PR_Princeton_92.html

SOCIETY FOR SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION PRESS RELEASE Embargoed until December 15, 1992 CONTACT: Marsha Sims, Executive Editor, Journal of Scientific Exploration Princeton University Mind-Matter Experiments Reported Stanford, CA, December 15, 1992 --- An article published today in the Stanford-based Journal of Scientific Exploration (Vol. 6, No. 4), published by the Society for Scientific Exploration, reports on experiments carried out at Princeton University to investigate the possibility that the human mind can influence random number devices in a way that can be measured in a laboratory. Prof. Robert Jahn, an engineer and former dean in the Princeton School of Engineering, and Brenda Dunne, also of Princeton, released a detailed report based on nearly half a million experimental trials carried out by Jahn, Dunne, and coworkers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory. The tests demonstrate an extremely minute, but statistically measureable, ability of the mind to skew the output of electronic number generators and other devices. As Brenda Dunne puts it, "Gamblers throughout history have believed that they could affect the outcome of a random process like rolling dice or shuffling cards. The phenomenon we're measuring is a lot more subtle, but it's the same idea and we've measured it in the laboratory." Volunteer experimenters taking part in the PEAR experiments sit in a relaxed environment and concentrate their attention on an electronic device designed to generate purely random sequences of numbers, in effect an electronic roll of the dice. The task of the volunteers is to "coax" the machine into yielding larger than average or smaller than average numbers. The volunteers declare their intent ahead of time, high or low, and then begin the experiment. And to rule out possible disturbances in the equipment the experimenters sometimes make a null intent, that is, state in advance that they will "coax" the machine to do exactly what a random machine should, going above and below a mean an approximately equal number of times, yielding a so-called baseline.for comparison. The key to the success of the Princeton group lies in the computerization of the experiment. By using fast electronic devices automatically recording the results directly into a computer, thousands of microchip dice rolls can be recorded in an hour or two. As this is going on, the computer displays the up or down trends to the experimenter as a form of feedback. This gives the experimenter a way to concentrate on influencing the machine. The deviations achieved in any given run are practically immeasurable but the results of half a million test runs show an unmistakable signature of an effect the researchers attribute to human consciousness. Detailed mathematical analysis suggests that a minute perturbation of the "elementary binary probability" is involved, as if the mind were ever so slightly nudging the electronic dice in the desired direction. An even more puzzling result of the experiments is that the effect can be produced even if the experimenter is several thousand miles away from the random device, and perhaps even over significant intervals of time. In the most extreme case an experimenter in Europe on Monday might concentrate on producing the effect, but the actual measurements on the device are, by prior agreement, not carried out until Friday in Princeton. Speculating on the phenomenon Jahn states, "All forces known to physics, like gravity for example, diminish with distance. And no forces in physics operate freely across time like this. It's as if consciousness is somehow able to direct its influence directly across space and time, and understanding that certainly poses a challenge for science." And Dunne adds: "This is similar to what mystics have claimed through the ages, but now we have scientific evidence." Are there any practical results from such miniscule influences?.. Maybe. With computers and microchips controlling the operation of everything from automobile engines to the newest passenger jets, the intrusion of consciousness at microscopic levels, whether deliberate or unintentional could have very real consequences. As Jahn puts it: "It's something science cannot afford to simply ignore any longer. And besides, it's such an exciting challenge to our whole way of thinking about the physical world." ###