Science And The Paranormal

Transcription

Science and theParanormalWilliam E. StoneyParapsychology (Micro-PSI), The MindBody ProblemAn OLLI Eight Week Course3/18/13 to 5 /6/13 Lecture 1

Please fill out the following. It will help me understand how better to meet your needs inthis course. I will not share it with anyone else.Your name or pick a number.Paranormal experienceI, or someone I know, have:(0 no, 1 I have, 2 friend has)seen apparitions (ghosts)had a Near Death Experience (NDE)had an Out of Body Experience (OBE)had verified precognitive dreams or waking intuitionshad “successful” Ouija board experienceshad “successful” readings by a psychic or mediumhad telepathic communicationsbeen healed by paranormal means, prayer, therapeutic touch, healing servicesseen a UFOhad other inexplicable (paranormal) experiencesKnowledge of and attitude toward the paranormalHave your read or heard about and how strongly do you believe in the reality of(0 have not heard of or no opinion 1 believe strongly, to 5 totally skeptical of)ApparitionsP r e c ognitionT e lepathyClairvoyancePsychokinesisP s ychometrySpoon bendingNDEOBER e mote viewingPsychic spyingDowsingEctoplasmTable tiltingCommunication with the deadElectronic voice phenomena (EVP)P a s t life memoriesUFO

Course OutlineLecture 1Parapsychology (Micro-PSI), The Mind-BodyProblemLecture 2Macro PSI (Remote Viewing, Dowsing, TableLevitation, Spoon Bending,)Lecture 3UFO’sLecture 4Spontaneous Afterlife Data (NDE, DeathbedVisions, Children’s Past Life Memories)Lecture 5Spontaneous Afterlife Data (Dreams,Apparitions, Ghosts, Angels, Poltergeists)Lecture 6Sought Afterlife Data, (Ouija Board, TableTilting/Rapping, etc)Lecture 7Sought Afterlife Data (Mental Mediums)Lecture 8Sought Afterlife Data (Physical Mediums)& Summary Remarks

My BackgroundProfessional, 5 decades as an aerospaceengineer, in & for NASA (Apollo)Parapsychology, 4 decades and counting– Collected over 1100 books on the subject– Member of Parapsychological Association British and American Societies for PsychicResearch The Parapsychological Foundation Academy of Spiritual and ConsciousnessStudies The Noetic Foundation The Rhine Center International Association of Near DeathStudies The Society of Scientific Exploration The Forever Family Foundation The Association for Evaluation andCommunication of Evidence for Survival– www.aeces.info

My Objectives To discuss the history and content ofthe enormous body of “scientificallycollected” data that the scientificcommunity ignores or denies butthat seems to present us withobjective “proof” that we :– Have mental and physical capabilitiesour Science does not understand PK, ESP, Precognition, Remote Viewing,OBE, Remote Healing, Psychometry,Dowsing– Should intellectually believe in theafterlife NDE, ADC, Medium Communications To get your reactions to these data– What should we believe about them?– Should we care about them?– Should they be widely promulgated?

Why do we believe?What convinces us?Information from Personal experiences– Parents, Church, School, FriendsScience says so– In school, articles, booksReading–– Newspapers, MagazinesNovels, Biographies, HistoryTalk Radio (NPR, Rush Limbaugh)TV News ( Fox, The Daily Show)Internet Wikipedia!!The GovernmentFamous people say itEveryone says itGut Feelings : It just makes sense

Famous People’s QuotesWilliam James"How often has "Science" killed off allspook philosophy, laid ghosts andraps and "telepathy" awayunderground as so much populardelusion", and yet, "The phenomenaare there lying broadcast over thesurface of history."Immanuel Kant“Ghost stories are always listened toand well received in private, butpitilessly disavowed in public. Formy own part, ignorant as I am ofthe way in which the human spiritenters the world and the way inwhich he goes out of it, I dare notdeny the truth of many suchnarratives.”

SkepticismSkepticism is required in all mattersreported by humans. Ask– Police, Lawyers and PsychologistsSeeing is not always a good reason forbelieving i.e. delirium tremens &hypnotismHowever much of the “academic”criticism of the paranormal is basedon a rigid belief that everything realcan be explained by physicalprocesses. Any claims that cannot are:––––FraudulentReports by naïve uninformed personsMemories distorted by wishful thinkingAnd all afterlife evidence can beexplained by Super PSI

Science is the best process everdeveloped to understand the worldData collection to define the existenceand scope of the phenomena– Data collected, recorded and checked ina self consistent, objective process– Data analyzed for statisticallysignificant similarities, differences, andpatterns.Laboratory testing to reproduce andanalyze the phenomena– Identify and control all variables– Results to be replicated by othersTheorizing– Construction of explanatory laws thathave control and predictive capabilityThe social process– Done by Ph.Ds in an academicinstitution– Results published in refereed scientificjournals.

ParapsychologyThe scientific study of the paranormalParapsychology is divided into– Extrasensory perception(ESP) Telepathy (mind to mind) Clairvoyance (mind to matter) Precognition (mind to thefuture) Postcognition (mind to thepast)– Psychokinesis (PK) (mindcontrol of matter)– Survival Evidence (mind tospirit)

ParapsychologyTelepathy/Clairvoyance European scientists started making ESPtests in the 1880s Dr. J. B. Rhine at Duke Universitycarried out extensive card guessing testsin the 1930s– Between 1880 & 1940 , 145 ESP studieswere published using 77,796 subjects whomade 4,918,186 single trial guesses.– In 106 of these studies the results exceededchance expectations.– He used the Zenner cards The Pierce -Pratt Series– 1850 guesses, 370 hits equal chance– 558 actual hits for a probability of chanceof less than one in a hundred million

ParapsychologyTelepathy/ClairvoyanceSome interesting details Male students guessed better whenthe cards had sexually arousingpictures on them A female psychotherapy patientmade above average selections ofcards that had words that were of apleasant nature and made belowaverage selections for traumaticallyworded cards. (psi missing)

ParapsychologyTelepathy/Clairvoyance Unconscious ESP– Dr. Dean (St Joseph’s College) and Dr.Tart (Univ. Cal )– Lie detectors showed that subjectsreacted unconsciously to emotionallyloaded messages sent by an agent inanother room– Later tests showed unconsciousreactions prior to selection of thetargets Dream Telepathy– Dr. Stanley Krippner at MaimondesHospital Brooklyn N.Y.– Dreaming subjects reported dreamsrelating to target pictures concentratedon by a sender. They selected the target picture well beyondchance probabilities

ParapsychologyTelepathy/Clairvoyance Drawing tests

ParapsychologyTelepathy/ClairvoyanceSinclair and Mary Craig Lewis After sittings with a psychic, Mrs.Lewis trained herself to get into arelaxed state in which she wasable to see the hidden drawing shewas given. Over several years they carefullyrecorded 290 drawing sessions 65 (23%) were judged totallysuccessful 155 (53%) partially successful 70 (24%) were failures

ParapsychologyTelepathy/ClairvoyanceSinclair and Mary Craig Lewis

ParapsychologyTelepathy/ClairvoyanceSinclair and Mary Craig Lewis The scientists of the day reacted verystrongly against the book, so much sothat Einstein felt called upon tovigorously defend it. I HAVE READ THE BOOK of UptonSinclair The results of the telepathicexperiments carefully and plainly setforth in this book stand surely farbeyond those which a natureinvestigator holds to be thinkable. Onthe other hand, it is out of thequestion in the case of soconscientious an observer andwriter as Upton Sinclair that he iscarrying on a conscious deception ofthe reading world; his good faith anddependability are not to be doubted.In no case should the psychologicallyinterested circles pass over this bookheedlessly.[signed] A. EinsteinMay23, 1930

ParapsychologyDrawing tests

ParapsychologyDrawing tests

ParapsychologyTelepathy/Clairvoyance Drawing testsUri Geller

ParapsychologyTelepathy/Clairvoyance Ganzfield tests

ParapsychologyPrecognition Pearce test, subject got up to 50% abovechance levels guessing the order ofcards in a pack before it had beenshuffled Honorton & Ferrari meta analysis offorce choice precognition tests between1935 & 1987– 309 studies by 62 investigators– 2 million individual trials by 50,000subjects– Results were unlikely by chance to theorder of 10 to the minus 25 Brenda Dunne at Princeton’s PEAR Lab– 336 trials of subject pre-selecting thelocation to which an experimenter will besent– Results are unlikely by chance to the orderof 10 to the minus 10

ParapsychologyPostcognitionHypnotic Past Life Regression The Bridey Murphy problem– An amateur hypnotist published (1956) a book describingthe memories of his American subject as a 19th centuryIrish woman causing a long and still unresolved publicdiscussion on past lives. In 1980 a hypnotized patient of Dr. Brian Weiss begandiscussing past life experiences.– Convinced because her stories were confirmed byavailable records Dr. Weiss now recommends using pastlife regression to treat patients In the 1970s Helen Wambach, Ph.D. psychologistregressed over 1000 people to past lives ranging from2000 BC to the 1900s – By asking them to describe their clothing, foot wear,food, and eating utensils she was able to construct graphsof their statements and compare them with the historicalrecords for the time of their regressed life.– This is probably the best hard evidence for the reality ofpast life regressions, but it is not often referenced inacademic discussions

Hypnotic past life regression

Hypnotic past life regression

ParapsychologyPsychokinesis (PK)Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) LAB.

ParapsychologyPsychokinesis (PK)Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) LAB.

ParapsychologySome conclusions Parapsychology has found byrigorous tests that minds can havenon physical information transfers–––––With Other Minds,From Matter,From the FutureFrom the PastAnd can control matter This changes our basic theoriesabout ourselves and our universe– It proves that our minds are notthe creation of our physical brains

The Mind/Brain Issue “The Irreducible Mind” “Toward A PsychologyFor The 21st Century” (2007)by Edward andEmily Kelly et al from the University of Virginia– “Current mainstream scientific opinion holds thatall aspects of human mind and consciousnessare generated by physical processes occurringin brains. The present volume demonstrates empirically that this reductivematerialism is not only incomplete but false” William James’ “transmission”mind/brain theory.– The brain acts like a multi-channeled TV that isnormally set on the five sense channels but canin some people, some of the time, accesschannels that provide information from nonsensory sources to our non-materialconsciousness/mind.

Parapsychology Parapsychology was inducted into theAAAS in 1969 as a “real” science.– This was an acknowledgment of the scientificcredibility of the work started by Dr. J. B.Rhine at Duke University in the 1930s– It was a very controversial decision– The data are mostly ignored by academicpsychology A survey of over 1100 college Profs– Is ESP a fact or a likely possibility?– Yes 55% natural scientists66 % social scientists,77% Arts academics34% psychologists75% General population

Parapsychology We can end with the good news of twonew books summarizing the results oftwo researchers lifetime of research inparapsychology Charles T. Tart, Ph.D. “The End ofMaterialism, How Evidence of theParanormal is bringing Science andSpirit Together” Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D. “A NewScience of the Paranormal, ThePromise of Psychical Research” Both announce that the reality of theparanormal destroys the concept ofmaterialism Read both but pick LeShan first, itsshorter and more fun

Past life memories UFO . Course Outline Lecture 1 Parapsychology (Micro-PSI), The Mind-Body Problem Lecture 2 Macro PSI (Remote Viewing, Dowsing, Table Levitation, Spoon Bending,) Lecture 3 UFO’s Lecture 4 Spontaneous Afterlife Data (NDE, Deathbed Visions, Children’s Past Life Memories) Lecture