The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering Perspective
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Plain English Summary
This landmark paper brought psychokinesis research into the mainstream engineering journal IEEE and became one of the most-cited studies in the field. Robert Jahn's Princeton lab asked people to mentally influence random number generators — essentially nudging electronic coin flips with their minds. Over 25,000 trials with 5 million random events, they found tiny but persistent shifts: about 1-1.5 extra "heads" per thousand flips. Sounds small, but the odds against chance were roughly one in a billion. The lab also found participants could describe distant locations far better than guessing alone. Jahn reviewed every theoretical framework — electromagnetic, quantum, holographic — and admitted none could explain it. His conclusion: the evidence is weird, it's real, and scientists should keep investigating.
Research Notes
Landmark paper that introduced PEAR's REG paradigm to the mainstream engineering community via the IEEE. One of the most-cited papers in the psychokinesis literature; its data and methodology became the foundation for decades of PEAR research and were later meta-analyzed by Radin (1989) and critiqued by Bosch et al. (2006). Central to Controversy #8 (GCP/RNG) and #4 (double-slit PK).
Invited review surveying the history, nomenclature, and contemporary research on psychic phenomena from an engineering standpoint. Presents original REG (random event generator) data from the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory: over 25,000 PK trials with 5 million+ binary events yielded directional shifts of ~1-1.5 bits per thousand from chance, with a combined direction-of-effort probability of approximately 3×10⁻⁹. Also reports precognitive remote perception experiments scored via a 30-descriptor binary analytical judging system, achieving mean target ranks of 5.79-6.73 against a chance expectation of 12.5 (p = 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶). Reviews electromagnetic, thermodynamic, quantum mechanical, holographic, and holistic theoretical models, finding none yet functional. Concludes that the evidence warrants continued study within rigorous experimental frameworks.
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Related Papers
Same Research Program
- Engineering Anomalies Research — Jahn, Robert G (1987)
- Correlations of Random Binary Sequences with Pre-Stated Operator Intention: A Review of a 12-Year Program — Jahn, Robert G (1997)
- Mind/Machine Interaction Consortium: PortREG Replication Experiments — Jahn, Robert G (2000)
- The PEAR Proposition — Jahn, Robert G (2005)
- Information and Uncertainty in Remote Perception Research — Dunne, Brenda J (2003)
- On the Quantum Mechanics of Consciousness, with Application to Anomalous Phenomena — Jahn, Robert G (1986)
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Critiqued By
Extended By
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Observer Influence on Quantum Interference: Testing the von Neumann-Wigner Consciousness-Collapse Theory
New Year's Eve as a Case Study in Experimental Metaphysics: Exploring Global Consciousness in Random Physical Systems
Anomalous Entropic Effects in Physical Systems Associated with Collective Consciousness
Psychophysical Interactions with Electrical Plasma: Three Exploratory Experiments
Psychophysical Effects on an Interference Pattern in a Double-Slit Optical System: An Exploratory Analysis of Variance
📋 Cite this paper
Jahn, Robert G (1982). The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering Perspective. Proceedings of the IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/PROC.1982.12318
@article{jahn_1982_persistent,
title = {The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering Perspective},
author = {Jahn, Robert G},
year = {1982},
journal = {Proceedings of the IEEE},
doi = {10.1109/PROC.1982.12318},
}