Deep in the basement of a dusty old library in Edinburgh lies a small black box that churns out random numbers. At first glance the box looks profoundly dull, but it is, in fact, the ‘eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future.

The machine apparently sensed the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened, and appeared to forewarn of the Asian Tsunami.

"It's Earth shattering stuff," says Dr Roger Nelson, Emeritus researcher at Princeton University in the USA. "But unfortunately we don't have a box for predicting the future that we can sell to the CIA. We're very early on in the process of trying to figure out what's going on here. At the moment we're stabbing in the dark."

Dr Nelson's Global Consciousness Project - originally hosted by Princeton University - is one of the most extraordinary experiments of all time. It aims to ‘sense' whether all of humanity shares a single unconscious mind that we all tap into without realising it. Some might refer to it as the mind of God. But the machine has also thrown up another tantalising possibility: that scientists may have unwittingly discovered a way of predicting the future.

Although many would consider the project's aims to be little more than fools' gold, it has still attracted a roster of 75 respected scientists from 41 different nations. Researchers from Princeton - where Einstein spent much of his career - work alongside scientists from universities in Britain, Holland, Switzerland and Germany. The project is also the most rigorous and longest running investigation ever into the paranormal.

"Very often paranormal phenomena evaporate if you study them for long enough," says physicist Dick Bierman of the University of Amsterdam. "But this is not happening with the Global Consciousness Project. The effect is real. The only dispute is about what it means."


The project has its roots in the extraordinary work of Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton University during the late 1970s. Professor Jahn was one of the first modern scientists to take paranormal phenomena seriously. Intrigued by such things as telepathy, telekinesis and ESP, he was determined to study the phenomena using the most up to date technology available.

One of these new technologies was a humble looking black box known was a Random Event Generator. This used sophisticated technology to generate two numbers - a one and a zero - in a totally random sequence, rather like an electronic coin-flipper. The pattern of ones and noughts - ‘heads' and ‘tails' as it were - can then be printed out as a graph. Pure chance dictates that the generators should churn out equal numbers of ones and zeros which produces a more or less flat line on a graph. Any deviation from this shows up as a gently rising curve.

During the late 1970s, Professor Jahn hauled strangers off the street and asked them to concentrate their minds on a number generator. In effect, he was asking them to try to make it flip more heads than tails. It was a preposterous idea at the time, and to many it still is.

The results, however, were stunning and have never been satisfactorily explained. Again and again, entirely ordinary people proved that their minds could influence the machines and produce significant fluctuations on the graph. According to all of the known laws of science, this should not have happened - but it did. And it kept on happening.

Dr Roger Nelson, also working at Princeton University, then extended Professor Jahn's work by taking the machines to group meditations, which were very popular in America at the time. Again, the results were shocking. The meditators somehow caused dramatic shifts in the numbers.

From then on, Dr Nelson was hooked. Using the Internet, he connected up 40 random event generators from all over the world to his laboratory computer in Princeton. These ran day in day out, generating millions of different pieces of data. Most of the time, the resulting graph on his computer looked more or less like a flat line. But during the funeral of Princess Diana something extraordinary happened: the graph shot upwards and reached for the sky. It was clear that they'd detected a totally new phenomena. The concentrated mental effort of millions of people appeared to be influencing the output of random event generators around the world. But how? Dr Nelson was still at a loss to explain it.

In 1998 he gathered together scientists from all over the world to try and understand the phenomena. They, too, were stumped and resolved to extend and deepen Jahn and Nelson's work. The Global Consciousness Project was born.

Since then, the project has expanded massively. A total of 65 Eggs (as the generators have been named) in 41 countries have now been recruited to act as the ‘eyes' of the project. And the results have been startling and inexplicable in equal measure. The Eggs not only ‘sensed' the moment that Princess Diana was buried, but also the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the Kursk tragedy and America's hung election of 2000. The Eggs also regularly detect huge global celebrations such as New Year's Eve. Even more bizarrely, they sense the celebrations as they sweep through the Earth's different time zones. 

The project threw up its greatest enigma on September 11th 2001. As the world stood still and watched the horror of the terrorist attacks unfold across New York, something strange was happening to the Eggs. Not only did they register the event as it happened, but the characteristic shift in the pattern of numbers began four hours before the two planes hit the Twin Towers.

"I knew then that we had a great deal of work ahead of us," says Dr Nelson.

The same happened with the Asian Tsunami. Twenty four hours before the tragedy unfolded, the characteristic shift in the pattern of numbers began. Curiously, it was at around this time that animals in the path of the tsunami began fleeing for their lives. Very few animals were killed in the tragedy, as you may remember, leading some to ask whether they had somehow foreseen the disaster.

So does the Global Consciousness Project really forecast the future? After all, cynics will quite rightly say that if you look at enough data then you will find correlations with something. After all, our world is full of wars, disasters and terrorist outrages, as well as the occasional global celebration.

The team behind the project say that they've thought of this. Using rigorous scientific techniques and powerful mathematics it is possible to exclude these chance connections. And they believe they have done so.

"Good scientists will ask what mistakes we've made," says Dr Nelson. "We're perfectly willing to discover that we've made mistakes. But we haven't been able to find any, and neither has anyone else.
 
"Our data shows clearly that the chances of getting these results by chance are one million to one against. That's hugely significant."

The Global Consciousness Project may have generated an incredible amount of compelling evidence, and garnered the support of eminent scientists, but many remain sceptical.

Professor Chris French, a psychologist and noted sceptic at Goldsmiths College in London, says: "The project has generated some very intriguing results that cannot be readily dismissed. I'm involved in similar work to see if we get the same results. We haven't managed to do so yet but it's only an early experiment. The jury's still out."


Strange as it may seem, there's nothing in the laws of physics that precludes the possibility of foreseeing the future. Time may not just move forwards - but backwards too. And if time ebbs and flows like the tides in the sea, it might just be possible to foretell the future.

"There's plenty of evidence that time may run backwards," says Professor Dick Bierman, a physicist at the University of Amsterdam. "And if it's possible for it to happen in physics then it can happen inside our heads too."

As a consequence says Professor Bierman, forecasting the future may not just be possible - it's something we do routinely without even realising it.

Dr John Hartwell, working at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, was the first to uncover evidence that people could sense the future. In the mid 1970s he hooked people up to hospital EEG machines so that he could study their brainwave patterns. When these people were shown emotionally charged cartoons, characteristic patterns flickered through their brainwaves. Strangely, these patterns began to emerge a few seconds before they actually saw the pictures.

But it was to be another 15 years before anyone else took this work further. Dean Radin, working in America, connected people up to a machine that measured their skin's resistance to electricity. This is known to fluctuate in tandem with our moods, indeed, it's this principle that underlies many lie detectors. Radin repeated Dr Hall's work whilst measuring skin resistance. Again, people began reacting a few seconds before they were shown the pictures. This was clearly impossible, or so he thought, so he kept on repeating the experiments and getting the same results.

"I didn't believe it," says Professor Bierman. "So I repeated the experiment myself and got the same results. I was shocked. After this I started to think more deeply about the nature of time."
 
Bierman then devised an experiment to settle his mind once and for all. He decided to use a hospital brain scanner to peer inside people's minds as they were shown a series of photographs. Each person was randomly shown erotic or violent pictures, or neutral images of white fluffy clouds. Each of these pictures produced unique patterns in the patient's brainwaves. In effect, you could see inside the mind as it reacted to each picture.

What is remarkable is that the patients began reacting 1-2 seconds before they saw the images. This is clearly impossible, or so we're taught to believe. And yet it happened time and time again.
 
Obviously sceptics would love to demolish Bierman's work but have so far failed to do so. Nor is his research a one off that can be casually dismissed. To make matters even more intriguing, Bierman says that other mainstream labs have produced similar results but they are too frightened to go public.

"They don't want to be ridiculed so they won't release their findings, says Professor Bierman. "So I'm trying to persuade all of them to release their results together. That would at least spread the ridicule a little more thinly!" jokes the Professor.

If Bierman is right, then sensing the future may help explain such things as deja vu, intuition and a host of other paranormal phenomena. It may also open up a far more interesting possibility - enhancing psychic powers using machines. Just as we have built machines to replace muscle power, may we one day build a device to enhance psychic abilities?

Dr Nelson is optimistic - but not for the short term: "We may be able to predict that something is going to happen. But we won't know exactly what will happen or where it's going to happen," he says.

But for Dr Nelson, talk of psychic machines is of far less importance than the implications of his work for ordinary people. We may all be individuals, he says, but we are also part of something far, far greater.

"We're taught to be individualistic monsters," he says. "We're driven by society to separate ourselves from each other. That's not right. We may be connected together far more intimately than we realise."

Does the medium Sally Morgan really talk to the dead?

Comments (32) >>

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written by Joe, May 21, 2008

Sorry, I forgot to mention that Charles is just weird. If you've not seen the comment yet, scroll down and prepare to be baffled.

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written by Joe, May 21, 2008

idiots. I'd written a balanced, sensible comment out, but this comment setup managed to lose it. So I'll settle for calling everybody who has advanced a theory for this an idiot, especially one-pointedness, apollo and Rabbit. @Shannon: a fair point, but is this rabid forum the best place to advocate moderation? In response, though, I'd believe it if it were at all believable and supported by evidence, or if it were fantastic yet supported by incontrovertible evidence. The further things get from accepted scientific knowledge, the heavier the burden of proof.

Hallmarks of bulls**t:
Authors do not publish in peer-reviewed journals, instead preferring to use the media as an outlet for their work.
Authors are funded for scientifically ridiculous studies. They wouldn't want to lose funding by proving themselves wrong, would they?
Authors do not attempt to take a million dollars from James Randi (no, I'm not a Randi groupie, but the offer seems genuine, and what do they have to lose?)
The sheer impossibility of what is posited. Come on people, think a little! How often has something like this actually turned out to be true?

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written by One pointedness, May 05, 2008

The device likely measures aggregated/averaged out brainwave power. When a horrific event is happening affecting the minds of the masses simultaneously, people's minds get extremely more focused for those periods of time than an average day.

For instance, when you are sitting down in the morning sipping a coffee, you aren't intensely focused on the cup and the liquid as it enters your mouth. Likely your mind is wondering about the past or the future (i.e. rest of day).

However, if somebody walks into your house, kicks down the door and pulls out a knife and threatens you or your family, all those other wondering thoughts will vanish instantly and you will be brought to the present moment with accute attention. Now for 9/11, new years celebration for the 10 second countdown, or whatever massive event, you simply multiply that by the number of people and then your measuring device records the variation from the norm.

As for braninwaves occuring seconds before the actual event, it may simply be how our consciousness works. Animals in a forest or anywhere, can detect danger many seconds (sometimes minuteS) before it strikes while humans are standing there confused as to why the dogs are barking at "nothing" or the deer are all running and massive ammounts of birds are abnormally flying together. I would suggest humans' precognition period of time (the 1 or 2 seconds measured) is likely dulled by their every day random thought processes (aka. distracted minds). Intuition eventually kicks in and overrides the daydreaming and emmits stronger brainwaves.

Can this box predict the future? Nope. At best it can continue to identify periods when massive ammounts of people's brainwaves reach some threshold of focus. Interpreting that with a box of 0's and 1's will not yield anything useful that will point the way.

At best this box will lead scientists deeper into the functioning of the brain and specifically consciousness and the relationship with quantum physics.

Lastly, I just want to say that meditators affect these machines more accutely because they have a higher capability to focus the mind. Ultimately, you don't need groups of meditators to affect this machine. A single person with above average concentration skills (learned through meditation over several years) should be able to affect this machine. Take it to any Zen master or Indian Yogi with siddhi capabilities... your machine would go way off the charts.

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written by http://RichardLalancette.Blogspot.com, April 30, 2008

This is some fantastic discovery!
Hopefully, this will lead us to discover that remote view is a simple yet important phenomenon we can all use to assist in our day to day lives.

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written by michael, April 29, 2008

this is a hologram, our thoughts sustain our illusions!
now we are lost in the game!
our religions and schools have have reinforced the illusion of seperation.
the origional sin is that we forgot we are children of the creator.
the biggest lie is that there is a chosen people.
there are over 6 billion of the chosen ones riding on this planet.
our thoughts create our reality
be carefull brothers and sisters of what we wish for!
peace and love

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written by Marika, April 29, 2008

Hey, Skeeter, I'm an 80's kid, and my school did ESP experiments for the Talented and Gifted group I was in. Out of eight kids (it was a small school, lol), only two kids got any decent results.
As for this "random number generator", I'd like to borrow it...maybe get it to pick out some lottery numbers....lmao. Really, I'd use the money for a good cause, lol!
Seriously, though, I have a hard time believing that this project will ever make it past the "curiosity" stage. There are too many variables to make this thing work as a way to really see the future. Besides that...does anybody really want to know the future? I don't-I have enough things to worry about it the present!

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written by pft, April 29, 2008

The device likely measures the collective brainwaves of the population at large, which is balanced in normal times, but changed due to events that trigger anxiety, pain, fear, etc.

"The machine apparently sensed the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened, and appeared to forewarn of the Asian Tsunami."

In order to forwarn, then the brainwaves would need to changed in a measureable way, for example the anxiety of those in the execution of the 9/11 attack, suggesting a large number of people knew 9/11 was to happen. Perhaps even the tsuanmi was triggered by the same people who did 9/11, or perhaps animals brain waves, who have been know to sense geological events before they happen, were responsible for the warning.

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written by Rabbit, April 29, 2008

Reading down the comments, is sad. At least half the people here just didn't comprehend the story, or its implications. There is a distinct two tier level of cognizance, more and more apparent on the net and the lower caste just cannot be brought up to speed. It is like trying to train a monkey.

For example this kind of comment.

There was a large earthquake in Indonesia yesterday. Was there a 'spike' recorded? If so, how far ahead of the earthquake?

How shallow a thought process has failed to recognize that the events, to register in this experiment have a substantial emotional impact. It isn't about measuring geologic events!

Then there is the knee jerk skeptic response. It is one thing to be skeptical but simply stupid to express skepticism given the amount of evidence provided in the report, without giving any further reason. That isn't skepticism, it is closed minded. Not that anyone whose mind functioned at such levels could recognize their sad state.

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written by Rabbit, April 29, 2008

This is not going to lead to a method of predicting the future. However it is definately scientific evidence for various so called "Paranormal" phenomena. It is a bit like peering at the moon with a high powered telescope. We can establish basic facts but to actually manipulate it is going to take other methods and knowledge altogether. Also the same as how people taking some drugs can temporarily achieve states which are sought by sorcerers and gurus throughout time, but the effect is brief and cannot be reproduced without the stimulant though it allows a glimpse into the possibilities.

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written by Dave Mende, April 29, 2008

The best way to predict the future is to create it. You bastards knew we were going to be hit. You let it happen. We will never forget you let the Conspirators kick in our two front teeth. NEVER.

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written by Michael, April 29, 2008

How did the Eggs report anything other than less-than-random numbers on a display? How does one decide what actions specificallyh those changes from randomness might be reporting?

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written by apollo, April 28, 2008

The type of frequency released by our brains, are scientifically unknown because of quantum fluxuation. Once you see an electron you cannot predict or see where its going to be next. As a result of this, spooky particle's engage Random events which then catalyze into phantom-neuron's. I.E unpredictable visions of future and past.

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written by apollo, April 28, 2008

personally, i beleive the phenomena occurs ever greater when one is deprived of sleep for more than 24 hours. The brain then enters a new phase of bio-rhythm. It tries harder and harder to connect with some nomralizing phase of surrounding frequencies. Thus expanding the possibility of mimicing a random set of outbound consciousness.

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written by ROBOTIC WAGELESS ECONOMY, April 28, 2008

The Future is already here, it is just unevenly distributed...

here is the future, http://RoboEco.com/see-the-future-NOW

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written by robert, April 28, 2008

the authors should check out halfpasthuman where they have discovered a way of predicting the future from radical linguistics that yeilds dates, times, and descriptions of what will happen, many months in advance. Or see the history of the project at geogre ure's urban survival dot com..

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written by Shannon, March 07, 2008

There is a danger for science in encouraging self-appointed protectors who engage in polemical campaigns that distort and misrepresent serious research efforts. Such campaigns are not only counterproductive, they threaten to corrupt the spirit and function of science and raise doubts about its credibility. The distorted history, logical contradictions, and factual omissions exhibited in the arguments of the critics represent neither scholarly criticism nor skepticism, but rather counteradvocacy masquerading as skepticism. True skepticism involves the suspension of belief, not disbelief.

Joe: A little thought about your militant skepticism...

In practice, the goal of skepticism is not the discovery of truth, but the exposure of other people's errors. It plays a useful role in science, religion, scholarship, and common sense. But we need to remember that it is a weapon serving belief or self-interest; we need to be skeptical of skeptics. The more militant the skeptic, the stronger the belief.

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written by Joe, March 01, 2008

John: reference? Richard Gins: simply not true. I am a professional physicist and it pisses me off to see this crap touted everywhere. People have a right to comment, which comes with a duty to not spout bulls**t, so please observe it.

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written by John, March 01, 2008

Studies in the UK have shown that there are significantly less passengers on trains that crash,compared with the usual number carried by that particular daily train service.

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written by Richard Gins, February 29, 2008

The ideas contained in this article are synchronictic with other schools of thought from spiritual to scientific. In physic, there is an experiment known as the "Double slit" experiment where the result is acutually controlled by we we think. Science has no practical explanation for how this happens but the evidence clearly creates this mystery. In a sense, we seem to always come back to our unexplainable connection to a humbling greater power that we can not understand...hence we face our unleased powers and our need for faith in an unknown source. To understand the mysterious Double Slit Experiment, watch this streaming video. http://www.bottomlayer.com/myst_vid/index.htm

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written by Joe, February 29, 2008

Credulous bulls**t.

And, grammar boy, 'this phenomena'?. Jesus.

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written by sam c, February 27, 2008

The article was very intriguing and well written. I've been following this phenomena for quite some time. However, if you wish to be taken more seriously, you must do spell checks and grammar checks! Sloppy editing, even on such small items can create questions of credibility in the reader's mind. It shouldn't have taken more than 5 minutes to do these edits.

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written by Mart, February 21, 2008

Im sure Ive seen this before....

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written by David Holtek, February 21, 2008

Maybe this is why The Amazing Randy decided to END his offer of a million $ for verifiable paranormal phenomenon. But I'm a physicalist and believe that in the end sound, scientific explanations will be found for things even as "way out"as this. Also, surely Heisenbergian factors come into play here - if a population was shown or told that the "eggs" had recently spiked then most likely the collective anxiety would loop back and cause a real or "double" spike.

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written by Charles, February 21, 2008

What we see here is a peek into the actual workings of existence. Here lies the key to understanding how the actual mechanics and forces that drive our world work, and how we may work them.

"Things ain't what they seem".

This being said, in my personal opinion, a Cornucopia of Expanded Existence is on the way, the Inevitable Expansion of Soul and Being proscribed in the makings of this "ball of wax" that we might Become, that we might be Co Explorers and Co Creators with the Ones or One who Made All This.

The interconnection of All That Is is an indicator how all is of the Body of Christ, for want of a better term.

The Eternal Playful Creative Expansion is what it's all about, and we as individuals are playing out the Creative Exploration that is taking place in God, in God's Body, Universe.

At least, that's the picture that emerges after sixty years of experience and exploration living on this planet.

It SEEMS like a correct view, but I suppose, until we can know more, the Jury is still Out, and we gotta go on Faith. Well, that's a Creative Act too, methinks.

Have a cool time.

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written by Byron Ware, February 20, 2008

Jehova Jihra! A creator? !

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written by Jimbob McGillicuddy, February 20, 2008

If this can be reproduced regularly, how come it never tried to win Amazing Randi's 1 million dollar challenge?

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written by The Eggmaster, February 20, 2008

I predict that in the future, all public spaces will have a display showing the spike level of the eggs. Now, maybe with enough eggs and proper placement we could better pinpoint the location of future events.

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written by skeeter, February 20, 2008

When I was is grade school they passed out ESP kits. We were to try and read others minds. It did'nt seem to work. It was 1967,any one else hear of ESP ? extra sensory perspective?

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written by SKULLANDBONEHEADS, February 20, 2008

"But unfortunately we don't have a box for predicting the future that we can sell to the CIA"

Right off the bat you know these people are not for the people's best interest when it's more important to share it with the CIA than the Nation and World (esp. if you consider the possibility at the least, that the CIA helped orchestrate 911).
Yale's Skull and Bones is an occult freemason fraternity (who's icon is a nice compassionate loving, empathic Christian one, that of a SKULL with a double cross of bones), and maybe IMPORTANT this fraternity just happens to farm out a disproportionately higher percentage of CIA agents than any other fraternity. If you trust the CIA, you're blind faith is as naive and foolish as any.
A black box? Why a reacurring theme of a BLACK box I wonder? Ritual Mockery? Occult symbolism hint hint. Like DIEbold's blackbox voting machines, hiding a dark secret. Borg/Matrix/Hive Mind - New World Odor, just some ideas pop into my mind.

CIA / OSI / NAZI / Operation Paperclip / Operation Artichoke/ MKultra (Trauma-based mind control ops) / Daddy Bush(former Director of CIA).
And then you have Bohemian Grove, which holds an amazing litany of members our presentand past corporate overlords and politicians, where a giant stone Owl (like the tiny one in the corner of every dollar bill)is worshipped. Owl God - Moloch/Molech (Molest?)possibly another version of Ba'al - an ancient Cannanite god (Demon) of Sorrow and ritual sacrifice.
That's just a quicky taste of the sinister occult reality of Bushzarrow world. But don't believe any of this, it's easier... but not for long, as the entire ecology and economy are dismembered and you along with it. Good worker bees don't question, follow the lemming cliff road.

Behold a Pale Horse! Gotta run. Oh and Happy Chemtrails (operation cloverleaf, raindance, redsky etc.)!!! Got Soul? Got mind? got control?

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written by Mike N, February 20, 2008

truly random number generators don't exist, so i have trouble accepting any proof that is built on the assumption that they do.

agree with Kent though - i'd love to be as informed as my cat is.

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written by PineKnot, February 20, 2008

There was a large earthquake in Indonesia yesterday. Was there a 'spike' recorded? If so, how far ahead of the earthquake?

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written by Kent McManigal, February 20, 2008

I would like to see the results of a "spike" released to the public before the supposed triggering event occurs. Maybe by way of a website that sends out an email to subscribers when a spike shows up.

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