Unlike some previous attempts at battlefield psi ops, there is actual technology involved this time:

The project has three major goals, according to Darpa. First, try to map a person’s EEG patterns to his or her individual words. Then, see if those patterns are generalizable — if everyone has similar patterns. Last, “construct a fieldable pre-prototype that would decode the signal and transmit over a limited range.”

Neat stuff, for sure, and at least slightly more likely to be taken seriously than the well-known and much ridiculed Stargate remote viewing project that went on for years.

The success of Stargate is heavily disputed by many but its alumni spawned a private company or two shortly after the “official” project was discontinued.

The Farsite Instiute, the better known of the spin-offs, hasn’t done a whole lot to bolster confidence in remote viewing–or the people who offer training in such things. It’s been riddled with a bit of controvercy and in-fighting for years and some of it’s more public predictions (like the insitance that aliens would make themselves known “soon”–it’s been a decade or so since).

Psi Tech is a few years older than Farsite, but it’s history sounds no less like some fantasy spy novel. Their website does nothing to erase or dilute that “psi-fi” image.

Both organizations, though, do put forward an interesting set of theories and experimental control schems that should, eventually, allow some sort of independent verification of their claims.

The problem is, as is often the case with psychic phenomenon, no matter how tight your controls, repeatablility is always a problem. In a very soft science like remote viewing–which often requires heavy intrpretation of quick sketches and anecdotal descriptions of what the viewer is seeing–two outsiders looking at the same set of raw data can (and do) see very different things.

But, the new military “psychic” devices appear to be much  more centered on the indisputable biological and electrical activity in the brain, so maybe we’re finally on the right track.

Of course, as much as I applaud the fringe research, I can’t help but think our money right now would be better spent in other areas of research. Save the government funded fringe research for when our coffers are full. Leave this stuff up to the eccentric private sector folks (like those mentioned above) and then, when the economic climate is a bit better, actually make use of their research and build upon it.

According to Resource Shelf, Yahoo! has filed for a trademark on:

RISING : “Scientific and technological services, namely, providing investigation and research into psychic phenomenon and disturbances and paranormal phenomena via a global computer network” & “Education services, namely, providing a website featuring programs, current events, news and information in the field of psychic phenomenon and disturbances and paranormal phenomena via a global computer network; entertainment services, namely, providing a website featuring current events, news, information, and videos, film, interviews, talk shows programming, photographs, and other multimedia materials via a global computer network”, Filed: July 23, 2007

Can’t wait to see what’s up with that.

Maybe I should kick my own Searcher Journal stuff up a notch and try to compete.

OK, probably not… I’d need money and a staff to do that.

And while I’m sure I can get a staff, paying them would be an issue. And I would want to pay them.

Still, interesting, none the less.

I’ve had an interest in parapsychology for a good long time. For a little while, I even tried to justify it as a career choice. (That, obviously, did not happen.) My interest in parapsychology is one of the things that lead me into the metaphysical world and my current spiritual path. It’s also one of the things that constantly rubs up against my spiritual nature and keeps me walking a more balanced line between science and faith.

Between the parapsychology literature (both in print and on the web) that I’ve read and the science fiction/fantasy and just plain odd bits of fiction that have made their way through my hands and into my world view, the term “ESPer” has kind of resonated with me.

In a very basic way, an ESPer is pretty much just a psychic. But it’s a term that doesn’t carry with it the baggage that the more common one does. Using the term “psychic” conjures images of charlatans, Gypsies and carnival performers just out to fool you and take your money. While some more current press and entertainment presentations are beginning to erode that negative image, it is still very much there and gets in the way of most taking a serious look at the people who possess certain gifts.

To be more accurate, it’s a term I prefer to use to refer to people who make use of the gifts we all have (to one extent or another).

Those gifts include things like telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, ESP and out of body experience projection (astral travel). As a general rule, I don’t use it to refer to those that exhibit more physically interactive psi abilities such as psychokinesis.

We all have the ability to reach beyond the normal senses we routinely talk about–taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch–and use other forms of sensing. Most people ignore the times they experience such things. They write them off as coincidence or just a “gut feeling” or “hunch” about something. Growing up, we’re told some things just can’t be–and when we encounter them, we try our darndest to pretend they aren’t.

Some people, though, embrace those extra levels of information and learn to use them to their advantage. As with anything, some people are more “gifted” with these abilities than others. But just like regularly lifting weights can improve your physical strength, regularly working with psi abilities can make them stronger and make you more aware of the information they perceive.

How does it work? We’re not exactly sure. There a good number of theories and even some recent scientific evidence to back up some of the commonly known things an ESPer can do.

My personal theory is that all psi abilities interact with an as-yet undefined energy–perhaps the same energy that mystics and magick users seemingly manipulate, perhaps related to that as electricity and magnetism are related to one another. ESPers are very sensitive to the fluctuations in this energy and can pick up on the “ripples” and “waves” we all make as we go about things.

If all goes as planned, the next few weeks will be a discussion of how to best deal with some of that energy when it comes your way and how to better “tune in” to it yourself.

Sound good to you?