Telekinesis

The telekinesis (from τῆλε têle 'far away' and κίνησις kínēsis 'movement') or psychokinesis (from the Greek ψυχή "mind" and κίνησις "movement"), is a psychic ability that allows a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction.

Historically, experiments on telekinesis have been criticized for lacking adequate controls and reproducibility. There is no convincing evidence that telekinesis is a real phenomenon, and it is generally considered pseudoscience.

Etymology

The word telekinesis is an acronym from the Greek τῆλε (tēle) - which means "distance" - and κίνησις (kinesis) - meaning "movement", was first used in 1890 by the Russian psychic researcher Alexander N. Aksakof.

The word psychokinesis was coined in 1914 by the American author Henry Holt in his book On the Cosmic Relations. The term is an acronym of the Greek language words ψυχή (psyche) - meaning "mind", "soul", "spirit" or "breath" - and κίνησις (kinesis) - meaning "movement". American parapsychologist JB Rhine first coined the term extrasensory perception to describe the reception of information from an external source by paranormal means. After this, he used the term psychokinesis in 1934 to describe the action of mentally influencing external objects or events without the use of physical energy. His initial example Psychokinesis were experiments that were conducted to determine if a person could influence the outcome of the dice falling.

Evaluations and explanations

There is a broad scientific consensus that research on telekinesis and parapsychology in general has not produced reliable and reproducible demonstrations of the phenomena they study.

A panel commissioned in 1988 by the US National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite 130 years of scientific research into such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, telepathy or exercise of force of "mind over matter..." Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the claim that these phenomena exist."

Carl Sagan included telekinesis in a long list of "offerings of pseudoscience and superstition" that "it would be foolish to accept (...) without solid scientific data. Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman advocated a similar position.

Felix Planer, a professor of electrical engineering, has written that if telekinesis were real, then it would be easy to demonstrate that it exists by having subjects press a very sensitive balance scale, raise the temperature of a water bath that could be measured with with a precision of one hundredth of a degree Celsius, or affecting an element in an electrical circuit such as a resistor, which could be controlled with a precision greater than one millionth of an ampere. Planer writes that such experiments are extremely sensitive and easy to monitor., but they are not used by parapsychologists since they "have no remote hope of demonstrating even a small trace of telekinesis" because that supposed phenomenon does not exist. Planer has written that parapsychologists have to resort to studies involving only statistics that are unrepeatable, which owe their results to poor experimental methods, recording errors, and faulty statistical mathematics.

According to Planer, "all research in medicine and other sciences would become illusory if the existence of psychokinesis were taken seriously; as no experiment could be trusted to provide objective results, as all measurements would be falsified to a greater or lesser extent according to the telekinetic ability and wishes of the experimenter." Planer concluded that the concept of psychokinesis is absurd and has no scientific basis.

Hypotheses about telekinesis have also been considered in various contexts outside of parapsychological experiments. CEM Hansel wrote that a general objection against the existence of telekinesis is that, if it were a real process, its effects would be expected to manifest themselves in everyday life situations; but no such effects have been observed.

Scientific writers Martin Gardner and Terence Hines as well as philosopher Theodore Schick have pointed out that if telekinesis were possible, one would expect casino revenues to be affected, but the profits are exactly what the laws of chance predict..

Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey argues that many experiments in psychology, biology, or physics assume that the intentions of the subjects or experimenters do not physically distort the system. Humphrey counts them as implicit replicas of telekinesis experiments in which telekinesis does not appear.

Evaluations from physics

The ideas of psychokinesis and telekinesis violate several well-established laws of physics, including the inverse square law, the second law of thermodynamics, and the conservation of momentum. Because of this, scientists have demanded a high standard of evidence for telekinesis, in line with Marcello Truzzi's dictum "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

Ockham's razor, or law of parsimony in scientific explanations of phenomena, tells us that explaining apparent telekinesis events in terms of ordinary events caused by tricks, special effects, or poor experimental design, is preferable to accepting the fact that the laws of physics should be rewritten.

The philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge wrote that "psychokinesis violates the principle that the mind cannot act directly on matter (if it did, no experimenter could trust the readings of their measuring instruments.) It also violates the principles of conservation of energy and angular momentum. The claim that quantum mechanics allows for the possibility of mental power influencing randomizers, a supposed case of micro-psychokinesis, is absurd since that theory respects such conservation principles and deals exclusively with physical things.'

British physicist John G. Taylor, who has investigated parapsychological claims, has written that an unknown fifth force causing telekinesis would have to transmit a large amount of energy. The energy would have to overcome the electromagnetic forces that hold atoms together, because the atoms would have to respond more strongly to this fifth force than to electrical forces. Such additional force between atoms should therefore exist all the time and not just during supposed paranormal events. Taylor wrote that there is no scientific trace of such a force in physics, even exploring over many orders of magnitude; Thus, if a scientific point of view is to be preserved, the idea of any fifth force must be discarded. Taylor concluded that there is no possible physical mechanism for psychokinesis, and that it is in complete contradiction to established science.

In 1979, Evan Harris Walker and Richard Mattuck published a parapsychology article proposing a quantum explanation for psychokinesis. Physicist Victor J. Stenger wrote that his explanation contained assumptions not supported by any scientific evidence. According to Stenger, their work was "full of impressive-looking equations and calculations that give the appearance of placing psychokinesis on a firm scientific basis...Yet look what they've done: They've found the value of an unknown number (wavefunction steps) that gives a measured number (the supposed speed of movement induced by psychokinesis). This is numerology, not science.

Physicist Sean M. Carroll has written that spoons, like all matter, are made up of atoms and that any movement of a spoon with the mind would involve the manipulation of those atoms through the four forces of nature: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism and gravity. Psychokinesis would have to be some form of one of these four forces, or a new force that is one billionth the force of gravity, otherwise it would have been captured in experiments already performed. This leaves no physical force that can explain psychokinesis.

Physicist Robert L. Park has found it suspicious that a phenomenon seems to only appear at the limits of detectability of questionable statistical techniques. He cites this characteristic as one of the indicators of Irving Langmuir's pathological science. Park notes that if mind could truly influence matter, it would be easy for parapsychologists to measure such a phenomenon using the supposed psychokinetic power to deflect a microbalance, which would not require any dubious statistics. "The reason, of course, is that the microbalance stubbornly refuses to budge." He suggested that the reason statistical studies are so popular in parapsychology is that they introduce opportunities for uncertainty and error, which are used to support the experimenter's biases.

Explanations in terms of bias

Research on cognitive bias has suggested that people are susceptible to telekinesis illusions. These include the illusion that they themselves have the power and that the events they witness are actual demonstrations of telekinesis. For example, the illusion of control is an illusory correlation between intention and external events, and it has been shown that believers in the paranormal are more susceptible to this illusion than others. Psychologist Thomas Gilovich explains this as a biased interpretation of personal experience. For example, someone in a dice game who wants a high score may interpret high numbers as "success" and low numbers as "lack of concentration". The bias toward belief in telekinesis may be an example of the human tendency to see patterns where none exist, called the clustering illusion, to which believers They are also more susceptible.

A 1952 study tested experimenter bias regarding psychokinesis. Richard Kaufman of Yale University gave subjects the task of trying to influence eight dice and allowed them to record their own scores. They were filmed secretly, so their records could be checked for errors. Believers in psychokinesis made errors that favored its existence, while disbelievers made opposite errors. A similar pattern of errors was found in JB Rhine's dice experiments, which were considered the strongest evidence for psychokinesis at the time.

In 1995, Wiseman and Morris showed subjects a raw videotape of a magician's performance in which a fork bent and eventually broke. Believers in the paranormal were significantly more likely to misinterpret the tape as a demonstration of psychokinesis, and were more likely to misremember crucial details of the presentation. This suggests that confirmation bias affects people's interpretation of psychokinetic manifestations. Psychologist Robert Sternberg cites confirmation bias as an explanation for why belief in psychic phenomena persists, despite a lack of evidence:

Some of the worst examples of confirmation bias are in research on parapsychology (...) It could be argued that there is a complete field here without powerful confirmation data at all. But people want to believe, and then they find ways to believe.

Psychologist Daniel Wegner has argued that an illusion of introspection contributes to belief in psychokinesis. He observes that in everyday experience, intention (such as wanting to turn on a light) is followed by action (such as turning on a light switch). light) reliably, but the underlying neural mechanisms are outside of consciousness. Therefore, although subjects may feel that they are directly introspecting their own free will, the experience of control is actually inferred from the relationships between thought and action. This theory of apparent mental causation recognizes the influence of David Hume's view of the mind. This process of detecting when one is responsible for an action is not entirely reliable, and when it goes wrong there can be an illusion of control. This can happen when a thought is followed by an external event that is congruent with that thought, but without a real causal link. As evidence, Wegner cites a series of experiments on magical thinking in which subjects were led to think that they had influenced external events. In one experiment, subjects watched a basketball player perform a series of free throws. When they were instructed to visualize him making successful shots, they felt that they had contributed to his success. Other experiments designed to create an illusion of telekinesis have shown that this depends, to some extent, on the subject's prior belief in telekinesis.

Magic and special effects

Magicians have successfully simulated some of the specialized skills of telekinesis, such as object movement, spoon bending, levitation, and teleportation. According to Robert Todd Carroll, there are many impressive magic tricks available to amateurs and professionals to simulate telekinetic powers. Metal objects, such as keys or cutlery, can be bent using a number of different techniques, even if the artist has not previously had access to the items.

According to Richard Wiseman, there are several ways to fake telekinetic metal bending. These include swapping straight objects for pre-bent duplicates, the covert application of force, and secretly inducing metal fractures. Research has also suggested that effects can be created by verbal suggestion. On this topic, the magician Ben Harris wrote:

If you're doing a really compelling job, then you should be able to put a bent key on the table and comment: "Look, it's still bending," and make your viewers really believe it. This may sound like the end of audacity; however, the effect is amazing and, combined with suggestion, works.

A 2014 study that used a magic trick to investigate paranormal beliefs in eyewitness testimony revealed that believers in telekinesis were more likely to report that a key continued to bend than non-believers.

Between 1979 and 1981, the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research at the University of Washington reported on a series of experiments they called Project Alpha, in which two adolescent male subjects had demonstrated psychokinetic phenomena (including metal bending and appearance of images on films) under non-very strict laboratory conditions. James Randi eventually revealed that the subjects were two of his associates, amateur magicians Steve Shaw and Michael Edwards. The pair had created the effects using standard tricks, but the researchers, not being familiar with magic techniques, interpreted them as tests of psychokinesis.

Money prize for psychokinesis tests

Internationally, there are organizations of skeptics and individuals skeptical of the paranormal that offer cash prizes to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of extraordinary psychic power, such as telekinesis. Prizes have also been offered specifically for demonstrations of psychokinesis: for example, businessman Gerald Fleming's offer of £250,000 to Uri Geller if he can bend a spoon under controlled conditions. The James Randi Educational Foundation for almost 20 years offered the Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge to any accepted candidate who managed to produce a paranormal event in a controlled and mutually agreed upon experiment.

Notable cases of alleged psychokinetic abilities

Throughout history there have been multiple people who claim to have psychokinetic abilities. Angelique Cottin (ca. 1846) known as the "Electric Girl" from France was a presumed generator of psychokinetic activity. Cottin and her family claimed that she produced "electrical emanations" that allowed him to move furniture and scissors across a room. Frank Podmore wrote that there were many observations that 'suggested fraud', such as the contact of the girl's clothing to produce any of the alleged phenomena and the observations from several witnesses who noted that there was a double movement on Cottin's part, a movement in the direction of the thrown object and then away from it, but the movements were so rapid that they were generally not detected.

Spiritual mediums have also claimed to have psychokinetic abilities. Eusapia Palladino, an Italian medium, could supposedly make objects move during sessions. However, she was caught 'levitating' a table with a foot by magician Joseph Rinn and using tricks to move objects by psychologist Hugo Münsterberg. Other alleged mediums with psychokinetic abilities who were exposed as frauds include Anna Rasmussen and Maria Silbert.

The Polish medium Stanisława Tomczyk, active at the beginning of the XX century, claimed that she could perform various acts of telekinesis, such as levitate objects, through an entity she called 'Little Stasia'. A photograph of her taken in 1909, showing a pair of scissors 'floating' between her hands, often found in books and other publications as an example of telekinesis. Scientists suspect that Tomczyk performed his feats by using a fine thread, or hair, placed between his hands that he used to lift and suspend the objects in the air. This was confirmed when psychic researchers investigating Tomczyk occasionally observed the thread.

Many of the "holy men" Indians have claimed to possess psychokinetic abilities by displaying seemingly miraculous phenomena in public, although as more controls are implemented to prevent deception, fewer phenomena occur.

Annemarie Schaberl, a 19-year-old secretary, who according to parapsychologist Hans Bender had telekinetic powers in the "Rosenheim Poltergeist" in the 1960s. Magicians and scientists who investigated the case suspected that the phenomena were produced by deception.

Psychics

Russian psychic Nina Kulagina came to public attention after the publication of Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder's best-seller, Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain. The alleged Soviet psychic of the late 1960s and early 1970s was filmed apparently performing telekinesis while sitting in numerous black-and-white short films. She was also mentioned in a report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency. /i> the United States of 1978. However, many magicians and skeptics have argued that the "feats" of Kulagina could be easily performed by a practitioner with sleight of hand, and through such means as cleverly hidden or disguised threads, small pieces of magnetic metal, or mirrors.

James Hydrick, an American martial arts expert and psychic, was famous for his supposed telekinetic ability to turn the pages of books and spin pencils while they were placed on the edge of a desk. Magicians later revealed that he accomplished his feats with air currents. Psychologist Richard Wiseman wrote that Hydrick learned to move objects by blowing in a very skillful and 'highly deceptive' manner. Hydrick confessed to Dan Korem that all his exploits were tricks: "First of all, my whole idea behind this was to see how dumb America was. How stupid the world is.

In 1971, an American psychic named Felicia Parise supposedly moved a bottle of pills across a kitchen counter with telekinesis. Her exploits were supported by parapsychologist Charles Honorton. Science writer Martin Gardner wrote that Parise had deceived Honorton by moving the bottle with an invisible thread stretched between her hands.

Boris Ermolaev, a Russian psychic, was known for levitating small objects. His methods were exposed in the World of Discovery documentary Secrets of the Russian Psychics (1992). Ermolaev would sit on a chair and supposedly move the objects between his knees, but due to the lighting conditions, the camera crew could see a thin thread fixed between his knees by which he suspended the objects.

Metal bending

Psychics have also claimed to possess the psychokinetic ability to bend metal. Uri Geller was famous for his spoon bending demonstrations, supposedly by telekinesis. Geller has been caught many times performing sleight of hand tricks and, according to science writer Terence Hines, all of his effects have been recreated with magic tricks.

The French psychic Jean-Pierre Girard has claimed that he can bend metal bars by psychokinesis. Girard was tested in the 1970s, but was unable to produce any paranormal effects under scientifically controlled conditions.He was tested on January 19, 1977 during a two-hour experiment in a Paris laboratory. The experiment was led by physicist Yves Farge with a magician also present. All experiments were negative since Girard was unable to make any of the objects move paranormally. He also failed two more tests in Grenoble in June 1977 with the magician James Randi. He was also examined on September 24, 1977 in a laboratory of the Nuclear Research Center. Girard was unable to bend any bars or change the structure of the metals. Other spoon-bending experiments were also negative, with witnesses describing their supposed feats as fraudulent. Girard later admitted that he sometimes cheated to avoid disappointing the public, but insisted that he did possess true psychic power. Magicians and scientists have written that he produced all of his alleged psychokinetic feats through fraudulent means.

Stephen North, a British psychic in the late 1970s, was known for his supposed telekinetic ability to bend spoons and teleport objects in and out of sealed containers. British physicist John Hasted evaluated North in a series of experiments that he claimed had demonstrated telekinesis, although his experiments were criticized for lacking scientific controls. North was tested in Grenoble on December 19, 1977 in scientific conditions and the results were negative. According to James Randi, during a test at Birkbeck College it was observed that North had bent a metal sample with his bare hands. Randi wrote: "I find it unfortunate that [Hasted] never had an epiphany in which he was able to recognize how thoughtless, cruel and predatory were the acts perpetrated on him by frauds who took advantage of his naivety and trust." # 3. 4;.

Ronnie Marcus, an Israeli psychic who claimed to be able to perform psychokinetic metal bending, was tested in 1994 under scientifically controlled conditions and failed to produce any paranormal phenomena. According to magicians, his alleged psychokinetic feats were gambling tricks. hands. Marcus bent a letter opener by the hidden application of force, and frame-by-frame video analysis showed him bending a spoon with the pressure of his thumb by ordinary physical means.

In fiction and popular culture

Psychokinesis and telekinesis have been commonly used as superpowers in comics, films, television, computer games, literature, and other forms of popular culture.

Notable examples of psychokinetic and/or telekinetic characters include the Teleks in the 1952 novel Telek; Carrie White in the Stephen King novel Carrie; Ellen Burstyn in the 1980 film, Resurrection; the Jedi and Sith in the Star Wars franchise; the scanners in the film Scaners 1981; Matilda Ajenjo in the 1988 children's novel Matilda; Lucía Méndez (actress) with her characters Leonor de Santiago and Diana Salazar in the 1988 soap opera, The Strange Return of Diana Salazar, and Eleven from the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Psychokinesis also appears in Bandai Namco Entertainment's 2021 action role-playing video game Scarlet Nexus, as the psionic ability of protagonists Kasane Randall and Yuito Sumeragi.