Psi Research, Human Consciousness, and Noosphere

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The Margins of Reality, the Global Consciousness Project and the Noopshere

In the 1990′s researchers at Princeton launched the PEAR (The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research ) program to investigate the role of consciousness in the physical universe. The book that resulted from this research, The Margins of Reality, presents statistical data backing up the idea that the intentions of a human observer can affect random numbers. In other words, because of the presence of a human systems that should be behaving randomly stop behaving randomly and actually become ordered. This research evolved into The Global Consciousness Project, which uses random number generators–on days such as 9/11, the dates of celebrity deaths, and in general on days when certain events will attract the attention of millions of people–to document the effects of large scale human consciousness on random systems. The Project goes further to propose a global mind, a conjoined force of matter, energy, and consciousness, that some refer to as the noosphere.

INSCOM, Project Stargate, and Remote Viewing

If you’ve seen the movie The Men Who Stare At Goats or watched any number of conspiracy documentaries about covert government research projects you might be familiar with the concept of paranormal military programs. There is, in fact, a very real track record of the U.S military testing remote viewing and telepathy on civilians and for use as interrogation techniques in the War on Terror. One of the most documented of these programs was called Project Stargate, which lasted from the early 70′s to the mid-90′s. Project Stargate experimented with clairvoyance, out-of-body experiences, and remote viewing in order to gather military intelligence and assist with covert missions.

Retroactive Precognition

In January of 2011 Dr. Daryl J. Bem of Cornell University wrote a controversial paper called “Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect” in which he described a series experiments he conducted seeking to prove precognition. More specifically, Bem presented evidence that future events can affect present cognition. Working off the premise that there are “anomalous processes of information or energy transfer that are currently unexplained in terms of known physical or biological mechanisms”, Bem tested 1,000 college students for their ability to correctly intuit random information. In one study, Bem conducted a reverse memory test, having his subjects categorize random words that they would later commit to memory. Bem’s results showed that the students were more likely to recall words in the present if they later memorized them.

Ganzfeld tests

Ganzfield tests are parapsychology techniques which are used to test people for ESP powers. They typically involve various levels of sensory deprivation. For example, a normal Ganzfield test might feature a subject, the ‘receiver’, sitting in a chair with halved ping pong balls over his/her eyes and red light shining over them while listening to white or pink noise on headphones. Meanwhile the ‘sender’, another person in a separate location, chooses a concept, a picture, an idea, etc., and attempts to transmit that target into the mind of the ‘receiver’. During this session, the receiver speaks out loud, describing what he or she sees. With the incorporation of more contemporary tools, such as automated computer systems, researchers who use the ganzfield method continue to report statistically significant paranormal anomalies.

-Jake Anderson