PF Remote Viewing Test: Object Revealed Any Winner? P. 7

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In summary, the black bag with the lime-green and white shipping peanuts inside contains a mystery object that Win a prize! if I guess what's in the bag, I don't want a T-shirt. I want James Randi's million dollar prize.

Check the options that best describe the dominant appearance of the object

  • Box

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Ellipsoidal / Spherical

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Cylindrical / tubular

    Votes: 3 21.4%
  • Segmented

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Disk / Planar

    Votes: 4 28.6%
  • Opaque

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Clear

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Bright colors

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Dark colors

    Votes: 4 28.6%
  • White

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
  • #1
Ivan Seeking
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
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PF Remote Viewing Test: Win a prize!

Zero had a great idea: Let's do our own "psi" experiments.

For starters, how about if we try some remote viewing?

I live right in the middle of Oregon. I have a large black bag with lime-green and white shipping peanuts inside [some are white, some are green]. Also inside is a mystery object. Focus on the bag and the peanuts; now what do you see in the bag sitting on the peanuts? I have left this sitting exactly as shown.

Please see the attached pic to see the black bag. The attachment should come up shortly.

I will give a PF T-shirt to the first person who can describe the object in the bag to my satisfaction. Here is a link to see the shirt and other PF favorites.

http://www.cafeshops.com/cp/store.aspx?s=physicsforum [Broken]

EDIT: Oh yes, just in case, only one psychic viewing and answer per person. :wink: Also, please refrain from looking around my office.


I have sent a picture of this object to Greg who can later validate the results. Obviously Greg and anyone who sees the picture of this object can’t participate. I will announce the date of disclosure at a later time.
 

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  • #2
If I guess what's in the bag, I don't want a T-shirt. I want James Randi's million dollar prize.
 
  • #3
Originally posted by zoobyshoe
If I guess what's in the bag, I don't want a T-shirt. I want James Randi's million dollar prize.

If you get it dead on, by name, in an effort to match Randi's challenge, I will up the prize to a PF sweatshirt.
 
  • #4
Its a DVD of Matrix Relaoded, we all know it is...
 
  • #5
Did I win?
 
  • #6
It's a duck.

- Warren
 
  • #7
It is one of a pair of Motorola T5820 2-Way Radios in Sunstreak yellow.

Njorl
 
  • #8
Geez, give us a hard one! It's a Captain Zoom decoder ring from the 1950's in pristine condition.
 
  • #9
a Barbie doll (from your Sister A.)
 
  • #10
It is a small box containing answers to all mans mysterys:

A piece of memory metal from Roswell.
DNA samples of Bigfoot and Flying Rods
Astrological evidence of Planet X
A photo of John Titor and his time traveling machine entering the time vortex
Exclusive proof (Via VHS cassete recording) of Hercules and Jesus duking it out to determine who the strongest half-god is.
A map to Atlantis

And I also sense a copy of the matrix. However, I sense this is a pirated copy, and have alerted the RIAA via pyschic communication.
 
  • #11
Ah... I am having some very... strong... vibrations...

The spirits are talking to me now... Hark! I sense it is small, yet not too small, and it has hidden meaning... spiritual meaning... I sense it is pink, but pink in the essence, perhaps it is wreathed in some other form... maybe... blue... no wait.. brown... or some other colour containing a vowel... I sense... a long history in front and behind it... Some faces... strange faces...

Is it a brown teddy bear?

then... again... my abilities allow me to see only the spiritual essence of the object, what it wants to be... ah... I am drained, I must have spiritual recuperation with the dollars of my ancestors... forgive me.

Just give me the money!
 
  • #12
Mega,

you forget to mention the crashed harddisk with the Bush-files.
 
  • #13
Question:
Does a remote viewer collapse the wave function of the object in my black bag?
 
  • #14
Originally posted by megashawn
A piece of memory metal from Roswell.

What is the shape?

The answers must include a description if it is not obvious and conclusive.
 
  • #15
Originally posted by Ivan Seeking [/i]
Question: Does a remote viewer collapse the wave function of the object in my black bag?
Ivan, you put an object into the bag. It's there. Greg knows. If nobody guesses it's still there. If someone guessed correctly it's still there. Nothing changes. It's a 3D-reality object with 3D coordinates. The only real thing you can say IMO is that it has a specific vibration: a proper resonance. The poster that can capture that specific resonance get's the T-shirt. No QM magic. Just capturing. What superposition? None. The object didn't get an extra feature by putting it inside the bag.
The only difference is YOUR knowledge and OUR ignorance. Superposition is only an artificial expression of un-understanding. A complicated way to say: I don't know. Is that scientific? No. In fact it's even stupid.
 
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  • #16
Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
What is the shape?

The answers must include a description if it is not obvious and conclusive.
This smells like a clue. He demands specificity because...someone's close, but not close enough.
 
  • #17
It's a PF T-shirt! Is it a PF T-shirt?!
 
  • #18
This is a scam...because I KNOW my psychic powers are strong!
 
  • #19
And it is a star or sun shape with a hole in it.
 
  • #20
Could it be a cat?

or Lurch could be right... A bunch of Physics Forum Sweatshirts...ahhhh from what I can see (its a little foggy...)maybe grey or white in color...

Sizes would range from small to XL...

Now my recepters my be off because it is raining here in OR and that tends to throw my powers a little off
 
  • #21
Yep, raining in Oregon. You guys all can see that, can't you?
 
  • #22
Update

I just sent the following email to the top ten Remote Viewing sites that emerged from a Google search. Included were some of the better known, ex-military, ex-CIA remote viewers. My real name and personal email was included in the original letter.

It will be interesting to see if we get a response.

Hello,
I mentor at an internet physics forum with over 2500 members ranging in academic status from high school students, to PhDs. We have a section of this forum dedicated to fringe subjects. We consider all evidence and appreciate any opportunity to explore any new challenges to conventional wisdom. Presently, I have posted a remote viewing test, posted mostly for fun, but also in such a way that any legitimate results might be considered. Also, we can always create a new test if this is unfair somehow.

We would greatly appreciate any comments or participation by a trained remote viewer. The sub-forum is called skepticism and debunking; but I can assure you that this is not intended to embarrass anyone. A genuine demonstration, be it successful to some degree or not, would be greatly appreciated. If you would be willing to give a demonstration, please contact me by email, or even join up and post directly to the thread; just let us know who you are.
This is a link to the test.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7801

Main page of the forum.
https://www.physicsforums.com
Thanks you,
...aka Ivan Seeking
 
  • #23
Well, OK, but no namecalling till I leave!

These answers are great!

For a useful debunking essay, visit the website of Brian Josephson (a Nobel winner in physics, out of Cambridge) for Drasin's: How To Debunk Just About Anything

Anybody here bodybuild? Ever met someone who hears you work out and goes, "Flex for me!" or "How much do you lift?" "Well gee. On which muscle set? Flex what?" And aside from hoisting their Miata to impress them, do they know what constitutes measure in your world? (A girl who can lift 16lbs on the tibia is tough... But that wouldn't impress outsiders.)

Given this is a physics forum (man am I impressed with any forum that has greek symbols in their smiley-box) I'll go out on a limb here and 'assume' y'all are monsterbrain science nuts. I'm not here to jump any case about clearly not being real educated about RV prior to creating a 'test' for it (and I can't buck your car up either) but Ivan Seeking was cordial, so I'll give a few pointers from my studies (such as they are--I claim no omniscience!), and anybody interested can put together something more practical.

At that point, I'd be happy to see if I can recruit you some viewers to make fun of at your leisure. We reserve the right to make fun of you in forums you don't read either, if that's alright.

Off the top of my pointy little head, here are a few of the major things worth knowing about RV:

1. In practice it's an art, and the variation in personal skill is drastic. Laymen debate this, but research concluded only 1/2 of 1% of the population seems to be normally capable of something most skeptics would recognize as psi. (Hint: best way to avoid breaking your reality-model by recognizing anything as psi, is to take Ray Hyman's infamous way out by muttering something like, "There is clearly an effect here, but I would prefer not to call it psi." This will happily leave the door open, despite no actual evidence for doing so, for the next several centuries of official denial.)

Now any intelligent measure of something a bit more abstract than chemistry will see there are 'degrees' of performance in anything, and every session varies, just to make it complicated to guarantee anything. (Then again, basketball is easy, visible and measurable, but even the pros don't always make it in.)

This is a case where you can't judge the field by an individual. You really need to find an individual who has some legitimate scientific history of testing out as qualified, and then maybe you can consider them "an example". "Claimants" are seldom more than hype. The 'real deal' folks are usually pretty quiet. Obviously this complicates things for demos...

Having jumped hoops for (in McMoneagle's case) about 20 years in the lab, and in-person demos, and live-camera demos, under a science protocol often managed by an Official Skeptic (a job which like bartending, anybody breathing can qualify for), those people most qualified might not give a rip about doing a session *outside scientific protocol* for someone on the internet who wants you to take time to 'prove' RV to them by remote viewing what's in their bag, under their pillow, in their mind, the lotto numbers, or other common requests.

(Well those aren't the MOST common requests I get through my RV website. Usually they are things that inspire me to respond, "Remote viewing is, er, probably not for you. You might consider seeking professional help." In RV, like law, it's the 99% that give the other 1% a bad name.)

2. Remote viewing is FREE RESPONSE psi. Better targets are generally--with photo feedback so the FB/target is real specific--a location, an event or situation, or some other fairly definitive snapshot in time/space. There are other issues related to target pool bandwidth and such but never mind. (See physics lab http://www.lfr.org/csl/ [Broken] for info.)

3. It helps to know what RV is good at, and what it is not. The data that comes from RV is, with exceptions, a sampling of what is part of, in close proximity to, or fundamentally related to, the target. Yeah this sounds like serious waffling, but that's the way it is; you work with the tools you have.

Say I do a practice session and I get there are these poles, made of metal, long skinny tubular, with some kind of pattern, multiples of them. The target feedback has several poles prominent in it just like that. Old telegraph poles I guess. I also got data that suggested multiple people had died, that bodies had been punctured, perhaps by bullets. Alas I had damn little info about the whole point of the target in the feedback: a parade of 21 coffins of miners shot by state militia during a strike in the late 1800's.

So if that were a test, I really suck at viewing, because the target was "the parade of coffins" in the photo--I'd have been happy to describe the coffins, wagons, people, or concept of parade, or even public gathering to be awfully easy on myself, but Nooooo... I am not good at RV. Still, when you do enough, you consider empirically that the odds of describing some things so specifically which are either IN or directly related to (such as the 'cause' of) the target, over time, calling it coincidence really stretches it a bit.

Now much of the time I suck even much worse than that example, I'm not a good candidate for proof. I'm just an interested layman who's been studying the research, intell-history, psi methodologies and the social field of RV for some years. (As you might imagine, it's much more fun from the closet-sociologist point of view than the others!)

4. Remote Viewing when utilized in the real world is usually done in a team. All data is taken together and analyzed. (Analysis is the most important, yet most difficult part of this topic, since science that did ops holds it proprietary, intell that did ops won't share analysis methods, and most viewers/psychics are not... well, analysts by personality. With some exceptions.) Of course, the process of analysis might seriously muck it all up worse than any individual session was to begin with, esp. as this is self-trained mostly-layman-efforts to reinvent the wheel in this area.

When one person does RV it isn't always expected to HAVE the answers--it is usually expected to provide info that *leads to* or *contributes to* answers. In combination with other intelligence sources (usually more mundane types), a real 'answer' can often be gleaned. That doesn't mean it isn't valuable; but for most targets, a radio-satellite is a helluva lot more useful. RV is useful for target where *there is no other way to find info* and so even an increase in your odds is worth it.

5. RV is often done in multiple sessions. E.g, several viewers do a session on X, then a tasker considers what is most interesting (such as likely applicability to the question), and tasks more sessions based on that previous data. Obviously this requires your viewers be pretty decent from the start or you're doomed.

If you ask most remote viewers--even those relatively decent by some standards--to describe what is in your bag, analytical interference is going to render the task unlikely to be done well. Too much frontloading. All RV should be doubleblind. Say nothing but 'describe the target'.

It appears one can't do anything with the mind where both analysis and imagination do not play a part. Both are sort of tools, or ways of thinking, and both sort of simultaneously enable RV to be done, yet profoundly affect results, usually in the negative. For this reason all 'real' RV is done physically double-blind, and the practice viewers do constantly is in learning to let go of the mind's need to analyze and label everything.

If you ask viewers double-blind to "describe the target" (which is what is in your bag), many will get around to something about it eventually (RV tends to do a general flitting about the target, and gradually as session lengthens, gets more specific to the 'point' of it), but on a first session, most will be describing parts of the bag, of you, of the creation/concept of what's in there, etc. As viewers are taught and trained to 'describe, not label/analyze', it is rare a viewer will just come out and name the target.

So to summarize, if you're going to construct an experiment to look at remote viewing results, you will want to have:

  1. Totally free-response, something 'real' and not a simple little object (maybe to you it's the same, but even in a physics sense of energy and entropy, a location is not the same as a little plastic icon for example), pref with photo feedback, so the photo 'defines' what is targeted. {In fact, if you're going to bother challenging people in a given field, get some edu about it (I realize that was part of the email request), so you are actually testing for what they are claiming to do, not what you think they are claiming to do.} Choose something which is specific and set-apart a bit from other things. There is still a nearly infinite pool to choose from after all.
  2. At least several viewers.
  3. An understanding going in that you are more likely to get 'pieces of' things in the target, and impressions all over the target, than a clear description or name of "what it is." (It isn't a viewer's job to label things. Figuring out how the data applies to the question is the job of analysts, not viewers. It is their job to describe things. How well they do that depends on--well who knows, sometimes it's impressive, sometimes it's laughable, you just never know!)
    [/list=1]
    As a last note: never believe anything you hear in the media. Well this probably goes for any topic, but especially RV!

    PJ
    http://www.firedocs.com/remoteviewing/
 
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  • #24


Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
I just sent the following email to the top ten Remote Viewing sites that emerged from a Google search. Included were some of the better known, ex-military, ex-CIA remote viewers. My real name and personal email was included in the original letter.

It will be interesting to see if we get a response.

Its a Breakfast Cereal Bowl.
 
  • #25


Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
Included were some of the better known, ex-military, ex-CIA remote viewers.
I could be interesting to set-up an internet network of people claiming to have RV, and for example try to find out where Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (number two in the former Iraqi regime) or Saddam Hussein are hiding. Apply on a large (closed) network some serious statistics and ponderation, scores, etc. That might give higher results than local intelligence.
 
  • #26
Uhh, consulting the spirits again (no, not the mystical ones, my bottle of everclear)

The peace of metal seems to be in the shape of a frying pan.

Or is it a shot glass?
 
  • #27
I guess something spherical, if I can be that vague. A stress ball maybe?
 
  • #28
I'm thinking that the fault lies in the sender...
 
  • #29
What a surprise that 90% of this thread is dedicated to mocking the test. What a shameful attitude to hold for anyone who takes the 'objectivity' of science seriously.
 
  • #30
Originally posted by hypnagogue
What a surprise that 90% of this thread is dedicated to mocking the test. What a shameful attitude to hold for anyone who takes the 'objectivity' of science seriously.

You must have some other way of calculating 90% than I do. It was closer to 10% than 90%. Or is any attempt by people of a scientific mindset to test paranormal phenomena intrinsically mockery?

Njorl
 
  • #31
Not taking the test seriously amounts to implicit mockery; there has been some of that (your initial post included) in addition to the explicit kind. There is obviously some kind of methodology involved in remote viewing, whether it is valid or not; ignoring this aspect and blindly guessing is a passive aggressive attempt to discredit the test.
 
  • #32
Originally posted by hypnagogue
Not taking the test seriously amounts to implicit mockery; there has been some of that (your initial post included) in addition to the explicit kind. There is obviously some kind of methodology involved in remote viewing, whether it is valid or not; ignoring this aspect and blindly guessing is a passive aggressive attempt to discredit the test.

Well, you seem to believe you are telepathic, and are able to read my mind. You are wrong. You jumped to the conclusion that I was not making a serious effort. This is a mistake many advocates of the paranormal make. They believe no skeptic is capable of objective testing when exactly the opposite is true.

I will describe the nature of my so-called mocking guess. I looked at the linked bag. I concentrated. I got nothing. I thought, "what could I see if this sort of thing is real." Some funny ideas occurred to me. I dismissed them and decided to take this seriously. I relaxed and decided not to try forcing anything. I couldn't help but try to logically deduce what was in the bag - T-shirt occurred to me too. I decided to think about other things so no forced thoughts would interfere. While reading my email for work, an image of the gold box that amazon.com uses for its "Gold Box Deals" flashed in my memeory. I decided this was the best possible image I could get. It seemed apropos to me that it was an internet mechanism, since I was given the image of the bag over the internet. I went to amazon.com and opened my "Gold Box" offers. The first one was the radio I described.

Njorl
 
  • #33
I retract my comments about your post in that case, Njorl. Your guess seemed too specific to be a genuine effort.

However, I would like to re-emphasize that, valid or not, there is a specific methodology for RV, as indicated in a previous post by PJ. If we are to truly take this test seriously, anyone who tries his/her hand should thoroughly familiarize him/herself with the established procedures and try in earnest to apply them before attempting an answer.

Of course, this goes for the specific set up of the test as well. If the setup of the test is inadequate, a new one should be set up to mirror precedents in the field if we take the claims seriously and expect to see any meaningful results.
 
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  • #34
Originally posted by hypnagogue
Not taking the test seriously amounts to implicit mockery; there has been some of that (your initial post included) in addition to the explicit kind. There is obviously some kind of methodology involved in remote viewing, whether it is valid or not; ignoring this aspect and blindly guessing is a passive aggressive attempt to discredit the test.
I know I hear this enough to be an expert...LIGHTEN UP! Have a little fun, dude...

And, I still think I got it right and Ivan keeps switching objects on me.
 
  • #35


Originally posted by PJ
These answers are great!

For a useful debunking essay, visit the website of Brian Josephson (a Nobel winner in physics, out of Cambridge) for Drasin's: How To Debunk Just About Anything...As a last note: never believe anything you hear in the media. Well this probably goes for any topic, but especially RV!

PJ
http://www.firedocs.com/remoteviewing/

Hey PJ,
Thanks for stopping in; and for your detailed response. It seems that for a legitimate test of RV we would need to modify our little test. Also, what a link! WOW. Please feel free to join in the conversations. We always appreciate new insights – no pun intended.

You should have at least made a guess...you still could have gotten it right by luck. Wouldn't that be hilarious?

If we can get any trained RVers to participate I will change the test to make it appropriate to the effort.

Thanks again,
Ivan
 
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<h2>1. What is the purpose of the PF Remote Viewing Test?</h2><p>The purpose of the PF Remote Viewing Test is to test the ability of individuals to use their psychic or intuitive abilities to accurately perceive and describe an unknown object.</p><h2>2. How does the PF Remote Viewing Test work?</h2><p>The PF Remote Viewing Test involves a sender who chooses an object and a receiver who attempts to describe the object using their psychic abilities. The sender then reveals the object to determine if the receiver's description was accurate.</p><h2>3. What are the rules for participating in the PF Remote Viewing Test?</h2><p>The rules for participating in the PF Remote Viewing Test include: having an open mind, being relaxed and focused, and following the instructions provided by the sender. It is also important to have a quiet and distraction-free environment during the test.</p><h2>4. Can anyone participate in the PF Remote Viewing Test?</h2><p>Yes, anyone can participate in the PF Remote Viewing Test as long as they are willing to follow the rules and instructions provided. It does not require any specific skills or training, but some individuals may have a natural aptitude for remote viewing.</p><h2>5. Is there a prize for correctly identifying the object in the PF Remote Viewing Test?</h2><p>No, there is no prize for correctly identifying the object in the PF Remote Viewing Test. The purpose of the test is to explore the potential of psychic abilities and to gather data for research purposes.</p>

1. What is the purpose of the PF Remote Viewing Test?

The purpose of the PF Remote Viewing Test is to test the ability of individuals to use their psychic or intuitive abilities to accurately perceive and describe an unknown object.

2. How does the PF Remote Viewing Test work?

The PF Remote Viewing Test involves a sender who chooses an object and a receiver who attempts to describe the object using their psychic abilities. The sender then reveals the object to determine if the receiver's description was accurate.

3. What are the rules for participating in the PF Remote Viewing Test?

The rules for participating in the PF Remote Viewing Test include: having an open mind, being relaxed and focused, and following the instructions provided by the sender. It is also important to have a quiet and distraction-free environment during the test.

4. Can anyone participate in the PF Remote Viewing Test?

Yes, anyone can participate in the PF Remote Viewing Test as long as they are willing to follow the rules and instructions provided. It does not require any specific skills or training, but some individuals may have a natural aptitude for remote viewing.

5. Is there a prize for correctly identifying the object in the PF Remote Viewing Test?

No, there is no prize for correctly identifying the object in the PF Remote Viewing Test. The purpose of the test is to explore the potential of psychic abilities and to gather data for research purposes.

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