepted.
It
is our conclusion that
Dr.
Puthoff's team warrants cautious continued
fiscal
support,
and that the
research should
be conducted
as much
as possible
in
an open unclassified mode
so that
its reproducibility and accuracy can
be
independently verified by others.
W.
ROSS ADEY
DONALD
t
M.
KER
F.
ZACHARIASEN~3^
1 March 4984
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