Since man has been on earth, there have been reports of paranormal events. Since the scientific method was established, it has been applied to the study of telepathy, precognition, remote viewing, psychokinesis, and spiritualism. On the one hand, evidence for all these phenomena has not been scarce; on the other hand, accepting their reality calls into question the reductionist framework on which modern science rests. Is there an objective physical reality that unfolds mechanically according to laws that operate at the microscopic level? (In this case, mind is an epiphenomenon that came into existence as brains evolved.) Or is mind part of the fabric of reality, as fundamental or perhaps more fundamental than matter, space, and time?
Research in telepathy and other paranormal phenomena has proceeded outside the purview of the scientific establishment. Researchers have realized the need to integrate a science of mind into the physical and biological sciences, and have adopted increasingly rigorous protocols and bulletproof statistical methodology in order to beat down the walls of censorship and earn a place in the scientific canon. Finally, this may be happening.
Last month, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association published this review of experiments in many different fields of parapsychology. The author concludes
The evidence provides cumulative support for the reality of psi, which...is comparable to that for established phenomena in psychology and other disciplines, although there is no consensual understanding of them.
(Daryl Bem prepared the ground for this event 7 years ago.)
3
3
2
