| Author | Title | Pag |
|---|
| | Ronald A. HOWARD | Editorial | i |
| | Peter A. STURROCK | A Brief History of the Society for Scientific Exploration | 1-2 |
| | David F. HALL, Susan J. McFEATERS, Elisabeth F. LOFTUS | Alterations in Recollection of Unusual and Unexpected Events | 3-10 |
| | Richard G. FOWLER | Toward a Quantitative Theory of Intellectual Discovery (Especially in Physics) | 11-20 | | | Abstract: By the study of time intervals in a subjective yet consistently chosen
temporally ordered list of the critical ideas which comprise Physics, a quantitative theory of the growth of these ideas is inferred which takes the entirely
plausible form that the rate of growth of ideas is proportional to the totality
of known ideas multiplied by the totality of people in the world. There is
some slight titillating indication in the data that the rate of fundamental
discovery in Physics has been decreasing abnormally over the past 50 years. |
| | R. G. JAHN, B. J. DUNNE, R. D. NELSON | Engineering Anomalies Research | 21-50 | | | Abstract: Anomalous consciousness-related phenomena of possible relevance to basic physical science and modern engineering practice are addressed
experimentally and theoretically in an effort to identify those devices, systems,
and processes most likely to display operator-related anomalies in their performance, and to illuminate the characteristics of such aberrations. Three
interrelated sectors of effort are pursued: the design, implementation, operation, and interpretation of experiments in low-level psychokinesis; the development of analytical methodologies for quantitative assessment of precognitive remote perception data; and the development of theoretical models
useful for correlation of the experimental data, design of better experiments,
and explication of the phenomena on fundamental grounds.
The primary effect observed in the psychokinesis experiments is a marginal
but replicable shift of the mean of output count distributions with respect to
empirical baselines or theoretical expectations, with no discernible alterations
in any higher moments. Over large data bases, these mean shifts can compound with considerable statistical regularity to high levels of significance,
depending on the particular operator, the direction of effort, and other prevailing experimental conditions. In many cases, individual operator "signatures" of achievement are found to transfer across various experimental
devices, including some driven by deterministic pseudo-random sources.
Quantitative analysis of a large data base of remote perception experiments
reveals similar departures from chance expectation of the degree of target
information acquired by anomalous means. Digital scoring techniques based
on a spectrum of 30 binary descriptors, applied to all targets and perceptions
in the experimental pool, consistently indicate acquisition of substantial topical and impressionistic information about remote geographical locations
inaccessible by known sensory channels. The degree of such anomalous information acquisition appears independent of the spatial separation of the
percipient from the target, up to global distances, and also independent of
the temporal separation of the perception effort from the time of target specification by the agent, up to periods of precognition or retrocognition of
several days.
In an attempt to illuminate these empirical results, a theoretical model
has been proposed that invokes quantum mechanical metaphors to describe
the interaction of consciousness with its environment. By representing consciousness by quantum mechanical wave functions and its physical environment by appropriate potential energy profiles, Schrodinger wave mechanics may be used to define eigenfunctions and eigenvalues indicative of psychological and physical experience, both normal and anomalous, in a form applicable to the experimental designs.
The experimental results in hand, along with the generic predictions of
the theoretical model, suggest numerous short and longer term practical applications of the phenomena, and raise basic issues about the role of consciousness in the establishment of reality. |
| | Henry H. BAUER | Society and Scientific Anomalies: Common Knowledge About the Loch Ness Monster | 51-74 | | | Related:
Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 1 Number 2 June/1988 - Comments on Bauer's "Loch Ness Monster," Volume 1, Number 1, 1987 [Westman, James]
| |
| | P. A. STURROCK | An Analysis of the Condon Report on the Colorado UFO Project | 75-100 | | | Abstract: The "Condon Report," presenting the findings of the Colorado
Project on a scientific study of unidentified flying objects, has been and remains the most influential public document concerning the scientific status
of this problem. Hence, all current scientific work on the UFO problem must
make reference to the Condon Report. For this reason, it remains important
to understand the contents of this report, the work on which the report is
based, and the relationship of the "Summary of the Study" and "Conclusions
and Recommendations" to the body of the report. The present analysis of
this report contains an overview, an analysis of evidence by categories, and
a discussion of scientific methodology. The overview shows that most case
studies were conducted by junior stac the senior staff took little part, and
the director took no part, in these investigations. The analysis of evidence
by categories shows that there are substantial and significant differences between the findings of the project staff and those that the director attributes
to the project. Although both the director and the staff are cautious in stating
conclusions, the staff tend to emphasize challenging cases and unanswered
questions, whereas the director emphasizes the difficulty of further study and
the probability that there is no scientific knowledge to be gained.
Concerning methodology, it appears that the project was unable to identify
current challenging cases that warranted truly exhaustive investigation. Nor
did the project develop a uniform and systematic procedure for cataloging
the large number of older cases with which they were provided. In drawing
conclusions from the study of such a problem, the nature and scope of which
are fraught with so much uncertainty, it would have been prudent to avoid
theory-dependent arguments. |
|
Collection: Libriufo
