"There are three primary alternative (anomalous / paranormal) hypotheses that can account for the present findings (Gauld, 1983; Schwartz et al, 1999; Schwartz, Russek, Nelson, and Barentsen, 2001). We suggest that all three may be involved in anomalous information retrieval, and that they share a common dependence on info-energy systemic resonance relationships (described in Schwartz and Russek, 1999). Other hypotheses may also be possible, including novel hypotheses that have yet to be conceived (a position recommended by Michael Shermer).
The first hypothesis is telepathy with the living. The premise is that the medium is reading the conscious mind of the sitter (locally and / or nonlocally). Given the level of awareness and experience of the sitter in the present experiment, telepathy with the sitter needs to be seriously considered.
However, the inclusion of Phases 1 and 2 in this experiment, coupled with the observation that four pieces of specific information were not known to the sitter prior to the reading:
(1) the stone church along the river (for M),
(2) Aunt A's living grand daughter's crisis (K),
(3) the correct spelling of K's name (GD thought it was spelled with a C), and
(4) J's living on the east coast in Brooklyn, make the simple telepathy hypothesis insufficient to account for all the information retrieved by LC.
The second hypothesis is often termed "superpsi" (e.g. Braude 1992). One version of the super-psi hypothesis can be thought of as an extended unconscious telepathy / systemic resonance mechanism with everyone presently living (Schwartz and Russek, 1999). Simply stated, (1) LC resonates with the experimenters, (2) the experimenters resonate with the sitter (e.g. the senior author has spoken with GD numerous times and met him three times in person), (3) the sitter resonates with his living family members and friends (including family members and friends of M, A, B, and J), and (4) the information is retrieved unconsciously through systemic memory resonance (Schwartz and Russek, 1999). The network of dynamic info-energy relationships is accessed unconsciously by LC. The majority of the present findings are consistent with such a network memory resonance hypothesis.
Given that the telepathy hypothesis (1) and the network memory resonance hypothesis (2) (one example of a superpsi hypothesis, Braude 1992) are both plausible in principle, the question arises, do hypotheses 1 and 2 together account for all the data in this research reading? We suggest no.
Close examination of the languaging used by LC indicates that she is not simply reporting memories and images. LC is also reporting intentions and interpretations reflecting the information processing of "entities" (her words), or dynamically changing info-energy systems (our words, Schwartz and Russek, 1999).
When LC describes how M is interpreting future changes in GD's life, for example, the languaging not only implies that M is living, but the precise way the information is being organized is recognized by GD as reflecting M's mind and personality.
In other words, it is the specific intentional and organizing nature of the way the information is received by LC and reported to GD that suggests that LC is not simply reporting the conscious or unconscious memories of GD and his extended network of family and friends. We term hypothesis 3 the organizing consciousness (or soul) hypothesis (reflecting the fact that it is the precise details of the organizing nature of the information that implies the continued existence of an intentional, living consciousness (soul).
[Note: One reviewer suggested that LC might be "role-playing and impersonating discarnate entities. This speculation, in the abstract, is correct. However, in the concrete, given the highly blinded nature of Phases 1 and II, the role-playing hypothesis seems somewhat unlikely in LC's case.]
In view of the decades of substantial and replicated experimental research in parapsychology (e.g. meta-analyses reviewed in Radin, 1997), it is prudent to consider the possibility not only that all three hypotheses may be true, but that hypotheses 1 and 2 (telepathy and superpsi) may be prerequisite mechanisms for discovering hypothesis 3 (e.g. the organizing consciousness). Hypotheses 1 and 2 may be intimately involved in the discovery of hypothesis 3. In other words, we propose that hypotheses 1 and 2 may provide the mechanistic foundation that allows hypothesis 3 to be documented (e.g. mediums claim that they engage in "telepathy" with the deceased). Together, they reflect an integrative triune approach to dynamic anomalous information retrieval." Dr Gary Schwartz.
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/experiments/mental/schwartz02.htm
