Telephone Telepathy?

Ever got a calll from someone you were just thinking about? What do you think about this scientist's research? The small sample (of people) leaves much room for skeptics to rebuke him..

news.yahoo.com...

It's a joke and so statistically insignificant it's not even worth debating. How about a list of 100 people - let's just see if he can get 45% then. Yahoo, or anybody for that matter, should be ashamed that they even a.) accept this as a legitimate news story or b.) acknowledges this as journalism.

Very interesting experiment and well worth repeating on a bigger scale; precisely because it can be repeated. I totally agree with the article that everyone one of them should be filmed though.
I would be surprised if the accuracy was 45% then again basic statistics give you an average of 25%

The point is that I not only firmly believe in these studies; I believe even more in them being conducted properly. It's research like this which could lead the way towards the big goal of uniting all world religions. Of course there will still be hangers on (just like there's still a minority of people who deny evolution). But in time those people who deny an all binding truth will become just that (a minority).

Really I think such research is well worthy of tax payers cash because the amount needed is a fraction of what's spent annually; and because the questions that would be answered are in everybody.
Proving the existence of these things could be good for society; particularly if it leads to people thinking they are accountable for their actions here in life in the afterlife. Just think how many extra murderous, thieves and rapists we would have if many people didn't believe that? Just think how many more we could prevent with mind opening research like this?

In my world what happens frequently is I will start humming the tune on my ringer and then the phone rings.

It isn't scientific but it does happen ALOT!

Story about this subject on BBC news at 08:45 GMT , I find this subject very intresting as I wrote an essay on it way back in my second year of highschool for my religous and moral studies class (I'll see if I can dig it out and scan it for ATS)
Keep an open mind closed doors lead to holes being knocked in walls
EDIT for spelling , doh!

[edit on 7-9-2006 by Scotlandshope]

It's so funny the way this subject riles the "scientifically minded". Sheldrake is a well-respected Cambridge academic and one of the brightest guys around. He did a thing on "how does your dog know when you're coming home?" which was filmed by the BBC. They had proper protocols in place and found that many dogs react at the exact moment their owner (who is with someone else who's going to determine at what point the owner goes home) starts to head back, often going to sit by the front door to wait.

But these aren't proper experiments! comes the cry... actually they are, it's just that they point to something that those who think of themselves as "scientifically minded" and "rational" don't want to accept: that there are connections between people and between life forms in general that have an emotional component.

Modern science has only the vaguest notion of what consciousness actually IS, FCOL. And there's an uncomfortable area of overlap with certain religious and mystical practices which makes "rationalists" even more uncomfortable, so they tend to stick their fingers in their ears and go "la la la la laaaa" a lot. And the word "anecdotal" (subtext, "delusional", "distorted") gets bandied around.

Well, here's just one "anecdotal" account from my life: one morning many years ago I woke up with the conviction that I had to 'phone one of my best friends. I was away from home on a long contract and hadn't called him for a while. I had the strongest possible feeling that it was urgent and vital that I call him. When he answered the 'phonel, instead of the warm greeting that was usual between us, he sounded numb and in shock. It turns out that one of his childhood friends had just died in a road accident.

A so-called rationalist would ask me to believe that this was a coincidence. That simply does not sit right with me. I had such a strong feeling that I had to call him: it was the very first thing I did that day; and it turned out that he was overwhelmed by loss. I don't believe it's possible, or necessary, to calculate the odds of something like that happening: that it should have happened is enough to demonstrate to me that humans have connections that operate over large distances, and that my friend and I share such a connection.

One of the things that he and I have in common is that we are musicians, and we have been in an improvising ensemble for many years now. There's an interesting book called The Field which suggests that there is a growing body of scientific evidence for some sort of connecting field that unites us all, and they cite some scientists' work with random number generators as part of this evidence.

RNGs are perturbed, it seems, in situations in which people concentrate on the same thing, and their output (as monitored by sophisticated software) deviates from being truly random. September 11 2001 produced a HUGE deviation, you may not be surprised to know.

There are also studies of portable RNGs being taken to, for example, arts events. One of the most significant departures from random output occurred at Bayreuth, and the interesting thing is that the spikes of non-random output occurred at those moments in the performance (of the Wagnerian Ring Cycle) where "you could have heard a pin drop".

Back to me and my friend... in this band we're in, the most important activity, it has emerged, is not playing our instruments, but in listening. When we make music, there are no rules, except that no-one has to play anything... anyone can start or stop playing at any time. This means, in practice, that one is listening really carefully all the time, and if you listen carefully enough, the music itself tells you what to play. There are bands that do improvised music when everyone's playing at the same time but they might as well be in different rooms: our stuff sounds as if it had been written and arranged beforehand. This is because we all listen.

And over the last couple of years or so, an interesting development has occurred: once in a while everyone will change direction suddenly, without warning, and all together. This feels as though we're a flock of birds or a school of fish that abrupty change direction... it's weird but that's the best way I can describe it. And when you look at those groups of fish or birds, haven't you ever wondered how they all do that so fast, all together? There doesn't seem to be a leader. Changes are sudden and synchronised. How does this happen? Orthodox science seems rather mute on the subject.

The BBC also did another experiment that is worth describing.

They installed a big two-way mirror on a staircase inside one of their studio complexes, and behind it they had a dozen or so people sitting on swivel chairs.

These people would sit facing away from their window (which had a view of the staircase) most of the time. Audiences on their way to various studios would use the stairs and pass this window. "Spotters" outside the room would note particular members of the crowd who would be easily distinguished, and relay a description to an experimenter in the concealed room. He would then say to the participants, for example, "woman, in her thirties, long blonde hair, bright red coat", and then, when this woman came into view, he would say, "NOW", and the dozen people would all turn their chairs to face the window and stare as hard as they could at the person described.

Very, very often, this person would pause and look round in a slightly bewildered way at the exact moment they were being stared at. Some people looked right into the mirror, which was kind of funny, as they'd catch sight of their own reflection, primp briefly, (more likely a sign of what psychologists call "displacement activity" than of vanity) and pass on.

Well, here's just one "anecdotal" account from my life: one morning many years ago I woke up with the conviction that I had to 'phone one of my best friends.

I have read similiar stories.... There was one in the local paper (here) a couple of years ago which claimed this guy was having dreams about someone calling for help. The next day he was driving his kid somewhere, when he noticed some damaged guardrail so he pulled his car over. On the other side of the guardrail was a steep slope and he couldn't see anything because it was overgrown with vegetation.... still he felt something compelling him to investigate. He went down the slope for a closer look and found a wrecked car! The driver was barely conscious and badly dehydrated. Apparently the accident had happend several days before and the person was badly injured and unable to leave the vehicle. Doctors said he/she would have died of dehydration within 24 hrs if the man had not found him/her (I can't remember the victim's gender).

But, of course, these are just anecdotes... therefore to a person with "proper scientific training" they mean nothing because there's nothing there to test or that can be replicated.

That means they don't exist. Our scientific paradigm will have to change soon to take account of all these things that, no matter what, won't go away.

just yesterday I had some email wierdness. I hadn't heard from a friend for about a month and decided to write to her. As soon as sent my email I looked in my inbox and low and behold, she had written to me. It was sent at exactly the same time I sent my message. CRAzy

I once had an amazing experience with "telephone telepathy"...

It was about a year ago. I was already finished school for about a year, and I hadnt talked to my old buddy, his name was Virgilio, since our graduation. So I decided to give him a call. When I picked up the phone to dial, I heard someone else dialing on the other line...I listened and yes, someone else was dialing on the other line. So I said "hello?" and then I heard someone say "hello?" back...the voice sounded very familiar so I said "who is this?" And he said "this is Virg". It was my friend Virgilio! I was amazed, I told him I was just thinking about the old gang, and decided to give him a call....and he said thats exactly what he was doing, giving me a call because we havent talked in a while! We both thought about the same thing, at the same time, and picked up the phone to dial each other's number, at the same time! It was absolutely amazing. I have no idea how that happened, but I am glad it did.



[edit on 7-9-2006 by AscendedMaster]