Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Science of Noetic Experience” with Daryl Bem

Noetic experiences include psychic phenomena, known generically as “psi” experiences. Psi denotes anomalous processes of information or energy transfer, processes that are currently unexplained in terms of known physical or biological mechanisms. They are generally labeled extrasensory perception (ESP) — the acquisition of information without using the known senses — and psychokinesis (PK), the ability to influence physical objects or events without the intervention of any known physical force. Common labels for the various ways that ESP manifests are telepathy (mind-to-mind), clairvoyance (perceiving events or objects that are hidden, shielded, or at a distance) and precognition (perceiving the future).

In science generally, a phenomenon is not considered a reliable fact until it has been observed repeatedly by numerous independent researchers. One criticism of parapsychology, the branch of science that studies psi phenomena, is that it has not produced a repeatable psi effect. Another criticism is that psi experiments have inadequate controls and safeguards. In 1974, an experimental procedure was developed that is now known to adequately address both of those criticisms. The “Ganzfeld experiment” provides an independently repeatable demonstration of telepathy under rigorously controlled conditions, and it has been repeatedly discussed in mainstream academic psychology journals. Several other classes of psi experiments have also achieved this level of credibility.

A teleseminar by the Institute of Noetic Sciences (here)

The Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit holds series of lectures. Some of them are now available as videos or podcasts. Among them…

Deborah Hyde: Demons and nightmares: Why do People Believe in the Malign Supernatural?
http://itunes.apple.com/fr/podcast/dr-dorothy-rowe-why-is-that/id394249539?i=87679316

Deborah’s talk is on the cultural and physiological aspects of the religious and superstitious experience and she’ll answer such questions as: When do the dead chew in their graves? Why do vampires strike in autumn? Why do ghosts live in electric clocks?

Dr Sam Parnia: Near Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest

http://itunes.apple.com/fr/podcast/dr-sam-parnia-near-death-experiences/id394249539?i=87663951

One of the subjects that has both captivated and eluded humankind throughout time is the mystery of what happens when we die. Although traditionally a subject for philosophical or theological debate, scientific progress has begun to shed light on both the physiological as well as cognitive processes such as near death experiences that take place during clinical death. Dr. Sam Parnia, author of What Happens When We Die, chronicles the history and development of the study of cardiac arrest as well as near death experiences. At the same time, he will introduce the novel method he and his colleagues have devised to study the phenomenon of consciousness and the human mind at the end of life, which they hope will finally enable science to resolve the mystery of near death experiences.

Prof. Richard Wiseman: “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose”: How Parapsychologists Nullify Null Results

http://itunes.apple.com/fr/podcast/id394249539?i=87622051

This talk explores how parapsychologists often explain away evidence against the existence of psi, examining how null findings are ignored during exploratory research, how chance results obtained during attempted replication are attributed to non psi-conducive procedures, how post hoc data mining is used to identify pockets of significant data in meta-analyses that have yielded null results, and how the eventual decline of any alleged effects are viewed as an inherent property of psi. It is argued that understanding and preventing these problems are central to resolving debates about the existence of psychic ability.

Prof. Chris French: Something Wicked This Way Comes: Causes and Interpretations of Sleep Paralysis

http://itunes.apple.com/fr/podcast/prof-chris-french-something/id394249539?i=87663949

This presentation will describe the phenomenon of sleep paralysis, including numerous first-person accounts. In its most basic form, sleep paralysis simply involves being half-awake and half-asleep and realising that, for a short time, one cannot move. This experience is very common with around 40% of the population reporting that they have experienced it. Around one in twenty people report having experienced terrifying hallucinations during their episodes of sleep paralysis. The underlying psychophysiological causes of the fascinating phenomenon will be described, as will the different interpretations of the experience cross-culturally.

Dr Rupert Sheldrake: Morphic Resonance, Collective Memory and the Habits of Nature

http://itunes.apple.com/fr/podcast/dr-rupert-sheldrake-morphic/id394249539?i=87679314

According to the hypothesis of formative causation, all self-organizing systems, including crystals, plants and animals contain an inherent memory, given by a process called morphic resonance from previous similar systems. All human beings draw upon a collective human memory, and in turn contribute to it. Even individual memory depends on morphic resonance rather than on physical memory traces stored within the brain. This hypothesis is testable experimentally and implies that the so-called laws of nature are more like habits.

For the videos, see http://www.gold.ac.uk/apru/lectures/

You can hear or read (here) an interview on the Skeptico Podcast with Dr. Stephen Braude, Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Scientific Exploration, who reveals challenges and opportunities of controversial psi research into mediumship and psychokinesis.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

» Visit the full page [...]

Neurophysiology of Psi: Why Are Some People More Psychic than Others?, with Diane Powell, 64 min

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Dean Radin hosts this discussion with Diane Powell on why some people are more psychic than others. Although research suggests that all of us are capable of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and other psychic experiences, the occurrence among us varies tremendously. Dr. Powell discusses her investigation of this question and the consistent patterns of brain activity associated with psi.

http://www.ions.org/library/audio-teleseminars/diane-powell-neurophysiology-psi-why-are-some-peop/

Biography

After an undergraduate education in neuroscience, Diane Powell received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she also completed training in medicine, neurology, and psychiatry. She obtained additional training at Queen Square and The Institute of Psychiatry, both world-renowned medical institutes in London. She has been on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, was a member of a part-time think tank on consciousness at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA, and the Director of Research for the John E. Mack Institute. She currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the Jean Houston Foundation.

Her clinical practice has been diverse and international in scope. It has included being the Assistant Clinical Director of the Consultation-Liaison Service at Cambridge Hospital (a teaching hospital for Harvard); being the Chief Psychiatrist of the emergency room at Brockton Multi-Service Center; training and providing psychotherapy to Soviet psychologists; co-creating and serving as Clinical Director of the McCandliss Center for Women in Chula Vista, CA (which treated survivors of sexual assault, post-partum depression, and eating disorders); starting the psychiatric program for Survivors of Torture, International in San Diego, CA and providing treatment to its clients (refugees and asylum seekers from countries where genocide, torture, and terrorism have resulted in severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). She currently has a solo practice in Medford, Oregon and incorporates psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and pet therapy into her compassionate healing of people who want personalized care. She is frequently in Los Angeles, where she is available on a restricted basis for consultation.

After publishing in neuroscience and neuropsychiatry journals, Diane shifted her interest to the anomalous psychological phenomena that are largely ignored by mainstream neuroscience. For IONS she has written book reviews for Shift magazine and the feature article “We are All Savants,” and was project co-director and lead author for the Institute’s celebrated study, The 2007 Shift Report. Her book, The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena, was written for both scientists and lay people and was published in 2008 by Walker & Company.

She is the great niece of the famous peace activist, Ammon Hennacy, and has been a strong advocate for human rights. She participated in the United Nations Conference on Women and Children in Beijing in 1995 and is one of the panelists for the PBS documentary, The Science of Peace.

Impossible Talk Podcast, n°2, 92 min

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Jeff Kripal talks with parapsychologist Dean Radin, Laboratory Director of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, about his work and what it reveals about the nature of consciousness. Radin is the author of Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality, and The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Professors Dr. Edward Kelly and Dr. Emily Kelly

» Visit the full page [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Dr. Dean Radin And Dr. Roger Nelson Respond to Global Consciousness Project Criticisms [48:24m]

» Visit the full page [...]