To those who are open to PSI existing. Which theory do you believe may explain PSI (paranormal phenomena) such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, near-death experiences or apparitions etc?

John Beloff a well known parapsychologist concluded that PSI occurs becuase of dualism ie the mind and brain are separate. Amit Goswami however in his book “The Self-Aware Universe”, lists some studies on quantum physics that may lead to an explanation of psi that agrees with the theory of a nonphysical and conceptual world. He explains that in quantum physics, objects are not seen as definite things. Instead, objects are possibilities, viewed as something called “possibility waves”. Of course his interpretation due to his research in quantum physics has lead him to formulate idealistic monism, that only consciousness exists in the universe and everything is part of it, he argues against dualism and materialism.

Others however have disagreed and put forward physical and materialistic theories to try and explain PSI.

Michael Persinger claims that much of paranormal phenomena can be explained by low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic waves.

Brian Josephson has claimed that the explanation of PSI may be found in quantum physics. Gerald Feinberg's concept of a tachyon, a theoretical particle that travels faster than the speed of light has been advocated by some parapsychologists who claim that it could explain some PSI phenomena.

Charles Tart however believes PSI is completey non-physical and does not operate to material laws.

There are many theories which try and explain PSI. Which one do you advocate and why? If any?

I think you misunderstand quantum physics! I note that you have come to a scientific forum and are asking about "paranormal" phenomena for which there is still no scientific evidence, despite many many attempts to prove its presence.

For what it is worth, IIRC near death experiences are usually put down to random firing of the neurons (similar to dreams) and the fact that different parts of the sensory system persist for longer than others. None of the others have even come close to being termed definite phenomena.

bob1 on Thu Feb 9 00:10:05 2012 said:

Hi bob thanks for the reply yes I know this is a science forum and that is why I posted it, to see what scientists think about this area of study. You say that I misunderstand quantum physics but if you read my post where I mentioned quantum physics it was taken from a description of Amit Goswami's book nothing to do with myself (my personal views on the matter is that I do not advocate his theories). I merely mentioned a few of the available theories to explain PSI above to see what a scientific response may be. We all know that this area is pure heresy to the majority of scientists and that is probably why nobody else has responded.

Amit Goswami is a well known physicist you may want to explain to him that he doesn't understand quantum theory, I don't agree with his stuff either, but theres no need to dimiss scientists who are prepared to study PSI as crackpots. Theres lots of mysteries, we can't claim to know everything or brush under the carpet reported phenomena just because we don't like it.

David Josephson a physicist who even become a Nobel Prize laureate claims that PSI may exist and that quantum physics may be the answer, these are not my views on the matter they are the views of highly respected scientists. There are a handful of open minded scientists who have been preparded to study PSI, and time will tell im sure one day we will have a physical explanation for the reported phenomena.

So what are your views - only quoting people is no way to postulate anything.

From a scientific perspective, it is possible to speculate endlessly about how things might be (e.g. science fiction), but ALL of the testable phenomena such as telekinesis, PSI, clairvoyance and telepathy have been tested extensively and found to have no basis - i.e., under test conditions there was absolutly no evidence that there was any effect.

PSI is particularly easy to test - simply get some cards, a wall, some earmuffs/plugs and a supposed PSI sender and receiver. Have both sit down on opposite sides of the wall and put on the earmuffs/plugs, then get the sender to choose a card and try to send the card to the receiver. It has never been shown under these conditions that there was any difference between the PSI test and what you would get from random chance.