Conference hydra::dejavu

681.0. ""Like influences like"" by ELESYS::JASNIEWSKI (Turning down to Zero) Fri Mar 25 1988 10:54

		From "New Age Journal" Feb, 1984. Reprinted without 
		permission.

	An excerpt from "The New Age Interview: Dr.Rupert Sheldrake"

	When Biologist Rupert Sheldrake published his first and only book, 
"A New Science of Life" in 1981, the acedemic community literally went ape.
NATURE - the most prestegious scientific journal in the English speaking
world - fulminated that "this infuriating tract...is the best candidate for 
burning there has been for many years"; to make sure nobody missed the point,
the editors repeated this call for an "auto da fe" in a banner headline: "A 
BOOK FOR BURNING." Other cries of rage came from all sectors of the scientific
community - but so did voices coming to Dr Sheldricks defence, including NEW 
SCIENTIST magazine, BRAIN/MIND BULLETIN, the late Arthur Koestler and Nobel 
physicist Dr Brian Josephson. The Tarrytown Conference center in New York has 
offered a $10,000 for the best experiment to confirm or refute Sheldrakes 
theory, a Dutch foundation has offered another $5,000, and letters columns of 
science magazines are full of debate, pro and con. At the age of 41, Rupert 
Sheldrake - a former director of biochemistry studies at Cambridge University 
- is the most controversial scientist on Earth.
	What is at stake in the Sheldrake "scandale" is a testable scientific
hypothesis which, if confirmed, will knock the underpinnings from the 
materialist theory of the universe.  It would also build a conceptual
bridge from psychology to quantum mechanics, almost creating what phyicists
call a Grand Unified Theory which could have implications for every field of
scientific investigation, and for religion, philosophy, and daily life as 
well. And the first two experiments to test Sheldarke's theory have tended to
verify it.
	The Sheldarke hypotheses is that in addition to fields already known
to science - the gravitational field, the electromagnetic field, etc - there 
are in nature "morphogenetic fields" which he defines as "invisible organizing
structures that mold of shape things like crystals, plants and animals and 
also has an organizing effect on behavior". These morphogenetic fields contain
information gathered from all past history and evolution - somewhat in the 
manner of Freud's "racial memory" , Jung's "collective unconsciousness", or 
for that matter, Timothy Leary's "neurogenetic circuit". Biological theory
consideres the passing of such specific "memorys" through the genes to be an
impossibility. Sheldrake, however, sidesteps that problem by claiming that
these fields exist apart from material structures entirely.
	This is where Sheldrake's critics are most alarmed. If such an idea is
feasable, they point out, there is no reason why telepathy could not exist,
no reason why prayer cannot be effective, no reason why all sorts of religious
and superstitious notions might not be true....They view Sheldrake, then , as
an enemy of science, an enemy of materialism, a Trojan Horse trying to smuggle
metaphysics back into the world of science after they thought it had been
stamped out. To all of which Sheldrake replies, with a gentle smile, that his 
theory will stand or fall on experimental evidence and he is content to wait 
for that verdict.
	An even more controversial part of Sheldrake's hypothesis is his
concept of "morphic resonance", which holds that similar structures can be in 
communication across time and space via morphogenetic fields. This concept is 
known in Anthropology as the theory of "the majical link" and is regarded as
characteristic of primitive societies; it explains why a shaman believes 
sticking pins in a doll will cause pain to the person whom the doll 
represents. Sheldrake says that whether morphic resonance would justify such
shamanic beliefs is a question that remains to be answered; his theory merely 
asserts that there are widely known examples in biology and crystal chemistry
where some such non-local resonance seems to be occurring.
	Sheldrake's general approach has recieved unexpected support from a 
series of recent experiments by quantum physicist Alain Aspect, which showed 
that similar non-local connections, not expliciable in mechanical terms, do
occur at the sub-atomic level.
	Rupert Sheldrake was a plant physiologist and a fellow of Clare 
College, Cambridge, with degrees from Cambridge and Harvard, when he first
went to Aisa in 1968 to study tropical plants. The exposure to alternative 
philosophies there, he says, brought to the surface his long festering doubts 
about the completeness and adequacy of materialism. Since 1974 he has lived in 
India most of the time, continuing his scientific research and studying Hindu
and Moslem philosophies, including Sufism. His attitude seems to be; "I have
had a remarkable idea. Now let's do the research and see if I'm right"

				*	*	*

	Has anyone heard of this man or his theory of morphogenetic fields?
What research has been conducted since 1984 to support of refute it? I find
this theory *very* interesting!

	Joe Jas

    RE: Note 681.0
    
    In ReVISION The Journal of Consciousness and Change, September 1987
    there is a Special Issue: The Resonating Universe: Explorations
    of an Intergrative Metaphor in which Rupert Sheldrake writes some
    interesting articles on the subject or Resonating Galaxies,
    and Memory and Morphic Resonance.
    
    -Arthur

    You'll find a discussion of Sheldrake's theories (done from memory)
    in note 245.9.
    
    Recently, there was a "column" by Sheldrake in New Scientist.  (I
    put it in quotes since it was a one time essay, but column is closer
    in implication to its tone then essay).  In it he discussed a
    possible new test involving the reaction of cattle in the modern
    American west.  It seems there is a device, consisting, if I understood
    the description, of a grating of pipes laid on the ground.  This
    device is difficult and uncomfortable for cattle to walk on and
    can be used to block "gates" in fences which people, cars, dogs
    etc. find easy to pass.  The kicker is that lately ranchers have
    begun using fake "cattle grids" consisting only of lines painted
    on the ground.  Sheldrake felt that there was evidence that even
    cattle which had never been exposed to a real cattle grid avoided
    these -- which he felt would be evidence, if confirmed, of his theory.
    
    A few weeks later a delightfully written letter from a British
    (English?) farmer appeared on his/her attempt to put Sheldrake to
    a practical test and the disasterous results for his/her vegetable
    garden.
    
    The score apparently stands at two successes and one failure for the
    theory.
    
    					Topher 

    Reply to Cattle Grids,
    
    Cattle Grids are bridge type contraptions that stop cattle from going
    past a fence where the fence doesn't go across a road. The wire fence
    will go up to a dirt road on both sides, but not across the road. A
    cattle grate or grid is a series of metal pipes or bars that streatch
    between a 2 or 3 yard space between one side of the fence and the
    other. It forms a bridge of sorts and the underside of the grid
    is usually dug out a foot or so.
    
    The bars are of course slick and the space between them is wide
    enough that a hoof will go inbetween the bars and the cattle will
    trip. Wheeled vehicles have no problem crossing these metal bridges.