What are your opinions on the research by the polygraftexpert Cleve Backster and his thesis on consciousness within plantlife, named "primary perception"?
Below is a piece from his research on the formention, from 1966.
"Being a leading expert on polygraph tests himself, and not one likely to misinterpret the readout, he decided to cause the plant some discomfort, in order to see if it reacted. First he dunked the leaf into a cup of coffee, but this did not cause the plant to react, probably because it wasn't hot enough. Going for a more drastic approach, he decided to get a match from the other room and burn the leaf. The same instant as he got this idea, thirteen minutes and fifty-five seconds into the readout, the polygraph registered a sudden and prolonged upward sweep. This, in a human, would be interpreted as a reaction of fear. Pretty freaky, as they say.
Backster, hardly surprising, was baffled. He hadn't even moved, yet the plant had reacted instantly and violently to the mere thought of being harmed. It was almost as if the plant was reading his mind. He left, returned with the matches, lit one and made a few feeble passes at a neighbouring leaf. At this point the plant was reacting so violently that is was impossible to discern any further change. Opting for a different approach, Backster removed the threat by returning the matches to the draws of his secretary's desk. The plant immediately calmed down again.
The next morning Backster told his associate Robert Henson about what had passed the evening before, and as Henson decided that he too would burn the plant it reacted instantly again. This was the beginning of some of the most fascinating research into consciousness of the twentieth century. Research with a fair share of implications into the nature of consciousness and thus spirit, as we shall see
The Secret Life of Plants
In the following decades, Cleve Backster has invested a lot of time and energy into researching the 'secret life' of plants. This research soon developed to encompass not only the cells of plants but also that of animals and humans. The evidence of consciousness found at the cellular level, which will be examined in this chapter, Backster named "Primary Perception". It might be tempting to use the parapsychological term extra-sensory-perception or perhaps plant-ESP, but as Backster points out: "plants don't have most of the first five senses to begin with". The term 'primary' refers to the instant reaction on the cellular level to significant changes in the environment, no matter how far away the cause of the change was. To sum things up, our cells become aware of changes long before the rest of our organism, or at least before the consciousness we think as our 'self' perceives anything.
Furthermore I would appreciate any insight to the book by Dean Radin "The Conscious Universe"??
Here's a piece from the book:
"One of the best known and also one of the largest studies to date is the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) programme , established in 1979. The idea of undertaking research at PEAR into how mind may affect matter, or more specifically how conscious intent may affect sensitive electronic circuitry, originated from results achieved at Boeing Research Laboratories. These results implied that people and machines interacted on a quantum level in some inexplicable way.
Robert G. Jahn, Professor of Aerospace Sciences and Dean Emeritus of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, was approached by a graduate student who wished to develop an electronic device which could measure these effects. Jahn, sceptic to the reported effects but open to the potential pedagogic benefit of the project, agreed to review the literature before committing himself to the project. Two years later Jahn was still sceptical, but felt a growing concern with the implications of the first experiments. The man/machine anomalies suggested that crucial electronic systems might be vulnerable in ways previously unknown. A thorough study into the matter was in order, and this resulted in the PEAR programme. What one set out to observe were "…interactions of human consciousness with various physical devices, systems, or processes resulting in statistical output characteristics significantly deviant from those expected on known scientific mechanisms."
More simply put, if and to what extent, mind influences matter or material devices. Supervising this research apart from Jahn were psychologists Brenda Dunne and Roger Nelson.
To determine if humans could influence the outcome of physical processes, without physical interaction, the team used a Random Number Generator (RNG), a system originally pioneered by physicist Helmut Schmidt at Boeing Industries mentioned above.
The main reason that a random numbers generator was selected as the "physical system" is the assumption that such a device should be easier to influence. This device produces zeroes and ones in a random pattern, as it is equally prone to produce either. Mentally nudging it in one direction or the other should therefore not demand any great mental effort, as this does not demand that the physical system behaves in any 'impossible' way.
During each individual trial, the subject of the experiment attempts to mentally influence the outcome of the generator in a particular way. The subject does not come into physical contact with the RNG or influence it in any known way. The possible results of the subject's intent will either have the random number generator display numbers around average, significantly above average or significantly below average. If the result is either one of the latter two, this will imply that human consciousness does indeed influence physical devises. It does not matter if the subject was aiming for an above average result yet achieved a below average result, the result will still indicate that intent or consciousness influenced the outcome (as it was not average). Thousands of trial tests were done over a span of several years at PEAR's laboratories. And did mind influence matter?
Yes, it did. Though the results were only slight, they were statistically significant. This means that by common scientific standards the results cannot be explained by pure chance, or at least that they are not explained as chance in any other scientific circumstances. And if the results cannot be explained as chance, or possibly by faulty experiments or forgery, two common arguments but invalid in this case , the only explanation left is that consciousness is the culprit.
If the PEAR laboratory was the only one to demonstrate the phenomena, one might perhaps argue that some unknown factor in this particular laboratory was responsible for the effect rather than consciousness, but this is not the case. Examining all the RNG experiments between 1959 to 1987, some 832 studies done by 68 different investigators, Radin and Nelson jointly concluded that overall results produced odds against chance by a trillion to one. That is to be compared with the corresponding control results, when RNGs were not influenced by anyone consciously, of well within the chance levels of two to one.
The overall effect of conscious intent was slight, calculated to be 51 percent, where pure 'randomness' would correspond to 50 percent, but this is beside the point. Mind affects matter, and an effect is still an effect, however slight. That there was any effect at all should be enough to shake the very foundations of scientific materialism, or scientism as this school of thought/faith is also called. The body of scientific evidence for mind over matter goes well beyond this however, as random number generators are only one of the many 'representatives' of the physical world that can be influenced by consciousness. The grandfathers of random number generators, dice, also seem to fall pray to human intent.
Below is a piece from his research on the formention, from 1966.
"Being a leading expert on polygraph tests himself, and not one likely to misinterpret the readout, he decided to cause the plant some discomfort, in order to see if it reacted. First he dunked the leaf into a cup of coffee, but this did not cause the plant to react, probably because it wasn't hot enough. Going for a more drastic approach, he decided to get a match from the other room and burn the leaf. The same instant as he got this idea, thirteen minutes and fifty-five seconds into the readout, the polygraph registered a sudden and prolonged upward sweep. This, in a human, would be interpreted as a reaction of fear. Pretty freaky, as they say.
Backster, hardly surprising, was baffled. He hadn't even moved, yet the plant had reacted instantly and violently to the mere thought of being harmed. It was almost as if the plant was reading his mind. He left, returned with the matches, lit one and made a few feeble passes at a neighbouring leaf. At this point the plant was reacting so violently that is was impossible to discern any further change. Opting for a different approach, Backster removed the threat by returning the matches to the draws of his secretary's desk. The plant immediately calmed down again.
The next morning Backster told his associate Robert Henson about what had passed the evening before, and as Henson decided that he too would burn the plant it reacted instantly again. This was the beginning of some of the most fascinating research into consciousness of the twentieth century. Research with a fair share of implications into the nature of consciousness and thus spirit, as we shall see
The Secret Life of Plants
In the following decades, Cleve Backster has invested a lot of time and energy into researching the 'secret life' of plants. This research soon developed to encompass not only the cells of plants but also that of animals and humans. The evidence of consciousness found at the cellular level, which will be examined in this chapter, Backster named "Primary Perception". It might be tempting to use the parapsychological term extra-sensory-perception or perhaps plant-ESP, but as Backster points out: "plants don't have most of the first five senses to begin with". The term 'primary' refers to the instant reaction on the cellular level to significant changes in the environment, no matter how far away the cause of the change was. To sum things up, our cells become aware of changes long before the rest of our organism, or at least before the consciousness we think as our 'self' perceives anything.
Furthermore I would appreciate any insight to the book by Dean Radin "The Conscious Universe"??
Here's a piece from the book:
"One of the best known and also one of the largest studies to date is the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) programme , established in 1979. The idea of undertaking research at PEAR into how mind may affect matter, or more specifically how conscious intent may affect sensitive electronic circuitry, originated from results achieved at Boeing Research Laboratories. These results implied that people and machines interacted on a quantum level in some inexplicable way.
Robert G. Jahn, Professor of Aerospace Sciences and Dean Emeritus of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, was approached by a graduate student who wished to develop an electronic device which could measure these effects. Jahn, sceptic to the reported effects but open to the potential pedagogic benefit of the project, agreed to review the literature before committing himself to the project. Two years later Jahn was still sceptical, but felt a growing concern with the implications of the first experiments. The man/machine anomalies suggested that crucial electronic systems might be vulnerable in ways previously unknown. A thorough study into the matter was in order, and this resulted in the PEAR programme. What one set out to observe were "…interactions of human consciousness with various physical devices, systems, or processes resulting in statistical output characteristics significantly deviant from those expected on known scientific mechanisms."
More simply put, if and to what extent, mind influences matter or material devices. Supervising this research apart from Jahn were psychologists Brenda Dunne and Roger Nelson.
To determine if humans could influence the outcome of physical processes, without physical interaction, the team used a Random Number Generator (RNG), a system originally pioneered by physicist Helmut Schmidt at Boeing Industries mentioned above.
The main reason that a random numbers generator was selected as the "physical system" is the assumption that such a device should be easier to influence. This device produces zeroes and ones in a random pattern, as it is equally prone to produce either. Mentally nudging it in one direction or the other should therefore not demand any great mental effort, as this does not demand that the physical system behaves in any 'impossible' way.
During each individual trial, the subject of the experiment attempts to mentally influence the outcome of the generator in a particular way. The subject does not come into physical contact with the RNG or influence it in any known way. The possible results of the subject's intent will either have the random number generator display numbers around average, significantly above average or significantly below average. If the result is either one of the latter two, this will imply that human consciousness does indeed influence physical devises. It does not matter if the subject was aiming for an above average result yet achieved a below average result, the result will still indicate that intent or consciousness influenced the outcome (as it was not average). Thousands of trial tests were done over a span of several years at PEAR's laboratories. And did mind influence matter?
Yes, it did. Though the results were only slight, they were statistically significant. This means that by common scientific standards the results cannot be explained by pure chance, or at least that they are not explained as chance in any other scientific circumstances. And if the results cannot be explained as chance, or possibly by faulty experiments or forgery, two common arguments but invalid in this case , the only explanation left is that consciousness is the culprit.
If the PEAR laboratory was the only one to demonstrate the phenomena, one might perhaps argue that some unknown factor in this particular laboratory was responsible for the effect rather than consciousness, but this is not the case. Examining all the RNG experiments between 1959 to 1987, some 832 studies done by 68 different investigators, Radin and Nelson jointly concluded that overall results produced odds against chance by a trillion to one. That is to be compared with the corresponding control results, when RNGs were not influenced by anyone consciously, of well within the chance levels of two to one.
The overall effect of conscious intent was slight, calculated to be 51 percent, where pure 'randomness' would correspond to 50 percent, but this is beside the point. Mind affects matter, and an effect is still an effect, however slight. That there was any effect at all should be enough to shake the very foundations of scientific materialism, or scientism as this school of thought/faith is also called. The body of scientific evidence for mind over matter goes well beyond this however, as random number generators are only one of the many 'representatives' of the physical world that can be influenced by consciousness. The grandfathers of random number generators, dice, also seem to fall pray to human intent.
