Bernard Carr - Does ESP Make Sense?

Parapsychologists are sure ESP is real. Skeptics are sure it is not. But if ESP is real, must explaining ESP go beyond physical laws, into unknown non-physical realms? Nothing repels scientists more than forays into the non-physical. But human concepts of reality keep expanding. We do not know any limits and, due to ESP, it may be foolish to impose them.

Bernard J. Carr is a Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London. His research interests include the early universe, dark matter, general relativity, primordial black holes, and the anthropic principle.

Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[realitycheck]

When Albert Einstein was an adolescent, he had a vivid dream that would influence the course of his life. Einstein describes his dream (dreamed around 1890-95):

“I was sledding with my friends at night. I started to slide down the hill but my sled started going faster and faster. I was going so fast that I realized I was approaching the speed of light. I looked up at that point and I saw the stars. They were being refracted into colors I had never seen before. I was filled with a sense of awe. I understood in some way that I was looking at the most important meaning in my life.”

The dream was an inspiration for what was to become the Theory of Relativity. Einstein says that his entire scientific career was a meditation on this dream.
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity came to him in a dream about cows. He dreamed he was walking through a farm when he came upon some cows by an electric fence. He then saw the cows jump at the same time as the fence gave them an electric shock. But a farmer, who had been standing at the other end of the field, saw them jump one by one, like a Mexican wave. Einstein realised their views of the same event had been different. This lead to the Theory of Relativity, the idea that events look different depending on where you’re standing because of the time it takes the light to reach your eyes.

Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan (1887–1920: died at 32 years old), was an Indian mathematician who, with almost no formal training, made extraordinary contributions to mathematics and almost all his claims have been proven correct. He initially developed his own mathematical research in isolation, and developed over 3900 math theorems. Ramanujan credits his work to the Hindu goddess Namakkal and her consort, who would repeatedly visit him in dreams and present him with scrolls of complex mathematical formulas. He would then test and prove them after waking.

On the 125th anniversary of his birth, India declared the birthday of Ramanujan, 22 December, as 'National Mathematics Day’.

René Descartes, had a series of three visions on the night of 11 November 1619 where he says that a divine spirit revealed to him a new philosophy, which combined mathematics and philosophy into a new discipline, analytical geometry. Through these visions he also discovered that all truths are linked to one another.

[christophergraves]

I certainly believe in paranormal phenomena because I have experienced them. I resisted them for years because I could not explain them but they were there and they became so frequent and so prominent in my experience and proved to be true that I could not ignore them any longer.

But I still cannot explain them. I am not at all clear about what Professor Carr means by "Big Space." I would have liked to have heard a fuller discussion of exactly what he is proposing as an explanation of the paranormal.

[votingcitizen]

"...this bigger space...", that seems reasonable when you consider that it was not too long ago that most field effects were completely unknown - e.g. electromagnetic fields, gravity fields, nuclear radiation fields, etc. Until people like Hertz developed detectors, the existence of electromagnetic fields was completely unknown. Development of the practical instruments to detect and manipulate these fields greatly expanded the "space" of known existence, so it is quite possible there exist other phenomena the we lack reliable detectors for.

[a.gwhiteley]

The key point of course is that science tells us to follow where the evidence leads, not where our preconceptions allow. The evidence for telepathy, for example, both from controlled tests and the kinds
of anecdotal experiences of which we have a moving example from MarlonDeNiro in the recent comments, is considerable. If this means we have to revise the prior assumptions of physicalism or reductive materialism, in terms of which we have have understood science, so be it.

[Ajax-]

So many weirdos in here just getting triggered by a discussion

[MarlonDeNiro]

Years ago I spent the nite at my mom’s house after celebrating her birthday with her. I slept on the sofa down in the basement.

Suddenly the phone rang at 5am. I heard my mom say, “Oh no” from two floors above me and instantly I was filled with the knowledge one of my best friends was shot and killed while in the line of duty as a police officer, and the other one of my best friends was wounded and in critical condition in intensive care. A few moments later my mom came down stairs to tell me my godmother had just called and told her Ken had been killed and George was in critical condition.

Nothing like that has ever happened again, but that convinced me there’s something more going on. That moment is burned in my memory.

[OlivierMuys]

Always wondered why mr. Carr does not share the paranormal experiences he witnessed at Scole. These are very well documented and researched.

[mangoldm]

Perhaps instead of controlling the physical world directly, a mind can choose which eigenstate, or set of values in superposition, it wants. Essentially choosing among the "many worlds." This is a theme of Greg Egan's book "Quarantine"

[bigpicture]

Does ESP Make Sense? Does "Entanglement" make sense? Does the fact that Entanglement suggests that everything is "connected" make sense?

[tomazflegar]

For those who have it yes and for those who don't no 😜

[Andrew-losc]

Its not so odd to think about when you consider expansion of the universe on a scaler level. How time will unfold before us. Something that possibly moves faster than light and permeates all over.

[janerkenbrack]

I grew up in a household of true believers in all things paranormal. I presumed it was true, and thought those who didn't believe it were close-minded. The Barbara Streisand hit movie, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, covered the bases and I went with my Mom and older sisters. It seemed very possible to my child-brain. Later in life, even as an adult, I had experiences that I couldn't explain.
Understanding skepticism altered my view.
Now I would say that I am open to the possibility that people (or some people) have perceptions we have not yet identified; but I have not seen a single claim that moves the needle toward accepting that proposition. Not one.
This leaves me comfortable remaining in the no camp, broadly speaking.

[t.j.payeur]

It's not extra sensory perception..it's extra conscious perception..the information doesn't get filtered through the cerebral cortex, it's received directly by the nervous system.

[profskmehta]

Hindu view is as follows. There are two bodies, gross body (material body) subtle body ( mind). They are parts of gross universe (material universe) and subtle universe (cosmic mind) respectively. Trained mind can directly contact any part of the cosmic mind which includes the minds of other beings.

[alexale]

Atheists and physialists are getting sonoffended in the comments 😂

[demej]

I think the Ouiji board players are pushing the pointer with their fingers.

[aaronrobertcattell]

very real
what is the human evolving into

[guitarpick]

Oh...they are very real. We will understand all "in time".. all "in time".

[sujok-acupuncture]

Three Buddhist monks from the east had such high ESP that they could travel to Bethelam on their horses without the help of any GPS device and confirm that the child who was born is the divine soul.

[BrianStevens-yh]

A mechanism must be identified and demonstrated before it can be verified. So far that is distinctly lacking.