“The God helmet”

“Dr Michael Persinger of Laurentian University quickly became the science darling of skeptics and atheists a decade ago with news of his ‘God Helmet’, which appeared to show that ‘sensed presence’ of supernatural entities (and/or ‘God’) may be simply due to magnetic disturbance of the brain. Since then however, Persinger has not made himself an overly attractive science reference for skeptics as he has been involved with, and claims to have achieved positive results in, experimental parapsychology.

Earlier this year, Persinger gave the following lecture, titled “No More Secrets”. In it, he detailed his theories on the connection between magnetic fields and the brain, in particular how this relationship could facilitate telepathy and remote viewing. He notes particular experiments and individuals (Ingo Swann, Sean Harribance) that seem to give evidence supporting his theories, and makes some fairly extraordinary claims which I’m sure will lead to some debate.”

- Greg, The Daily Grail

Well, I’ve personally known this for a while. Exactly how this discovery will impact on Persinger’s previous rhetoric regarding religious experience, only time will tell (he obscurely references non-physical representation of experience and knowledge outside the brain – geophysical – during Q&A at the end of this lecture: “…what’s the mechanism, that we don’t know. But it’s going to be like a hologram.”). But what can we extend from such a model? Nothing new, in my opinion. Persinger’s idea isn’t original: it’s been expressed by crackpots, mystics, religious texts, new age spiritualists, the CIA… Even me. But it is interesting that a mainstream scientist has only now come up with this, when the evidence has been staring us all in the face for decades.

Interesting the parallel he draws between cell phone usage and the drop in paranormal activity globally. And the apparent effect of electromagnetic activity or electrical storms on telepathic ability of subjects during experiments.

This video is fascinating and uplifting. Miss it not, young wannabe Jedis.