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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe World’s Largest Clairvoyance Experiment Has Begun
Icelanders call it Berdreyminthe ability to see the future in dreams. On my travels collecting dreams from around the world, clairvoyance has been one of the most persistent themes. I've met Ukrainians in Donbass who report having dreamed about the war before it began, New Yorkers who recounted dreams of plane crashes and smoke-filled rooms on the morning of 9/11, and people across the globe who claim to have foreseen the deaths of loved ones.
Historically, there has never been a scientifically rigorous way to evaluate these experiences. Still, clairvoyance and other forms of ESP have been taken seriously enough that both the KGB and CIA had extensive Cold War Era programs. More recent experiments into the phenomena have yielded inconsistent results. Skeptics commonly cite false-memory research to dismiss believers, while supporters often blame unfavorable results on unrealistic laboratory settings.
A new app called Shadow is poised to answer skeptics and believers alike. The app records dreams (which you submit upon waking) and enters them into a massive database, allowing thousands of the time-stamped transcripts to be searched by keyword. Clairvoyance could be identified through specific keyword spikes before major events. While the app was first envisioned as an introspection tool for the Quantified Self Movement, it may end up finally answering a fundamental question about the nature of consciousness.
Read More: http://www.vice.com/read/the-worlds-largest-clairvoyance-experiment-has-begun-1226
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)What are his qualifications?
His LinkedIn page
So... not in any kind of psychology or neuroscience? He's a photographer?
People wonder why I'm on a never-ending quest against pseudoscience...
Ryan Fitzomething
(139 posts)But I gladly appel a Rec for the sheer amusement such thoughts provide me.
lob1
(3,820 posts)Rozlee
(2,529 posts)I'm totally skeptical of all things woo, but I wouldn't be too adverse if, like you said, true professionals were investigating this alleged phenomenon. Neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, brain imaging, mathematicians and statisticians and several other related disciplines would have to work together to collect and interpret data. 7 billion people on earth dream every night, 3 to 5 dreams each night. It's normal to have events in life follow the patterns of some of our dreams. People want their dreams to predict the future. Except the ones where they're walking into class naked.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)any post seriously with that word. It is one of my peeves, that and the continual use of 'whatever' and 'you know' in conversation. You can learn to lucid dream. I would love to do that myself. I don't consider it 'woo'. Its merely an area no one has the guts to investigate because of people who believe nothing is there loudly and roundly mock it without counter evidence to support their stance. Funny how nothing is there when it isn't even investigated yet. A hypothesis rejected out of hand without experimentation. IMHO.
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)There has been research about lucid dreaming, so at least some people have had the guts to investigate it.
A sound principle is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Lucid dreaming is far less extraordinary than clairvoyance. Speaking as someone who employs the concept of "woo" while generally eschewing that particular term, I'd say that clairvoyance qualifies but lucid dreaming doesn't.
The innovative app to test clairvoyance doesn't seem particularly rigorous but it will at least generate some initial data, which might in turn suggest ways to refine the experiment.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)Proofs. That is my bugaboo. Deny possibilities based on belief without evidence. I like your post but again, here is denial without proof.
Lucid dreaming is awesome. I have done it twice.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)until I heard Thom Hartmann talk about it a few years ago.
I just thought it was fun.
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)You'll find a summary of the proof in the Wikipedia article on "Clairvoyance". Note in particular the discussion of the Randi Prize. If you can demonstrate clairvoyance, you'll win a million bucks.
The proof is in the many, many failed experiments, with never any reproducible success at showing clairvoyance. That's the best I can offer you toward proving a negative.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)It was unclear whether the app was a personal journal or whether the database was online and there was some means of analyzing it.
I don't understand why you have to contact the guy via a long distance phone number to sign up to participate. If we're talking about an online app, why can't we sign up online?
I wasn't even thinking about "business models" and ownership of my dream data until he brought it up, hmm...
That said...I wish someone credible would do an experiment like this. Everyone has had experiences which they swear cannot be put down to coincidence or chance of large numbers...and there is always the door open for science not understanding everything and weird quantum entanglement not obeying "time's arrow" etc., etc. So my mind remains open to at least random (as opposed to be controllable) clairvoyance. Or perhaps multiple people can pick up on a particular kind of "blast" signal (as oppose to being able to communicate with each other). I was curious enough to click on your DU link, but quite disappointed with the article.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)gladly discard but if someone wants to figure it out, I am in.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)like the Institute of Noetic Sciences
The Institute of Noetic Sciences, founded in 1973 by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research, education, and membership organization whose mission is supporting individual and collective transformation through consciousness research, educational outreach, and engaging a global learning community in the realization of our human potential. Noetic comes from the Greek word nous, which means intuitive mind or inner knowing. IONS conducts, sponsors, and collaborates on leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness, exploring phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.
http://noetic.org/about/overview/
Our Vision and Our Mission
http://noetic.org/about/vision/
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Including the claim that we all saw it coming.
progressoid
(49,988 posts)I dreamed someone would write an app that would record my premonitions.
I also dreamed that someone would invent the squeezable mayonnaise bottle and that our cat would throw up in the rug.
It's all coming together.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Kurska
(5,739 posts)What it should be is
1. Make a prediction
2. Observe the event
3. Make a judgment
What they are doing is
1. Record a ton of predictions
2. Observe an event
3. Look for patterns of predictions TO MATCH THE EVENT (which can emerge just by chance).
I guarantee you he will find 'evidence" by cherry picking his results
LWolf
(46,179 posts)You are defining the scientific method according to what you think it should be?
How about this:
1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena.
2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation.
3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations.
4. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.
Or, for the social sciences:
Step 1 Forming a Testable Hypothesis
Step 2 Devise a Study and Collect Data
Step 3 Examine Data and Reach Conclusions
Step 4 Report the Findings of the Study
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)This guy isn't even a scientist, he's a fucking PHOTOGRAPHER.