Conference hydra::dejavu

    Competitive relaxation!  Seems like it sort of defeats the purpose.
    
    				Topher

    	You must have been watching PBS - and what an old show! - that's
    the National Geographic's first PBS TV episode, "The Human Body",
    made in 1975.
       
    	What you saw was a segment near the end of the program, where
    a man was able to move an electric train by the electric impulse
    "commands" in his brain - all while being hooked up to the set with
    electrodes.  Obviously this type of telekinesis is possible.
    
    	I would like to know if telekinesis WITHOUT ANY physical links
    is possible, and where has this verifiably occured?
    
    	Larry
    

RE: .2
    
    First off the modern term for this is "psychokinesis" (PK) rather
    than "telekinesis" (TK).  The latter term is mostly used in science
    fiction, though there are some occult groups which use the latter
    term (they may or may not mean by it what you have in mind).
    
    The toy train bit is a neat demo of biofeedback control of brainwaves,
    but is no more psychokinesis than when your brain causes your arm
    to move.
    
    In the parlance of parapsychology there are two types of PK, which
    are probably (though not necessarily) different degrees of the same
    thing: static and dynamic PK.
    
    In static PK, a physical object is "made" to move in a way it would
    not be ordinarily expected to, i.e., a spoon bends, a table levitates
    or a ball leaps from a counter.
    
    In dynamic PK, a random physical process is biased to produce a
    particular outcome much more often than it would be expected to
    by chance, i.e., an unbiased die comes up with a selected number
    much more often than 1 time in 6.
    
    Dynamic PK has been demonstrated, under tight physical controls,
    with broad groups of subjects, hundreds of times.  Traditionally,
    dice were used, either to show a particular number (as above) or
    to fall in a particular place.  Most current work is done with true
    random number generators, based either on amplified thermal and
    1/f noise or on radioactive decay.  Through the years, dynamic PK
    has been demonstrated on a wide variety of other systems, including
    an interferometer, a so called binomial distribution demonstrator,
    bubles rising through water and slipping to the right or left of
    a razor blade, etc.
    
    Generally, conditions tight enough to preclude conventional
    explanations are fairly easy to obtain (not trivial, but not too
    hard).  Since the "low" levels of PK ability necessary to be detected
    in a dynamic PK experiment seem to be widely distributed in the
    general population (how widely depends on how sensitive your test)
    these tests can be done easily with many subjects.  This makes subject
    fraud a very unlikely explanation.
    
    All the conditions necessary to get positive results in a PK (or
    for that matter, in an ESP) experiment are not known.  Therefore,
    given two (seemingly) identical, tight experiments, one may show
    evidence of PK and the other may not.  Part of this is simply due
    to statistical fluctuation, but more seems to be going on than this.
    In any case, many times more PK experiments succeed than can be
    explained by chance.
    
    In contrast, static PK can seemingly only be reliably produced by
    a very few individuals.  Since those individuals are well motivated
    to cheat, for the attention from the experimenters if for no other
    reason, and because it is very, very difficult to exclude the
    possibility of cheating or to minimize its effects, it is very hard
    to take the frequently spectacular results of static PK demonstrations
    as "hard" evidence for PK, by themselves.  Given the good evidence
    for dynamic PK, however, it seems very likely that at least some
    static PK is for "real".  (That is, if I was trying to convince
    someone that PK existed I would not present D.D. Holmes levitations
    as evidence; but once PK is accepted on the basis of other evidence,
    it is reasonable to take Holmes's feats as evidence that a "stronger"
    form of it exists, and it is even rational to wonder if Gellar *always*
    produces his effects fraudulently).
    
    					Topher 

Something else this reminds me of...  When I lived in California, I used
to frequent a place called Ports O' Call in San Pedro.  It had lots of 
unusual little shops sitting along the water, and one of them was a
Witchcraft shop (which is gone now).  Intriqued, I went in and discovered 
lots of unusual things...like a large display of rings that looked like cat 
eyes, and powders and potions for absolutely everything, etc.

Then I noticed a small display of "Mind Power" mechanisms.  These were 
simple little plastic boxes with a needle sticking out of the top, and a
little metal propeller-like thing on top.  There must have been a sign
that said, try to make the propeller spin with your mind, because I knew
that's what I was supposed to do.  No one was near me, so I looked at the
propeller and thought of it spinning.  The propeller flew clear off of
the pin!  I was totally surprised, since I'd never tried this kind of mind
power before.  I knew I must buy one and try it some more...it only cost
a dollar.

Once I got it home, I had no where near the results like in the store.
So I have decided that someone else or something else did it, and not me.
However, I did play with it off an on, and one day after about half an
hour of concentration, I had it spinning fairly fast.  But I had an awful
headache...so I guess I wasn't doing it in a very effective way!

Several times, I brought it out for friends to play with.  Groups had
better luck than individuals.  Sometimes with a group, you could see
the propeller fighting to turn opposite directions, so you knew somebody
in the group wasn't sticking to the agreed upon direction...then someone 
would confess!

It was usually obvious to tell if wind currents were interferring...but
the thing was usually very still unless someone was using it.  If wind
current was a problem, the directions suggested putting a glass over it.

Has anyone else tried things like this themselves?

Jerri
    

RE: .4
        
    Don't be so quick to eliminate yourself as the agent.  Circumstances
    can make a difference, after all.
    
    Yes I've played with similar gadgets, but without any success. 
    Here is how to make one for yourself.
    
    You will need a needle about 3 inches long (or longer, a darning
    needle for example), a flat rubber eraser, and a sheet of writing
    paper.  For tools you will need a hard table top, a ruler and a pair of
    scissors (very high-tech this).
    
    Cut a small piece off the end of the eraser and put it aside.  Now
    take the needle and place its back end on the table with the point
    up.  Place the center of the flat side of the eraser against the
    point of the needle.  Slowly push it down (watch that you don't
    stick yourself) until you've slid the eraser all the way down the
    needle and it is resting on the table, with the needle pretty close
    to straight up.  This rather dangerous contraption is the stand.
    Take the piece of eraser you trimmed off and put it over the point
    of the needle, to keep it safe while you are not using it.
    
    Now for the whirlygig.  You should do the following steps fairly
    carefully, so that the whole thing balances well, but moderate care
    will produce excellent results.  Cut from the paper a square about
    4 inches on a side.  Imagine that the four corners are labeled
    clockwise A, B, C and D, and that one side of the paper is labeled
    up and the other down.  Hold the paper with the up side up, and
    fold it diagonally in half  downward, bringing corner A to corner C.
    Crease the fold, and flatten the paper out again.  Repeat the process
    along the other diagonal, bringing corner B to corner D.  With the
    paper flat again, flip it over so that the down side is up.  Now
    fold it downward parallel to the edge, corners A and B being brought
    respectivly to C and D.  Crease and then unfold.  Now repeat parallel
    to the other two edges, bringing A and D to B and C.  Turn it back
    to the up side up.  Push in gently at the centers of the four edges
    and you will get a little pyramid.
    
    To use it, take the piece of eraser off the needle, and balance
    the pyramid at its center on the needle.  Put your two hands around
    the pyramid, but without touching it (not everyone does this, but
    I am told it makes it easier, at least at first).  Concentrate on
    it rotating, and it may.  Be careful not to breath on it.  G. Harry
    Stine (whose construction directions these essentially are, though
    I can't think of the name of his book off hand) says that better
    results are obtained for some reason if oil, such as baby (mineral)
    oil or massage oil is put on the hands.  Don't bother trying too
    hard to eliminate "conventional" explanations such as breezes or
    vibrations until/unless you can get it to work, preferably in either
    direction, pretty reliably.
    
    Keep the needle capped when you are not using it, since otherwise
    it is an accident waiting to happen, with or without the pyramid
    in place.
    
    				Topher

    
    I find this very interesting in regard to topic 307. Imagine very
    spiritually developed and trained minds focusing their energy in groups
    through massive crystals which focused/transduced/amplified that
    energy. If one guy could run a toy train (and I'm assuming this guy was
    no guru) a dedicated group perhaps could indeed provide power for
    cities of light...
    
    				Lance 

     
    Re:.6
    >...in regard to topic 307. ...trained minds focusing
    >their energy in groups through massive crystals...
    
    It is interesting how the "mental energy focusing through
    crystal" theme seems to be such a logically developed
    consistantly reoccuring theme.
    
    You might get a bit of a sense of dejavu after getting
    this inspiration by reading some of Marion Zimmer Bradley's
    "Darkover" series(recommend "Heritage of Hastur" or "Sharra's
    Exile") which explores this theme.  Although it is Science
    Fiction, she seems to base her stories on a good working
    knowledge of the current known crystal properties/lore.
    
    Thom