Remote viewing
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Remote viewing (RV) is the ability to perform clairvoyance under controlled conditions.
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[edit] Proponents' claims
Remote viewing allows a "viewer" to use his or her intuitive abilities to gather information on a target consisting of an object, place, or person, etc., which is hidden from the physical perception of the viewer and typically separated from the viewer in space by some distance.
The "view" is merely a personal impression experienced by the viewer, and is sometimes recorded by another person. This is similar to somebody recording another person's dream memories when first awakened.
Classic remote viewing is done in real time, although some remote viewers claim the ability to perform retrocognition and precognition as well.
Proponents of RV claim that the existing scientific experimental evidence supports the claim that remote viewers are able to obtain information by means which are currently unknown to science. Proponents argue that remote viewing is distinguished from other forms of clairvoyance in that it follows a specific experimental protocol (or some variant of it). The critical aspect common to these protocols is that the viewer is blind to the target in the sense of being given no (or negligible) information regarding the target being viewed.
According to Russell Targ, the originator of this hypothesis, the original research is considered valid under accepted scientific protocol, and is currently at the level of a working theory. [citation needed] One weakness of the method is that it requires a subjective response from the subjects involved in the test. This is still considered as acceptable, because only the results are considered as evidence. The results have only reached the level of statistically significant, meaning it is beating the results of random outcome, but not yet a repeatable experiment without exception. Many accepted aspects of science, including such things as much of psychology, are at this same level of working theory.
[edit] Protocol
Under the remote viewing family of protocols, the viewer is blind to the target, i.e. is not explicitly told what the target is; rather it is specified in one of several ways. The most common method to communicate with the viewer regarding the target is by the use of so-called coordinates, which are actually a set of 2 four-digit random numbers that are assigned to the target. These "coordinates" function more like a serial number as they do not physically locate anything. Under this method, no target information other than the two four-digit numbers are communicated to the viewer. Other methods include describing the target either in writing or by a photograph or by some set of map coordinates the latter of which may be encrypted. These methods are seldom used as they bear the obvious problem of giving too much information the viewer about the target, which would weaken any case for scientific objective data.
The description is then placed in a double-set of opaque envelopes which may be shown to the viewer or its location described to the viewer, but which the viewer is not allowed to touch or open during the viewing session. The viewer then writes down whatever information he can gather about the target, typically including drawings and gestalt impressions as well as visual details (and sometimes auditory or kinesthetic details as well). The viewing session is often administered or facilitated by a second person called the monitor.
The output of the viewing session is evaluated by a third person, the analyst or evaluator, who matches or ranks the output against a pool consisting of the actual target with some number of decoy or dummy targets. In research scenarios (experiments) the monitor and analyst are also blind to the target along with the viewer until the evaluation is complete. The viewer is typically given the information about the target after the evaluation is complete, providing a feedback that seems to increase the positive hit ratio.[citation needed]
In the opinion of most of its proponents, remote viewing is a skill that typically improves with training, and certain variations of the protocol are used during training.
Some variations on the remote viewing protocol include:
- Outbounder Remote Viewing, in which a person (the outbounder) physically present at the target site acts as a "beacon" to identify the target site. This was one of the earliest protocols used in the SRI program.
- Coordinate (or Controlled) Remote Viewing (CRV) in which target sites were originally described in terms of geographical coordinates, and later any (non-descriptive) identifying code used to identify a target to the viewer.
- Technical Remote Viewing (TRV), a term trademarked by a company called PSI TECH, based upon CRV.
- Associative Remote Viewing (ARV), a variant which adds a level of indirection, specifically proxy targets associated with events in order to answer binary (yes/no) questions. Often applied to predicting future events.
- Predictive Remote Viewing (PRV), developed by researchers Simon Turnbull and Charles Scarf, originally for use in predicting stock market fluctuations.
[edit] History
The idea of remote viewing was first developed by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff at the Stanford Research Institute at the behest of the CIA in 1972. The program, initially codenamed Scanate, apparently came as a response to Soviet research into psychic phenomena, on which the USSR was believed to have spent 60 million rubles in 1970. Initially, the project focused on a small number of individuals who appeared to show potential, most famously New York artist Ingo Swann.
The program went through a number of changes over the years, both in structure and in name. Later code names include Gondola Wish, Grill Flame, and in 1991, Star Gate. Over the course of twenty years, the United States spent $20 million on Star Gate and related projects. Over the course of its existence more than forty personnel worked on the project, including more than twenty remote viewers. Though the program was classified throughout its existence, columnist Jack Anderson wrote about it in the mid-1980s. Since 2003, documentation relating to the Scanate, Grill Flame, Gondola Wish and Centrelane programs has been mostly declassified (1% or less remains classified) and is available to the general public under the FOIA.
Concerns about the program's effectiveness led the CIA to contract the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to provide an evaluation. This showed no evidence supporting claims of paranormal ability.
Since the end of the government's involvement with the Stargate Project, remote viewing has entered the private sector. Companies such as PSI TECH claim to teach remote viewing procedures, and numerous books on remote viewing history and methods exist.
[edit] Obtaining Declassified Records
Pursuant to Congressional mandate, DIA records concerning the requested subject have been transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA gathered together CIA and Department of Defense records concerned with parapsychological phenomena, mainly remote viewing, and began a program to review, with the intention of declassifying, as many of these documents as possible. These records, now referred to as the Star Gate Collection, include information on the related projects Grill Flame, Center Lane, Sun Streak, Stunt Pilot, Phoenix and Scanate.
[edit] Criticism
Skeptics contend that an incorrect description of an object by a remote viewer is often considered a "hit" due to small similarities, and that visual cues, extraneous evidence and poorly designed testing protocols account for any accurate descriptions. They claim that there has never been a successful properly conducted double-blind remote viewing experiment.[citation needed]
As an example, in experiments conducted in 1973 at the Stanford Research Institute, the notes given to the judges contained clues as to which order they were carried out, such as referring to yesterday's two targets, or they had the date of the session written at the top of the page. These clues, it is asserted, are the reason for the experiment's high hit rates.[1]
Additionally, the information from remote viewing sessions can be vague and include a lot of erroneous data. The 1995 report for the American Institute for Research "An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications" by Mumford, Rose and Goslin [2] contains a section of anonymous reports describing how remote viewing was tentatively used in a number of operational situations. The three reports conclude that the data was too vague to be of any use, and in the report that offers the most positive results the writer notes that the viewers "had some knowledge of the target organizations and their operations but not the background of the particular tasking at hand."
[edit] Popular Culture
In the Movie Suspect Zero Detectives must track a killer who has the Remote Viewing ability.
A major theme of the film is remote viewing, and the DVD's extra features include interviews with people who worked with the US military and intelligence agencies as part of those programs.
Remote Viewing is a common topic on the late-night radio talk show Coast to Coast AM.
[edit] Remote Viewers
- Ingo Swann, one of the founders of remote viewing
- Pat Price, one of the early remote viewers
- Paul Smith, credited with authoring/editing the original CRV training manual
- Russell Targ, cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute's investigation into psychic abilities in the 1970s and 1980s
- Joseph McMoneagle, one of the early remote viewers
- Ed Dames, associated with PSI TECH, Inc.
- Courtney Brown, founder of the Farsight Institute
- David Morehouse, remote viewer during Stargate program
- Lyn Buchanan
- Douglas James Cottrell, who uses remote viewing in his deep meditation sessions
- Jon Aaron Baklund, trainied in 1996 by Farsight Intitute, founder of Inomanti International
[edit] References
- Courtney Brown, Ph.D., Remote Viewing : The Science and Theory of Nonphysical Perception. Farsight Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9766762-1-4
- David Morehouse, Psychic Warrior, St. Martin's, 1996, ISBN 0-312-96413-7
- Jim Schnabel, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies, Dell, 1997 , ISBN 0-440-22306-7
- Paul H. Smith, Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate -- America's Psychic Espionage Program, Forge, 2005, ISBN 0-312-87515-0
- Ronson, Jon, The Men who Stare at Goats, Picador, 2004, ISBN 0-330-37547-4, written to accompany the TV series The Crazy Rulers of the World)
- Buchanan, Lyn, The Seventh Sense: The Secrets Of Remote Viewing As Told By A "Psychic Spy" For The U.S. Military, ISBN 0-7434-6268-8
- F. Holmes Atwater, Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guidance, Hampton Roads 2001, ISBN 1-57174-247-6
- McMoneagle, Joseph, The Stargate Chronicles: Memoirs of a Psychic Spy, Hampton Roads 2002, ISBN 1-57174-225-5
- Utts and Josephson, The Paranormal: The Evidence and Its Implications for Consciousness, 1996 [3]
- Alcock, James, "A comprehensive review of major empirical studies in parapsychology involving random event generators or remote viewing"
- Mumford, Rose, Goslin, "An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications", AIR report 1995
