Arlan Andrews and Sci-Fi Writers in SIGMA Think Tank Help World Leaders Imagine Better Futures

http://micheleberger.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/arlan-andrews-and-sci-fi-writers-in-sigma-think-tank-help-world-leaders-imagine-better-futures/

Although for the past ten years I’ve lived less than an hour away from the well-known Rhine Center, in Durham, last week was the first time that I had a chance to attend one of their programs.  The Rhine Center has a long history in research on parapsychology and human consciousness and is composed of a research center and an education center. The Rhine Education Center “provides professional education in parapsychology and public events at the Rhine explore psychic abilities, experiences, techniques, and the culture of ESP throughout the world” (Rhine Center website).  On Friday, July 13, they were featuring  a science fiction writer that I didn’t know—Arlan Andrews and his talk ‘Science Fiction and the Future of the Paranormal’ caught my eye. The novel I am writing examines the effects of uncontrolled ‘psi’ outbreaks, so I thought Andrews’s talk created a good reason to make the trip.
Dr. Andrews is an engineer, science fiction writer, and author of hundreds of articles, stories and columns on the paranormal, science fiction, futurism, ancient civilizations, future technology and politics.
His began by discussing how he got interested in science fiction, and his experiences investigating paranormal activity with his wife (a noted psychic). His talk was chock-full of intriguing concepts, great stories and photos of him, Ray Bradbury and other science fiction writers at conferences during the 1980s and 1990s. But, what I found the most fascinating was how he founded SIGMA, a think tank of professional science fiction, fantasy and game writers who provide pro bono futurist talks to the U.S. government (and paid consulting for corporations). He developed this think tank after working as a Fellow in the White House Science Office in 1992-1993. Given science fiction’s enormous role in shaping  and imagining technology and the future, he wanted to bring the expertise of the science fiction community to inform challenging public policy issues. He started SIGMA, in 1993, with a modest group of nine PhDs (he stressed that in the beginning, he had to have people with doctorates to get over the ‘giggle factor’ by Washington officials), and has grown it to 40 plus members.
What? A group of distinguished science fiction writers (many of whom are scientists and engineers) giving talks to U.S. government officials and world leaders on how to stretch their thinking to solve global dilemmas and imagine a better future? Sign me up!! How do I join? How do I get invited? Well, I’ve probably got a bit more publishing to do before I get invited (and hmm maybe a doctorate  in a science field wouldn’t hurt either)…but hey, I’ll put getting invited to SIGMA on my bucket list!
SIGMA has spoken to the U.S. government, over the years, on national security issues, evolutionary technologies and futurism. He showed us pictures from some of these meetings on ‘science fictional thinking’ in which they stress the importance of imaginative and associative thinking, and turning problems upside down in order to generate innovative ideas.  My creativity coach’s heart pumped three times harder as I learned about SIGMA (and was surprised that I’d never heard of them before). The talent of the SIGMA group is extraordinary and includes many writers you know: Elizabeth Moon, Nancy Cress, Greg Bear, Dr. Yoji Kondo, Michael Swanwick, S.M. Sterling, and Dr. Larry Niven to name a few.
Earlier this year, as invited guests, SIGMA presented a panel on “Disruptive Technologies” at the Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This panel generated great buzz. The conversation inspired computer engineer Yasser Bahjatt to create a TEDx talk about how Arab science fiction could dream a better future and he’s created an open platform to support artistic expression and a new culture of science fiction writing. Check out the inspiring video and his vision.
Arlan Andrews didn’t look tired after giving a rousing two-hour talk. I’m glad that I went (thanks to my partner, Tim for finding out about this event and buying tickets!) and learned so much. I’m sure that my future will include more visits to the Rhine Center. I talked with Dr. Andrews about a possible interview exploring his ideas about creativity. I’m expecting that will be a blast, too!

Remote Viewing Group

Amazing results from the Remote Viewing group that met last Wednesday night.  We had a good crowd, a few new faces and as usual everyone seemed to have a good time.  We certainly saw some impressive remote viewing, with 9 of the 12 viewers picking the right target, and 2 more folks getting clear information on the wrong target (psi-missing).  We did something a bit uncomfortable tonight, as if sitting around trying to be psychic isn't unusual enough, and the participants worked with the process pretty well.  We like to try new "techniques" of getting intuitive info, so at this meeting one of the group led us in a process where we did what the most famous of seers did, we uttered spontaneous poetry/song, in the manner of the Oracle of Delphi.  Now as you are sitting there reading this, you are welcome to try it yourself to see just how uncomfortable it is.  Then imagine doing this sitting across from another person you do not know very well or just met, and you can see that its no simple feat.  But the idea is that by free-associating or "thought streaming" in verse and/or music, you get around the conscious mind that is distracting you from the PSI data available related to the task, which in our cases was an unknown photo sealed in an envelope.  Honestly, I and others there did not find spontaneous singing something we could do.  I think it's going to take practice. 

People who know me will tell you that public displays of spontaneous art don't happen with me very often... uh.. never.  But the effort did educate me on how the brain processes spontaneous singing.  The music aspect seems to work with a different part of the brain than just the talking part, or the effort to create meter or rhyme, and the process is different still if its done just in one's  mind.  And just letting words flow out in rhythm is another experience as well.  Again, it's going to take repeated effort to make it effortless.

Another level of  difficulty which I touched on already is the comfort level between participants.  In my experience, working with a monitor who writes down my intuitively gathered information is much more successful if I am very comfortable with that person.  It really reduces the performance anxiety and lets me concentrate on the process and not on the social context stuff.  I was impressed with our high rate of correct sessions despite this. 

Our process was pretty typical.  We had our usual sitting around chatting, then formally started the group meeting by introducing ourselves and discussing Remote Viewing issues just to allow us more time getting used to talking with each other.  I am a strong believer that the interpersonal relationships are valuable for Remote Viewing, so I want to nurture that.  If you've attended our meetings and think I am just being slack when we sit around talking all over the place and not immediately "getting down to business" , its actually done intentionally.   Then we talked about how we were going to make like the Oracle of Delphi, and discussed our schedule for the session we were about to do, and they were given their task.  We broke up in pairs, so we could take turns writing down what the other person sang/versed in their session.  We took about 15 minutes per person, and they would write down the poetry they created spontaneously.  Then we got back together and I gave each person two sealed envelopes, each envelope contained a unique photograph.  They were to open up the envelopes and place the photos beside each other and compare the photos with their session data, then choose which photo they think was the target photo they were to get PSI information on.  While they were making this choice, I stood over in a far corner and flipped a coin to pick which of the 2 photos for each viewer was their tasked photo.  Then after they had decided on the photo they thought  was the target, I told them which one was actually their target photo, and 9 out of 12 had picked the correct photo.  There was a bit of high-fiving, and lots of discussion.  Yes, there are methodological problems with this process but I was primarily interested in the experience and education factor, not in proving anything or publishing our results. 

And it was an educational experience.  I invite you to our next meeting, and I encourage you to join the Rhine Research Center or make a donation to help real scientists doing real science, and to provide the opportunity for fun educational pursuits like ours to flourish.  The fact is that real, careful and thorough science like that done by the researchers at the RRC is by necessity and design slow going.  One of the many good things about our lay-person pursuits such as the Remote Viewing group is that we may reveal new variables for future consideration by the scientists.  Its accessible, its fun, and I hope you will give it a try.

Here is a fascinating article on some recent research.

"Those who trust their feelings can predict future events more accurately"

The researchers call this phenomenon the emotional oracle effect. Across a number of studies, they compared a person's reliance on their feelings to make predictions, and the later accuracy of those predictions.  Give the article a read.