"So what would a more optimal testing environment look like? Is there any test that would quiet the skeptics? The answer, unfortunately, is probably not."
I do agree that people are attracted to TTT etc because materialism is not satisfying to people. I think, in our current atmosphere of political chaos, people also want something magical that offers a hope beyond what we can imagine from material solutions.
And while I'm not skeptical about a transcendent quality of consciousness/reality (I, too, have had unexplainable experiences), you hardly have to be "a skeptic" to be reasonably confident that the TTT recorded "tests" are bunk on their face. And an "optimal testing environment" would be extremely easy to achieve:
- Make sure Akhil cannot see or hear his mother when she "sends" him messages.
- Same with Mia -- and don't let her mother literally shove her head in the direction of the correct popsicle stick.
- And for the kids who are using spelling boards, put the boards on stationary stands so that facilitators can't put them in various positions or move them around while the kids are choosing letters.
These are not difficult nor unreasonable protocols, and they would quickly negate the seemingly obvious explanations of how physical communication, not psychic, is taking place between the kids and facilitators.
The easy cope is to say "no, no, even if we do that it won't be enough." Or as others say, "but the telepathy depends on vibrational energy that would be lost under these conditions."
I believe this is because people think in terms of abstract association and tribalism. They associate these wonderful kids with something magical and hopeful, or with their existing beliefs about spirituality/consciousness. To deny the reality of the kids' psychic phenomena is to deny (or threaten) something much more, which people naturally resist.
And anyone who calls for alternative explanations? They are enemies of the believers' deeply held beliefs and feelings, and need to be written off. The easy way to do that is to categorically claim they're all just stubborn materialist reactionaries who could never believe in anything paranormal in the first place -- so don't bother with them.
Meanwhile -- no one gives af about the kids, really. No one cares that they might be exploited, that these exploitations might lead to more kids getting exploited. That other parents will sink hours and emotions into some project to get their own autistic children connected to the "field", only to be disappointed when it doesn't work. "I guess my child isn't special like those others."
It's disturbing on multiple levels. Especially when you scale this out. Next it will be "conscious" A.I. with psychic powers. And all along, people will be increasingly conditioned to simply brush away any skepticism. It creates a breeding ground for cults, paranoia, delusion -- all in a time when people are going to be increasingly looking for some kind of religious or spiritual truth to offer stability in an increasingly chaotic world.
And its a shame because the religious/spiritual impulse is important and valid. And there are ways for spirituality to be held without needing to turn a blind eye to critical thinking and the wellbeing of children. But here we are. Because our culture has nothing better to offer.
You raise a lot of important points, but I'll stick to the opening one for now:
The protocol improvements you describe would be obvious and should happen if they want this to be more than a flash in the pan. And to a certain extent it is a cope to say it'll never be enough.
But seeing the wholesale rejection of the ganzfeld experiments and the government remote viewing experiments, even though both showed statistical significance and large effect sizes, greater than chance, tells you something about how ideological skeptics have become.
And that's before you even get into the psi paradox.
I’ve had two dogs that were definitely psychic. They were both able to read my mind. Doubters claimed I was giving them signals but if that were the case the signals were totally unconscious on my part, and the circumstances were not conducive to signals of any kind.
This is brilliant! One thing to ponder. There’s LH autism which lacks the ability to read cues. Then there may be an opposite RH autism. Which is very low LH language and latency but full contact with “the field.”
That's fascinating. I wonder if Iain McGilchrist has talked about autism (I know you've spent a good deal time of time thinking about his work). On my list of authors to do a deep dive on.
You packed a lot into this article – great and important overview, Tom!
And I didn’t know about this: "To be clear, replicability isn’t unique to psi research. The replication crisis of the last two decades has shown issues across the social and applied sciences, including psychology, medicine, nutrition, economics, and water resource management. In 2016, Nature magazine asked over 1,576 scientists for their thoughts. Over 70% said they failed to reproduce another group’s experiments." Fascinating.
I’m one of the people that can’t get enough - my hunger for possibilities beyond strict materialism is undeniable!!! It’s so hopeful. I just heard Veda Austin speak in Bend, OR last weekend about the discovery of a potential
Light language in water crystals that she is working with the autists to help decode. So so full of possibilities and tools/wisdom for raising human consciousness. I want to be apart of this human evolution.
"So what would a more optimal testing environment look like? Is there any test that would quiet the skeptics? The answer, unfortunately, is probably not."
I do agree that people are attracted to TTT etc because materialism is not satisfying to people. I think, in our current atmosphere of political chaos, people also want something magical that offers a hope beyond what we can imagine from material solutions.
And while I'm not skeptical about a transcendent quality of consciousness/reality (I, too, have had unexplainable experiences), you hardly have to be "a skeptic" to be reasonably confident that the TTT recorded "tests" are bunk on their face. And an "optimal testing environment" would be extremely easy to achieve:
- Make sure Akhil cannot see or hear his mother when she "sends" him messages.
- Same with Mia -- and don't let her mother literally shove her head in the direction of the correct popsicle stick.
- And for the kids who are using spelling boards, put the boards on stationary stands so that facilitators can't put them in various positions or move them around while the kids are choosing letters.
These are not difficult nor unreasonable protocols, and they would quickly negate the seemingly obvious explanations of how physical communication, not psychic, is taking place between the kids and facilitators.
The easy cope is to say "no, no, even if we do that it won't be enough." Or as others say, "but the telepathy depends on vibrational energy that would be lost under these conditions."
I believe this is because people think in terms of abstract association and tribalism. They associate these wonderful kids with something magical and hopeful, or with their existing beliefs about spirituality/consciousness. To deny the reality of the kids' psychic phenomena is to deny (or threaten) something much more, which people naturally resist.
And anyone who calls for alternative explanations? They are enemies of the believers' deeply held beliefs and feelings, and need to be written off. The easy way to do that is to categorically claim they're all just stubborn materialist reactionaries who could never believe in anything paranormal in the first place -- so don't bother with them.
Meanwhile -- no one gives af about the kids, really. No one cares that they might be exploited, that these exploitations might lead to more kids getting exploited. That other parents will sink hours and emotions into some project to get their own autistic children connected to the "field", only to be disappointed when it doesn't work. "I guess my child isn't special like those others."
It's disturbing on multiple levels. Especially when you scale this out. Next it will be "conscious" A.I. with psychic powers. And all along, people will be increasingly conditioned to simply brush away any skepticism. It creates a breeding ground for cults, paranoia, delusion -- all in a time when people are going to be increasingly looking for some kind of religious or spiritual truth to offer stability in an increasingly chaotic world.
And its a shame because the religious/spiritual impulse is important and valid. And there are ways for spirituality to be held without needing to turn a blind eye to critical thinking and the wellbeing of children. But here we are. Because our culture has nothing better to offer.
You raise a lot of important points, but I'll stick to the opening one for now:
The protocol improvements you describe would be obvious and should happen if they want this to be more than a flash in the pan. And to a certain extent it is a cope to say it'll never be enough.
But seeing the wholesale rejection of the ganzfeld experiments and the government remote viewing experiments, even though both showed statistical significance and large effect sizes, greater than chance, tells you something about how ideological skeptics have become.
And that's before you even get into the psi paradox.
I’ve had two dogs that were definitely psychic. They were both able to read my mind. Doubters claimed I was giving them signals but if that were the case the signals were totally unconscious on my part, and the circumstances were not conducive to signals of any kind.
Thanks for the note, Miriam. Many unexplained phenomena. If you heard Rupert Sheldrake's experiments with seemingly telepathic dogs on the Telepathy Tapes podcast, here is his paper. Worth reading yourself to see if it's interesting or matches what you've experienced: https://www.sheldrake.org/files/pdfs/papers/A-Dog-That-Seems-To-Know-When-His-Owner-is-Coming-Home_Videotaped-Experiments-and-Observations.pdf
This is brilliant! One thing to ponder. There’s LH autism which lacks the ability to read cues. Then there may be an opposite RH autism. Which is very low LH language and latency but full contact with “the field.”
That's fascinating. I wonder if Iain McGilchrist has talked about autism (I know you've spent a good deal time of time thinking about his work). On my list of authors to do a deep dive on.
I asked Iain about this in person last week. You can hear his answer at the end of @Alexander Beiner’s Kainos interview.
You packed a lot into this article – great and important overview, Tom!
And I didn’t know about this: "To be clear, replicability isn’t unique to psi research. The replication crisis of the last two decades has shown issues across the social and applied sciences, including psychology, medicine, nutrition, economics, and water resource management. In 2016, Nature magazine asked over 1,576 scientists for their thoughts. Over 70% said they failed to reproduce another group’s experiments." Fascinating.
Thank you, Brigitte. There were many shocking parts to this story but the replication crisis in particular is mind boggling.
I’m one of the people that can’t get enough - my hunger for possibilities beyond strict materialism is undeniable!!! It’s so hopeful. I just heard Veda Austin speak in Bend, OR last weekend about the discovery of a potential
Light language in water crystals that she is working with the autists to help decode. So so full of possibilities and tools/wisdom for raising human consciousness. I want to be apart of this human evolution.