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14 February 1973
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Proposal for Research
SRI No. ISU 73-
PSYCHOENERGETIC PHENOMENA
SG11
SGFOIA3
SG11:
Dear
We at SRI were happy to have a chance to talk with you and your
associates during our recent trip to Washington.
We have prepared this
informal letter proposal for research in the field of psychoenergetic
phenomena in response to a variety of suggestions as to the kind of
research program that would yield results of the greatest interest to
you.
In the past half year we have had an opportunity to work with two
individuals who appear to have unusual abilities both in the area of
psychoenergetic effects, and also with regard to their extraordinary
perceptual abilities. In other correspondence with you we have described
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in detail some of the research we have carried out with these individuals.
In this letter we will briefly outline those data we consider to be
the most significant.
Based on this data, we will then go on to describe
a program we propose to undertake to shed further light on those phen-
omena for which we have the greatest evidence in our laboratory.
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Arlington, Virginia
SRI No. ISU 73-
14
February 1973
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Our work in this area began when, based on the reports of successful
experiments at the American Society for Psychical Research with Mr. Ingo
Swann, we arranged that he come to this laboratory to participate in a
series of experiments.
In this work using a shielded magnetometer at
Stanford University, Mr. Swann apparently demonstrated an ability to
increase and decrease at will the magnetic field within a superconducting
magnetic shield.
This experiment made use of an existing facility in
the physics department and we have confidence that Mr. Swann had no prior
knowledge of either the apparatus or of our intended experiment. The
experimental results have now been scrutinized by the relevant Stanford
scientists and found to be apparently free from defects, and unlike any
data previously produced with their apparatus.
A second experiment performed by us with another subject entailed
the deflection of a slow electron beam by psychoenergetic means.
In
this experiment a slow electron beam (a few eV) was made to strike a
divided collector consisting of inner and outer electrodes.
After
the electron beam was magnetically balanced to provide a null, the subject
was asked to cause the beam to move. He was told that such movement
would be indicated by the motion of the pen of the recording galvanometer.
In our preliminary work we found a subject who could apparently cause
the electron beam to move in accordance with his will.
This experiment
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was performed in a screened room with the subject seated six feet from the
beam tube.
A third series of experiments was recently concluded at this lab-
oratory with a young Israeli named Mr. Uri Geller.
In our five weeks of
research with him, he demonstrated a wide range of apparent psychic ability.
In particular, he was able to perceive and reproduce drawings in double
envelopes with almost error-free performance. Some twenty drawings were
reproduced by him under excellent experimental conditions.
Double-blind
experiments were also performed in which he located small hidden objects
in one of ten identical metal containers.
He did this on twelve occasions
without error.
He was also able to identify which face of a die was
uppermost, when the die was shaken inside of a metal file box which was
not opened until his call was recorded.
All of the above perceptual
tasks appeared easier for him than the various psychoenergetic effects
we asked him to produce.
Among
these latter, the most consistently
achieved and carefully controlled was his increase and decrease in the
weight recorded by a laboratory balance under a Bell jar.
In this series
of experiments, recorded on film and videotape, he caused deflections of
up to 1.5 grams.
The deflections were more than fifty times the noise
level that could be caused by striking the Bell jar, or any other known
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mechanical or magnetic means.
Mr. Geller was also able to cause deflection of a laboratory mag-
netometer without having physical contact with it.
The instrument gave
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readings corresponding to an apparent magnetic field change of +0.3 gauss.
This same instrument was first used to examine carefully his hands and
his person to make sure that he did not have any magnets or magnetic
material available to him.
All of the above experiments with Mr. Geller were continuously re-
corded on film and video tape, and no event occurring out of the laboratory
was considered to have any scientific relevance apart from suggesting
further lines for subsequent investigation.
In addition, we have observed under non-laboratory conditions a) the
turning of watch hands without his having any physical contact with the
watch, b) deflection of a compass and magnetometer, and c) the deforma-
tion of several rings. However, because these effects were not performed
under strict laboratory conditions they are not included in the same
category as the above-mentioned experiments.
Further experiments are currently underway with Swann in which
significant results are being obtained in the area of remote perception.
O
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Based on encouraging results in our initial observations, it is :
proposed that a more comprehensive one-year program be initiated.
The
purpose is to investigate, under rigorous and carefully controlled con-
ditions, psychoenergetic and extraordinary perceptual effects of the
type discussed above, with the
goal of obtaining repeatable
results.
Specifically, it is planned that the gifted subjects, Mr. Swann
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and Mr. Geller, will participate in experiments.
Of special interest is the fact that Mr. Swann's abilities apparently
were not innate, but rather were developed by a set of training proce-
dures.
Therefore, during the course of the study, information as to
possible training procedures for the development of such abilities will
be compiled.
With regard to overall methodology, we shall employ a strong feed-
back reinforcement technique. As is now well know, psychoenergetic
experimentation by naive investigators has often followed the paradigm
of a large number of trials without feedback as to results until the
experiment was over.
Such a paradigm is known by psychologists to con-
stitute an extinction paradigm well suited to eliminate correct task
performance.
Therefore, real-time feedback as to success or failure of
a given task will be made available to the subject whenever possible.
Such feedback should then provide the subject with reinforcement appro-
priate for enhancing performance rather than extinguishing ability.
The proposal program will have three specific aims:
1.
Working with gifted subjects we will examine such potentially
psychoenergetic effects as:
1)
Erasure of video tape
2)
Electron beam deflection
3)
Magnetic effects on compass and magnetometer
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4)
Generation of effects on NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance)
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5)
Generation of electrical signals in remote shielded environ-
ments
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Generation of infrared signals at remote locations
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Laser beam deflection detectable by changes in interference
patterns
8)
Systematic weight change with recording balance
2.
In the area of person-to-person communications, an effort will
be made to find frequency correlations between the recorded EEG output
of an isolated subject, with the EEG output of a subject undergoing photic
driving at low audio frequencies. Based on our preliminary investigation
using a real-time spectrum analyzer, between the brain wave output of a
person considered as a receiver in a shielded room, and the EEG output
of a sender in a remote location, while the sender is stimulated with a
flashing strobe light at a randomly selected frequency. This research
will make use of SRI's facility for real-time spectrum analysis, which
gives a plot of power-spectral-density in 0.1 Hz increments from 1 Hz to
100 Hz. The use of this equipment makes possible retrieval of signals
that would be definitely lost to conventional polygraph data analysis.
The output from the spectrum analyzer corresponding to the "signal"
will be fed back to the "receiver" allowing him to gain awareness of
his mental state at those times when he is responding to the mental state
of the sender. We will attempt to determine whether this perceptual
a
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augmentation will cause increased subject awareness of signal even in
the absence of feedback.
·3:
The third area for consideration pertains to the ability of an
individual to perceive an object or situation not known to him or any
other person. In our double blind experiments with Geller, and in many
experiments performed by other researchers, this type of perception has
been found to occur.
We would investigate this ability both with the
gifted participants in the program, and also with other unselected
subjects. In working with the unselected subjects, we will make use of
feedback and reinforcement techniques to help bring these presumably
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latent perceptual abilities under conscious and volitional control.
To
"achieve this goal we will make use of an automatic stimulus generator
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that randomly chooses among four preselected target pictures. This
machine gives the subject immediate feedback as to the correct target
and rewards him with audio and visual reinforcements for correct re-
sponses as to the state of the machine. The device can be used in both
a perception-of-machine-state mode and also as an adjunct in a mind-to-
mind mode. The machine is entirely free from any known sensory leakage,
and its randomness has been carefully investigated.
In preliminary ex-
periments with this type of machine we have found definite evidence that
learning does take place. We consider it an important part of any re-
search program to try to increase the extraordinary perceptual ability
of unselected subjects in addition to working with gifted subjects.
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The investigators, Mr. Russell Targ and Dr. Harold Puthoff, are
senior research physicists and will devote approximately 75 percent of
their time to this program, and Dr. Lawrence Pinneo, a staff neurophysi -..
ologist, will be available on a one day per week basis for consultation.
They will be assisted by a half-time technical assistant and a half-time
electronics technician.
The estimated time required to complete this project and report its
results is one year. The Institute could begin work on receipt of a fully
executed contract. A cost estimate is attached.
...
It is requested that any contract resulting from this proposal be
written on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis.
This proposal will remain in effect until 1 April 1973.
If consid-
eration of the proposal requires a longer period, the Institute will be
glad to consider a request for an extension of time.
If I can supply any further information concerning this proposed
program, please telephone me and I will be happy to try to answer your
questions.
Yours sincerely,
N.S. Pathof
Russell Targ
Harold Puthoff
Senior Research Physicists
Electronics and Bioengineering
Laboratory
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