Approved For Release 2003/09/16 CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0500240025-6
Scieatists Look at Psyt.'@-dU Au Icy
y
RUSSELL T A @R6 I
a ta d
HAROLD E. PUTNOFF
fntroductio@' .1y MARGARET MEAD
I I ral A PA G A
Foreword MICHADID-PSACII.-
DELACORTE PRESS /ELEANOR FRIEDE
Approved For Release 2003/09/16 CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0500240025-6
BY
MARGARET MEAD
This book is a clear, straightforward account of a set of successful
experiments that demonstrate the existence of "remote viewing," a
bitberto unvalidated human capacity. 'flic conventional and time-
honored canons of the laboratory have been observed, aided by our
current repertoire of instrumentation, Faraday shielding, specifically
generated sets of random numbers, and cathode rays. People-both
inexperienced learners as well as those who have previously demon-
strated psychic proficiency-have been used as subjects successfully.
It is a perfectly regula@ and normal piece of scientific work, as is the
study of conimunication among bees, the luminescence of fireflies,
the way in which frogs discriminate between the sexes, or the sci-
entific study of any new biological phenomena.
Contemporary quantum physics, specific qualities of electromag-
netic fields, and advances in brain research not only have deter-
mined the experimental methods, but have contributed to the
tentative explanations advanced in this book as to bow this newly
observed ability might operate. As all work following the canons of
science must be, the experiments are presented in a form that can
be inspected and replicated under the same conditions, and further
tested by altering various experimental parameters.
The claimed results are narrow but clear. The particular set of
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$8.95
Introduction
human beings studied have been able to produce formal drawings
on paper approximating some distant spatial target mediated only
by the independent designation of the target and the concentration
and attention of the subject.
In terms of the ordinary type of painstaking procedures of the
scientific method, we should now be well launched into a new era
of exploring aspects of the human mind, with which scientists previ-
ously have bad difficulty in dealing. There have been other thor-
oughly creditable, conventionally structured experiments before.
But these ba ve not received the kind of acceptance normally given
,within what scientists feel is a wholly rational, totally trustworthy
scientific community. In fact, I think it may be fair to say that as
the experimental methods to investigate so-called psychic powers
have improved, so have the violence of controversy the proclama-
tions of disbeliefi and the accusations of either C'O'nSCIOus or un-
conscious fraud.
These particular experiments do start with several advantages:
they come out of physics, popularly believed to be the hardest of
the bard sciences; they come out of a respected laboratory; and they
do not appear to be the work of true believers who set out to use
science to validate passionately held beliefs. Tremendous efforts
have been used which far outstrip the normal procedures to guaran-
tee scientific credibility. Perhaps this in itself may make them less
easily accepted. For scientists on the whole take each other's word
for most of their experiments, and only present their data in com-
pletely accessible form when others have failed to replicate their
experiments, seldom distrusting the carefulness and honesty of
their colleagues.
We may well ask why it is necessary, in studies of this kind, to
have at least twice as manN safeguards and artificial substitutes for
integrity as those usually de'manded. Why does the psychic research
worker, following ordinary rules, have to anticipate more hurdles
than research workers in other controversial fields-such as the
study of the inheritance of acquired characters, the existence of ei
detic imagery, mind/body relationships postulated for somatotypic
s
studies, or the finding of psychoanalysis. In all of these fields, those
who claimed new results have been subjected to enormous academic
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AN
Introduction
_punishment. They have been tempted to distort or suppress their
data. Many have become unscientifically dogmatic and stubborn ad-
vocates of their positions. And, occasionally, some have been driven
into exile, or even into desperate situations involving suicide, misery,
and death.
The scientific world and the literate public have been fully ex-
posed to the intricacies of disputes involving scientific theories so
dogmatic as to resemble religious beliefs. Among other topics, they
have been treated to diatribes on the impossibility of transmitting
acquired characters and to the inextricable associations made be-
tween some scientific claim and the sociological platforms of com-
munism, capitalism, fascism, or racism. We have read Double Helix,
the accounts of Lysenko, Tempter by Norbert Wiener, and most
recently the story of Bill Surnmerlin in June Goodfield's The Siege
of Cancer. We have even read of the early use of the microscope to
find miniature horses in horse sperm.
Psychic researchers do, I think, sometimes forget that they are
not the only research workers. who are subjected to harassment,
misquotation, and unfair attack when they challenge old theories
and propose new ones. Yet when we examine the history of the last
hundred years, in which careful experimentation has been
continuously misrepresented and denied, we find many recog-
nized scientists insisting that psychic research should be endlessly
repeated because it is not a "recognized area of scientific research."
As one person quoted in this manuscript said, "This is the kind of
thing that I would not believe in even if it existed." We can easily
conclude that this is indeed an area of scientific research more
fraught with irrational opposition than most, althoughhardly more
C@`subject to attack than, for example, psychoanalysis.
There are, I think, a series of historical reasons for this. It would
ore some of the
:be valuable for the open-minded reader to expl
historical and cross-cultural backgrounds of psi capacity. It seems to
be a very unevenly distributed ability, overtly manifested by only a
connection is made between
few individuals. In most societies, no
'@...Ahese very special unique "sensitives" and the rest of the popula-
tion. Sometimes, in other societies, the capabilities exhibited by the
few individuals are generalized, but if there are a large number of
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Introduction
individuals believed to be capable of some exercise of psi-like
predicting the future, diagnosing illness, or healing the sick@then
the individuals who would normally stand out are simply absorbed
into a group of practitioners and their special abilities go unre-
marked. Other societies outlaw all such behavior as coming from
the devil or involving fraud, and here again, both the uniquely gifted
and the somewhat gifted will be discouraged.
Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that the practitioner
of an uninstitut'onal'zed art-sucb as a prophet or healer or di
iag-
nostician-mav have limited understanding or control of his or her
special capacit Iles. There is therefore a tremendous temptation to
include various kinds of tricks in the practitioner's repertoire, in
case the little understood and unreliable powcr falls. This may be
why the tricks of the healer ivbo palms a "pain" by extracting a small
crystal from the body of a patient go hand in band with the demon-
stration of special healing abilities. The charismatic leader may also
H substitute oratonial tricks for the spontaneity which won him his
original place. The medium who once could easily attain an altered
state of consciousness may take along a glove filled with wet sand, in
case the spirits fail to arrive. There seems to be a fluctuating, un-
predictable qualitN about these special powers, which may be due to
nothing more than the lack- of a stable cultural understanding.
In any event, such abilities should probably be classified with all
Introduction
system which is beneficial to both, and dangerous to break. The
vested claims of otherkinds of healers inevitably come in confliCt
with the claims for and by the psychic healer, further obscuring ra-
tional discussion. The reception accorded psychoanalysis and all
relief to communicative activi-
attempts to trace symptoms or their
ties is analogous to the reception given to reports of psychic healing
-sometimes Nvith amusing overtones such as when the psycho-
analvst who holds to a carefullv structured theon7 of what is hap-
pening is obliqucly credited with "just having generalized thera-
peutic powers" as a way of explaining the tbeon away!
Through the ages, deliberate magical procedures have also taken
on independent life, and guilds of conjurers and magicians naturally
bold vested interests in their bags of tricks. It has become customan,
to include expert magicians among the groups testing the powers
of sensitives, and to give critical cornment on the conditions under
which experimental proof for some ps@cbic ability is sought. From
this has arisen the curious type of criticism which will undoubtedly
plague psychic research for a long time to come, that if a particular
act could have been performed by a magician, then it could not have
been genuinely psychic. But is this any more meaningful than the
bich plague the study of the psychosomatic dis-
kinds of doubt w
orders of a single patient who displays a mixed set of symptoms
which could be "caused" by several different sets of.antecedent cir-
curristances?
other statistically unusual abilities, such as the ainazing aptitudes of I think one of the worst complications arises when both sensitives
some individuals to arouse awe or wondcr.
As scientific exploration tells us more about bow these capabilities themselves and their followers advocate psychic energies as being
"extrasensory," as proof of life after death, or of the existence of
can be disciplined and developed-as mathematical and musical
ability have been fostered in the past-many conditions of uncer- supernatural or transcendent powers of some sort. When they at-
tainty surrounding psi capacity can be removed. For example, the tacb. such a belief system to something as little-knoNvn and un-
sophistication possessed by one of the subjects mentioned in this -dependable as psychic energy, fanaticism is often substituted for
OVen-mindedness. The very tenuousness of the connection, the in-
book in his describing the necessary conditions for "remote view-
ing" is particularly striking. sistence upon a physical manifestation of a power claimed to be
Psychic powers have historically been closely associated with @;I,, outside the physical universe, nicans that they must cling to their
powers of healing, an area where faith and hope and response to beliefs more strongly in the face of all evidence to the c6ntrarv.
ic
placebos means that many diagnoses and many curcs remain prob- ..When scientific methods were applied to the study of ps-,ch'
lematical. Faith in the healer is essential to the ability of the healer powers, the confrontations became increasingly dogmatic, the argu-
to beal, so that both healer and patient are held in a tight circular ments; became more farfetched, and paranoia on both sides arose.
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Introduction
It is often hard to tell the fanaticism of the true believer from the
paranoia of the serious experimenter, as each side feeds upon the
otber's obstinate insistence. No researcher on psychic abilities can
expect to be free of this situation, and certainly the authors of the
present book were not immune to misrepresentations by both the
credulous and the stubbornly unconvinced.
The SRI research not only displays the elegance characteristic of
physical experimentation and theory, but the experimenters have
also used an imaginative approach to The human aspects of their
problem. Where too mam experimenters have put their "subjects"
through long, dull, repetitive performances-L--during which whatever
psychic capacities they bad first displayed eventually deteriorated-
Targ and Puthoff ba ,ve realized that boring experiments are un-
productive for learners, and resented by sensitivcs with developed
psychic powers. Furthermore, where much of existing research has
Introduction
n 'he eta
reason to believe that huma beings could live with t c r in
knowledge of disasters which they would have no power to prevent.
This issue is not yet faced by the experimenters, but will, I under-
stand, be on their future agenda.
A second issue, which will undoubtedly be picked up by the sensa-
tionalist press, and which flows from the accounts of Soviet interest
in mind influencing from a distance, is the prevalence of fantasies
surrounding spying and being spied upon. "Could the enemy read
the President's mind?" as one newspaper account put it. But such
fantasies of omnipotence or total vulnerability to inimical forces
have been continuously fed and exaggerated for over a quarter
century by the science hction in which many dilemmas are solved
not by science, but by ESP. These fictions represent easy solutions,
most likely unreal and certainly regressive and uncliallenging in

treated the human participants as either "subjects" (usually thought		nature.
these experiments are concerned with the ability of par
Thirdly
of as human substitutes for rats persuaded to run a maze) or im-		,
shielding when both partic ants are willing
ticipants to penetrate ip
postors or self-deluded oddities, Targ and Puthoff have treated both		to do so. But it may prove quite possible that this channel could be
their apprentice learners and experienced sensitives as collaborators		as successfully blocked as it can be successfully opened. Experiments
and persons whose views were to be respected. It is unique bere that		which demonstrate that there is a counterpart to the cooperation
the subjects were considered as partners in research. And Putboff		between the observer at the target and the observer in the shielded
and Targ have been richly rewarded and have gained new insights		in which a trained observer at the target blocks,the
laboratory
into the complicated ana delicate processes involved in "remote
"
i
i		,
channel, would go a long way to avert all the suggestions that one's
v
ew
ng.
In addition to the "remote viewing," in which the participants
i	
-1.	mind can be "read," creating,tbe strange paranoia that, in this
postwar world of nuclear threat, is inevitably exacerbated in the
were most successful in p
1
cturing by drawing rather than by verbally	7.	minds of the public, in the press, and even by fellow scientists.
describing and interpreting the nature of the "target" areas, the		I tbink,it is important to realize that if a certain psi pbe-
Finally
authors present a few cases of precognition-correct viewing of the		,
nomenon can be studied by scientific methods and one or more of
target area before it is known to the observer who is later to be		
its mechanisms involved can be related to existing scientific theory,
directed there by randoin1v chosen instructions. These arc the cases		this does not necessarily lead to a reductionist demolition of the
which raise the most interesting questions both for the contempo-		essence of the phenomenon. Explaining the behavior of great artists
ra
ry state of theory in pbysics, and for the way in which precognition

-
'	
t:
@@,	

f birth, or congenital excess
Jn terms of childhood trauma, order o
nit'
may be expected to function in everyday life. If there is prec,
Q
_9 ion	z	
of a hormone may advance our knowledge of biological functions
of a future event, such as a train wreck, can death in the N@ck be		far more than it explains a great work of art. Those who wish to
avoided by not taking the train, even though the wreck- stit@jqqcurs?		
relate the human condition to some transcendent power in the
Stated succinctly, does precognition add up to greater freqdOrn of		not worse, off by an increased knowledge
universe should be better
the will, or to a new prescription for despair? There seems little		,
&isms. Science is not simply a device for
of el gia nb ib 'eel
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Introduction
explaining away events and capacities hitherto thought to be God-
given, Because science expands one type of knowledge, it need not
denigrate another. All great scientists have understood this. But
those who hold a slavish belief in "scientific facts" and who do not
understand the glorious uncertainties of modern science are likely
to come to small conclusions that are as trivializing as reducing
remote viewing" to repetitious "readings" of a pack of cards.
As I understand contemporary trends in physical science, there
is increasing recognition of vast unknown areas which science may
explore and assist in ordering, but to which it may never provide
anything like complete answers. Such explorations, however, should
greatly expand our present paradigms.
-M.M.
xxii
L= ti C,
Approved For Release 2003/09/16 CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0500240025-6
-7 -7
il 0 UY, I
S@Alt reporter Charles Brown
and Myself this week tested
an ainazing new teach-your-
scif-ESP technique - and
found that it can work.
.The method, called minote
viewing, was evolved by two re-
ed scientists, Dr. Russel
C-rc,", and Dr. Ilarold Puthoff of
the ",anford Research Institute in
alif.
Menlo Park, C
hey say that remote viewing
.Tb @s
1,
a person to describe re-
,
Mote 41target" locations; - un-
known to them - simply by sit..
tin, in a quiet room with eyes
.I.sed, watching images forming
r
in their mind.
k

-	f
	
	N'.
	
	S
AFTER trying this experiment.
do you think you can do "remotr
viewing?" Tell THE' SI`AH of
11 rexperience. $5 for everv
icilter published Write
Remote
Viewl, The Star, 7.30 Third Av-
ew
enue, York, N.Y. 10017.
n n
Y
F L,
DA @q P11 ,XF1 T@
By Sf V, r repartor fileredith chap,1111
L
The two scientists say the tech- stnicted in the remote viewing tain, to the left an old Oothic style
'"q,@has been successfully tested technique. I could see treetops church.
ychic Uri Geller and New Marking the edge of in expanse, L o% remarkable as-;o-
by In th @ no . t
artist Irigo Swann. Their with buildings beyond them. fit., i
ciations of t whole expe ment,
r
also been praised by It was only later that I ifiscov. I vimalized a round roof, like the
work has
ar- ere Io
famed anthropologist Dr. Marg, d that Charles was lof)king at I a carousel, a round shape,
et Mead. a similar scene, Ile had taken a lik% ia pond, and steps or a narrow
ided to .I HERE is how to teach yourself
This week the STAR dLe cab to Columbia University, and ramp.
Put it to the test. Mule I sat in a got out at 116th. Street. 116 walked the remote viewing technique,
I found that the major problem Out forward by Dr, Harold Puth-
A
di'111Y-tit room. reporter Brown eas on 116th to Morningside with the experiment was that I off and Dr. Russel Targ:
left our office in midtown Manhat- D"ive and found himself at the top tried to a.%ociate the images with. Determine if you feet any re-
tai.i. telling no one where he was of a wooded slope., looking over an area I knew.
going. bare treetops. There were apart- sistance to the idea of psychic
At a pre-arranged time re- ment buildings beyond. I had never been to the area of functioning, or the belief that
I Ile then walked back along Manhattan where Charles was,, you can describe a scene beyond
]axed and closed iny eyes, as in- - and I thought he was seeing Cen- your normal sensvs. Has some-
116111 Street, looking at the apart tral Park. one in authority said kt was im-
ment buildings on the south side The things I did see seemed possible. or nonsense?
of the street. They were Victorian free-flonting, without any scale or Repeat these questions until
brick and concrete structures, surroundings. you feel comfortably convinced.
seven stories high. Scientists Targ and Puthoff say even though you may suspect
Back in THE STAR office I
could see gingerbread-like iild that remote viewing has also been that the suspension of disbelief
buildings, not too tall. successfully tested by Richard is only temporary.
Bach, author of Jonathon Livings- Ask a friend to pick a location
Charles crossed Amsterdam Av. ton Seagull. - preferably unknown to you -
enue, and proceeded to%ard Col- Bach tells in the book how he and tell the friend to be there at
umbia University's old librarv, a watched a "surreal television pic- a particular time, and to re
tiarish building topped by a ture" in his mind of another per- main there for 15 minutes. The
Millow dome. Leading down son at a secret location several person at the target site must
from it were steps. blocks away. His description was pay attention to where he is,
To the right was a round foun- close to the reality. and observe.
At the sarne iiine, you, the
b' t should be in a quiet.
r p@ dirrily-lit place where
;e=
you are comfortable.
Sit up and reinain alert. About
one minute before the time the
experiment is to begin, relax
and calm your thoughts.
It Is not necessary to do more
than thi@: @o special routine or
meditation is needed.
Now try to describe the target
location - to your.,elf or to an-
other friend.Describe the mental
images that seem to be associat-
'I COULD SEE ed with the target area. Just re.
late the basic colors. shapes and
feelings. It is essential to avoid
A ROUND ROOF
trying to name the place.'
AND A
POND' Try sketchinp the images that
r 13,
Above Is the sketch come to mind. Be willing to
7
reporter
Meredith draw what pops into your mind,
Chaplin made of her even tho i you don't knoA
Image. At left is the old
what it islt the drawings rep-
library at New York's resent.
Columbia University.
You should visit the remote
target as soon as possible after
the end of the 15 ininutv interval
allotted for remote viewing. In
A
%, 'I SAW TREETOPS, OLD BUILDINGS' this way, feedback take-; place
is her sketch of trees and while the images are Mill fresh
bu ding%. Below I..; spot where in your mind, and you can make
oil I.... staffer Charles Brown stood. an internal compari,;on that will
A be useful in future cxi.@riribents
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