Remote
Viewing
Remote viewing
is the ability to perceive people, places, events, and objects
remotely by directing the conscious mind to a destination provided
by specified coordinates. The modern process of remote viewing
was initially developed by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff at
the Stanford Research Institute at the request of the CIA in
1972.
Remote viewing is the ability to perceive people, places, events,
and objects remotely by directing the conscious mind to a destination
provided by specified coordinates. The modern process of remote
viewing was initially developed by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff
at the Stanford Research Institute at the request of the CIA
in 1972.
Code-named Scangate, the classified program developed as a response
to Soviet research into psychic phenomena. The Soviet Union
was believed at the time to have spent 60 million roubles on
psychic research. The project focused on a very small group
of individuals who showed psychic potential.
During the early testing of the group, NY artist, Ingo Swann
was able to accurately describe the features of a uniquely-designed
magnetometer buried six feet beneath a concrete floor. He also
demonstrated the ability to affect the output signal of the
magnetometer device.
Swann soon became bored with the scientific repetition of experiments
and suggested that he could travel psychically to other places
on the planet. After some initial reluctance, this was attempted,
and proven to be successful. Ingo Swann and other viewers, including
Pat Price, were provided with latitude and longitude coordinates,
and they attempted to view the geographical location at those
coordinates. Ingo Swann and Pat Price proved to be remarkably
accurate at this technique.
Further rigorous testing of Swann, Price, photographer Hella
Hamid and others at SRI convinced Targ and Puthoff that remote
viewing was not just an ability to be enjoyed by certain psychics
but that anyone accomplish it. The remote viewing program went
through a number of changes over the years in structure as well
in name. Later code names include Gondola Wish, Grill Flame,
and in 1991, Star Gate.
Over the course of twenty years, the United States spent $20
million on Star Gate and related projects. Over the course of
its existence more than forty personnel worked on the project,
including more than twenty remote viewers.
Concerns about the program's effectiveness led the CIA to contract
the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to provide an evaluation.
Their final report included an endorsement from statistician
Jessica Utts, who found the government psychics' 15% success
rate statistically significant; and a rebuttal from noted sceptics
Ray Hyman, who pointed to flaws in the ways the experiments
were conducted and results tabulated.
AIR's final recommendation to the CIA was to terminate the program,
which it did in 1995. According to the CIA, Remote Viewing has
never provided data used to guide intelligence operations
