Sunday, May 5, 2013

Is this a good idea?

higgs boson
Is finding out how ESP works a good idea?  There continues to be mounting evidence that the phenomenon exists, that the human mind has access to non-local information, though the mechanics for the most part remain undiscovered.  You are welcome to scoff and write parapsychology off as nonsense, such dismissive behavior is natural and not-unprecedented.  It was Lord Kelvin, a respected engineer of his time, who said "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." so even the brightest people can make a bad call.  But evidence to the contrary showed him shortly the errors in his prediction.

If you want to see the growing body of evidence for the existence of PSI, check out Dean Radin's website here:  http://www.deanradin.com/evidence/evidence.htm.  We seem to have crossed the line as to whether it exists, and now we are facing the question of what to do about it. 

The applications for use of PSI are so incredible it’s hard to put your head around it.  Similar considerations are given to other burgeoning technologies such as nanotech, genome decoding, and AI where the good and bad applications demand great care as we move forward.  PSI mechanic applications seem to dwarf these other technologies in the far-reaching changes they would introduce, so I am drawn back to my original question, is this a good idea?

One of the things that fascinates me to no end is how people just shrug their shoulders to this question.  This would seem an explainable response if the evidence for PSI were dismissible, but that reason fades more each day.  When we learn how ESP works, and can apply it, and each and every person can apply it, then what do you imagine will become of our world?  I guess it’s just too much to even ponder, so we don't. 

But the US military and intelligence organizations cared enough to look into it, and ran the Stargate Program from the 1970s to the 1990s.  The same people we depend on to safeguard western civilization, they were working on ESP research.  Research around the world continues on these mysteries, and as sure as the human genome has been mapped, and the Higgs-Boson particle is created, and those impossible "heavier-than-air flying machines" are filling up our skies every second of every day, you can be sure that how PSI works will be discovered.

What happens then? 

I have to trust that the people working on these discoveries are good and conscientious people.  That doesn't mean it will make that technology  100% safe, and less-than-good people will one day access these technologies, too.  But I want to give the good guys a head start.  I want the good guys to be out in front of this.  That is one of the reasons I volunteer at the Rhine Research Center.  That is why I am a member there, and why I make donations to the Rhine Research Center.  They are an organization of good people, dedicated scientists and educators, who have been doing this for 80+ years, and are on the cutting edge of PSI research right now.

And this is more than a feel-good appeal for the RRC.  This question of what to do with these technologies, how to live in a world with them, needs to be addressed.  To stay alive in this changing environment, we must adapt, we must be responsible.  If you as an individual, or we as a species are to make it, we must change to work with the reality of possessing technologies that any person could use to end the species.   That shoulder shrug response we give to the question isn't an adequate adaptation to the new world growing up around us.  I don't  have any profound answers on this, but I do know I want the question answered by folks who have been working with these issues, both the scientific and the human side, for generations.

Whether or not learning how ESP works is a “good idea” won’t stop it from happening, just like we can’t stop any of the other developing technologies out there that hold unprecedented risk.  The best thing we can do is make sure responsible people are getting this done, and continue to work ourselves to make responsible decisions for all these new advancements.