Paraphysics

Current events in science imply that a new scientific revolution in physics is unfolding. This new revolution will be as much about mind and consciousness as it is about matter and physics. It will bring a new theory of physical reality that includes the consciousness that senses, interprets and interacts with physical reality. The new theory of consciousness will lead to explanatory models of the paranormal as well as explain how consciousness survives death. This prediction is not an optimistic 'pipe dream', but our present and future. A theory of this type has already been developed. It is based on a five-dimensional Einstein-Kaluza model of the space-time continuum. ‘Single field theory' or SOFT can easily account for paranormal phenomena and the survival of consciousness. Whatever theory finally succeeds in bridging the gap between mind and matter, indications are that it will have many of the characteristics of SOFT if it is not SOFT. Whatever the case may be, a valid theory that combines physical reality and consciousness is truly a theory to die for!

To avoid molecular damage of biomolecules due to oxidation, all cells have evolved constitutive and responsive systems to mitigate and repair chemical modifications. Archaea have adapted to some of the most extreme environments known to support life, including highly oxidizing conditions. However, in comparison to bacteria and eukaryotes, relatively little is known about the biology and biochemistry of archaea in response to changing conditions and repair of oxidative damage. In this study transcriptome, proteome, and chemical reactivity analyses of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) induced oxidative stress in Sulfolobus solfataricus (P2) were conducted. Microarray analysis of mRNA expression showed that 102 transcripts were regulated by at least 1.5 fold, 30 minutes after exposure to 30 mM H 2 O 2 . Parallel proteomic analyses using two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), monitored more than 800 proteins 30 and 105 minutes after exposure and found that 18 had significant changes in abundance. A recently characterized ferritin-like antioxidant protein, DPSL, was the most highly regulated species of mRNA and protein, in addition to being post-translationally modified. As expected, a number of antioxidant related mRNAs and proteins were differentially regulated. Three of these, DPSL, superoxide dismutase, and peroxiredoxin were shown to interact and likely form a novel supramolecular complex for mitigating oxidative damage. A scheme for the ability of this complex to perform multi-step reactions is presented. Despite the central role played by DPSL, cells maintained a lower level of protection after disruption of the dpsl gene, indicating a level of redundancy in the oxidative stress pathways of S. solfataricus. This work provides the first ''omics'' scale assessment of the oxidative stress response for an archeal organism and together with a network analysis using data from previous studies on bacteria and eukaryotes reveals evolutionarily conserved pathways where complex and overlapping defense mechanisms protect against oxygen toxicity.

Great strides have been made in the neurosciences over the past few years, especially in the areas of neurophysiology and neurophysics. In fact, the area of research called neurophysics has only emerged as a viable branch of physics in the past decade. The object of these researches goes beyond just discovering how the brain functions, but to actually discover the neural correlates of mind and consciousness. On the other hand, developing physical models of consciousness from a theoretical rather than an experimental or observational approach has also become popular over the past few decades. Together, these two approaches have raised the possibility that science will soon understand enough about mind and consciousness to answer important questions that have haunted philosophical thought and metaphysical speculations for several millennia, the most important of which might be ‘How does human consciousness emerge within the brain? And ‘What is the relationship between consciousness and the greater universe?’ These questions represent perhaps the greatest and the most important mysteries of all science because they define who we are, where we have been and where we are going as an intelligent species.

What is meant by the paranormal? Though it cannot be defined exactly, except as a group of anomalies, it is better known for what it is not. It is not normal. As a group of phenomena it is broken down as either ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception) of PK (PsychoKinesis): This breakdown represents a natural split between purely mental and physical. There are still arguments against the legitimacy of parapsychology based on an older mind/matter (religion/science) dualism, yet parapsychology itself is plagued by internal arguments whether psi is mental or physical. Once that road is traveled, we can move on and develop a physical theory, which may be necessary because of certain shortcomings in parapsychology if for no other reason. The final acceptance of psi in the scientific community will depend on a theory which can form a framework for research. Such a theory is necessary and is recognized as such, whether mentally or physically based, by most parapsychologists. Yet analogies between characteristics of psi events and modern physical phenomena demonstrate that a physical theory is what is really needed. This leads to the question “is there such an ‘animal’ as Paraphysics?” Unfortunately, very little has been done along the line of developing a real a physical theory and there may still be reasons why such a theory may be unacceptable. The physical theories presented are broken along two basic lines paralleling trends in modern physics: Quantum mechanics versus field theory. The greater trend seems to be toward an explanation along quantum mechanical lines. However, arguments for both are given. Some general characteristics of psi are mentioned, but the main emphasis will be on the relation of psi signaling to the inverse square law, physical barriers to ESP and electrical brain waves. Some of the theories dealt with in more detail are those authored by Wasserman, Marshall, Walker, Dobbs, Forwald, Carrington, Roll and Puharich, among others. Again, these are physical theories, related directly to the physical aspects of psi. Where possible, comments either pro or con relative to the different theories are discussed. And finally, I propose my own physical theory, or perhaps my first speculation on which a true physical theory will develop. My own theory is completely original, approached from a completely different angle and hopefully far more basic than the theories thus far investigated. * The original paper comprised more than one-hundred handwritten pages and was entered into a word processor nearly two decades later, so the intent was never to publish this paper. Yet it is important because it was the starting point for all of my later work in physics, the history of science and paraphysics. Although never published in its entirety, all the material in this paper eventually found its way into other published work.

Science is a work in progress, although the progress that science has made over the past few decades has been vastly limited by the narrow, limited and dogmatic worldviews representing the major paradigms of physics. It is not hard or even overwhelmingly original to conclude that science has followed the wrong direction at a fork in the road and led itself into a corner with little to no room for escape. Both the quantum theory and general relativity have made spectacularly accurate predictions, nearly all of which have been verified, but these two paradigms remain mutually incompatible while the standard model of particles used within the quantum paradigm keeps predicting the existence of particles that are not falsifiable and completely beyond verification. Newer physical models such as the superstring and brane theories have not lived up to their promise and show no signs of settling the problems of unification for which they were designed. This book takes a different route and tells the story of a new form of unified field theory that combines or merges the best parts of the quantum theory and relativity together within a single field theory structure. It covers four primary areas of scientific inquiry: the macrocosm, the microcosm, the everyday world of life, mind and experience, and the abstract world of theoretical and philosophical mathematics and science. In so doing, this book offers the best chance for an alternative physics worldview that is nothing less than the science of our future, a preview of the science that will carry us into a brave new world of being and becoming our own future.

Keywords: Future physics, theory of everything, unified field theory, quantized space-time, consciousness, evolution, paraphysics

Both human and non-human living organisms have traditionally been viewed and studied as material organisms. Within this context, life has been defined by the biochemical processes that sustain the living organisms, while mind and consciousness have been relegated to functions within the brain. Yet the body is just a complex pattern of energetic material particle exchanges to physicists when compared to the biochemical processes studied by chemists and biologists. As the scientific view of life has expanded beyond these early limits, new research has centered more upon the electric, magnetic and electromagnetic characteristics of living material bodies as well as the brain, but the overall concept of life has not kept pace or changed at all. Once these new research efforts have been taken into account, it is easy to demonstrate that life, or rather the “living force” as it was once called, can be equated to the overall matter/energy pattern of the organism, while mind and consciousness can be equated to the electric and magnetic counterparts of the matter/energy pattern of living organisms. Doing so does nothing to disrupt or disturb the current thinking that the ‘process of life’ is purely biochemical. In fact, all living organisms, from the simplest one-celled organism to the most complex living organism known, a human,  are extremely complex material/energy patterns (comprising the structural and biochemical body) superposed by the extremely complex electric (electromagnetic scalar potential) field patterns and magnetic (electromagnetic vector potential) field patterns that constitute minds and consciousness. As humans, we may have the most complex and advanced mind and consciousness, but all other living organisms display mind and consciousness at various lower levels than our human mind and consciousness. The brain alone should no longer be considered the sole source and home of mind and consciousness. Mind and consciousness have mistakenly become associated with the brain and no other part of the body because of the dense concentration of neurons in the brain, a fact which can only be understood by studying the electric and especially the magnetic characteristics of the neuron. A strict study of the magnetic (electromagnetic vector potential) field patterns associated with neurons and neural nets demonstrates how thoughts and streams of thought originate in the brain and are stored magnetically at and within the points in space-time occupied by the brain and body. Microtubules, which act as magnetic induction coils, are the primary structural bio-unit used for building, storing and retrieving memories in the mind. In a very strict sense of the concepts, mind and consciousness could be considered a mixed four-dimensional electric-magnetic potential field holographic body that maintains a semi-independent existence with the material/energy field or structural/biochemical body of every living organism. The consequences of this physical model of mind and consciousness are revolutionary and imply a physical basis for (Darwinian) evolution as well as simple explanations of many paranormal phenomena, including the survival of mind and consciousness after death of the material body.

The name ‘Spock’ has been a metaphor for the precise logical basis of science for the past few generations of Americans. Yet psi phenomena seem anything but logical even though a few brave scientists have tried to make logical sense of psi. It would be nice to think that science has progressed far enough during the past two millennia so that questionable ideas such as those implied by psi phenomena could be handled with the respect that all of nature deserves, but the existence of psi still raises emotional and unscientific responses from its critics. Yet some well-known physicists are willing to entertain the possible existence of psi while others are willing to go further and accept its existence in some as yet undetermined shape or form as well as publicize their views. The number of scientists in this category is growing very slowly and psi is slowly, if not begrudgingly, merging into mainstream physics. The main question should be “Is a consensus regarding the reality of psi developing?” This question cannot yet be answered with any precision so an alternate question should be considered, “Is the pre-paradigmatic period of psi drawing to a close with the development of a new paradigm in physics which may be more amenable to psi?” The historical evidence indicates that the answer to this second question is yes. This evidence can be found in the association of psi effects with the consciousness/matter interaction, the flowering of contending theories and the development of a specialized language for psi phenomena. What can be concisely discerned is that consciousness acting non-locally is intricately related to the physics of psi, if it is not psi itself, rather than the psychological aspects of psi. So, physical theories of psi that account for the non-local action of consciousness at the quantum level seem to be in the offing for the coming paradigm shift. In the meantime, psi also seems to be a field effect as opposed to the discreteness of traditional quantum theory, so a field theory of psi also seems to be in the offing. However, it is more likely that both aspects of nature will be combined in some manner in the near future and an explanation of psi will emerge naturally as a direct consequence of the new theory.

The best evidence presently available for the afterlife has already been tried and found wanting, although there is a great deal of good and various levels of even better evidence when NDEs, reincarnation, new standards for verifying mediumship, death bed visions and other phenomena related to dying and the afterlife are considered. But none of these rises to the level of 'best evidence' for 'proving' the reality of the afterlife. The truth is that there is no falsifiable evidence that can distinguish between the afterlife and other paranormal phenomena, i.e., there are always alternative super-psi or general psi explanations for the data, stories and evidence gathered by parapsychologists and experienced by individuals. The afterlife hypothesis is neither falsifiable nor verifiable given the absolute best 'so-called evidence' available today. Only a valid theory could offer scientific verifiability and also distinguish whether the evidence gathered so far supports the afterlife concept or super-psi. So, with no valid theory of the afterlife available, either an independent acceptable theory based on specific phenomena or better yet as part of a greater comprehensive theory of physical reality, there is nothing on which to base a truly rigorous experiment that could verify the afterlife to the satisfaction of both the scientific and nonscientific communities. Some form of valid acceptable theory is necessary and long overdue to explain and verify the various paranormal phenomena as well as hone the scientific search for survival of consciousness and the afterlife. We must assume that at least consciousness survives as either part or the whole of any possible afterlife. All of the common paranormal examples that deal with the afterlife are in some way simply different data points that should be used to follow the scientific method and lead to some common physical concept that we identify as the afterlife, so the hypothesis can be tested and verified. Not one of these examples is based on anything other than experiences/observations for which no comprehensive scientific model has ever been developed and/or studied in enough detail to even attempt to verify even the minimum level survival of consciousness in some manner. Only one theoretical unification model in modern physics, the single (operational) field theory or SOFT, is comprehensive enough to model life, mind, and consciousness and their evolution in enough specific detail to even talk logically about survival of consciousness. Be this as it may, the only possible 'best evidence' would then be the direct experience of higher consciousness, as in NDEs and enlightenment, which are very personal experiences, but even then, it could only be used as evidence, the best evidence, when it can be analyzed and understood as a physical phenomenon within the context of SOFT, an equivalent or better theoretical model.

A complete theoretical model of how consciousness arises in neural nets can be developed based on a mixed quantum/classical basis.  Both mind and consciousness are multi-leveled scalar and vector electromagnetic complexity patterns, respectively, which merge within all living organisms through the process of evolution. Like life, the mind and consciousness patterns extend throughout living organisms (bodies), but the neural nets and higher level groupings that distinguish higher levels of consciousness only exist in the brain so mind and consciousness have been raditionally associated with the brain alone. A close study of neurons and neural nets in the brain shows that the microtubules within axons are classical bio-magnetic inductors that emit and absorb electromagnetic pulses from each other. These pulses establish interference patterns that influence the quantized vector potential patterns of interstitial water molecules within the neurons as well as create the coherence within neurons and neural nets that scientists normally associate with more complex memories, thought processes and streams of thought. Memory storage and recall are guided by the microtubules and the actual memory patterns are stored as magnetic vector potential complexity patterns in the points of space at the quantum level occupied by the water molecules. This model also accounts for the plasticity of the brain and implies that mind and consciousness, like life itself, are the result of evolutionary processes. However, consciousness can evolve independent of an organism’s birth genetics once it has evolved by normal bottom-up genetic processes and thus force a new type of top-down evolution on living organisms and species as a whole that can be explained by expanding the laws of thermodynamics to include orderly systems.

Keywords: Consciousness, microtubules, neural correlates, neural nets, magnetic vector potential, quantum, space-time, emergence, magnetic domains, coherence, plasticity, evolution, thermodynamics

It has been quite difficult for the scientific community to come to terms with paranormal and psychic phenomena and will probably remain so for at least the immediate future. While there are many reasons by which scientists justify ignoring these phenomena, some scientifically valid and others grossly invalid, the possible existence of psi actually presents a real problem for science. The difficulty faced by science in this regard has been exacerbated by the failure of interested scientists to precisely define psi, the scientific term that has come to represent the measurable quantity or mechanism with which the various psychic phenomena are normally associated. In fact, the increasing precision of the definition of psi can be used as a barometer to measure the progress of research in the paranormal. Within this context, three questions are asked and hopefully answered to the satisfaction of legitimate scientific inquiry:  (1) Is psi a physical quantity? (2) How are psi and physical concepts related?  (3) Is Psi a Field or Quantum Effect?

Over the last century and a half, the successes of science in explaining our normally sensed world have led to further attempts to expand science into the realm of the para normal and explain the para-normally sensed world of psychic phenomena. These attempts have helped to establish a greater and growing variety of psychical experiences as well as offer a real challenge to our traditional concepts of religious experience. Within this context, science first came into contact with the paranormal with modern spiritualism, then to parapsychology and finally to paraphysics and a new interest in consciousness and spirituality. At each stage of this evolutionary process, changes in the scientific attitude toward the paranormal coincide with changes in the evolution of attitudes in normal science as well as changes in religious attitude.

Science investigates phenomena in nature that are either experienced or observed by people. However, one special class of phenomena is generally considered unscientific, i.e. unworthy of scientific investigation, by the majority of scientists. Science generally ignores any phenomenon associated with the possibility of an afterlife, which amounts to a scientific bias against this possibility. This shortcoming of science is actually a historical artifact that our present science inherited from the earlier break between science and religion and the separation of human thought into the two realms of MIND and MATTER. The bias is so
strong that science, as it now defines itself, will never accept the reality of the afterlife and associated phenomena no matter how strong or persuasive the evidence is to the contrary. But new research does point directly to a conclusion that the afterlife is real or at least that consciousness in some form survives death; so science must change in order accept this new reality and progress.

In spite of its popularity, mediumship is at odds with modern science. Since science is an extremely important part of our culture, mediumship will never be completely accepted until a scientific theory can explain how consciousness survives after the death of the material body. Even the presently available experimental evidence of survival is not enough to sway the opinions of scientists without a theory to support the data obtained from experiments. Only one theory, at present, can account for both consciousness and survival, the five-dimensional single field theory.

While the psychical sciences and parapsychology have languished over the decades and failed to produce a viable theoretical basis for their observations, great strides have been made in the neurosciences especially in the areas of neurophysiology and neurophysics. The object of these researches goes beyond just discovering how the brain functions, but to actually discover the neural correlates of mind and consciousness. Understanding how brain and consciousness relate to one another has opened a new door to understanding psi and how consciousness survives death. The new physical model of consciousness presented below goes a long way toward explaining the paradoxical nature of mind and consciousness that psi and survival present.

By most accounts, December 31, 2000 ended a century of unbelievable and breathtaking scientific progress. That is, it would be unbelievable if we had not experienced and documented all the advances that the century held. Yet the new millennium which began on January 1, 2001 seems to offer even greater promise than the last century, especially in the field of physics which is considered the most fundamental of the sciences of nature. But if we instead look at the long term trends in the history of the previous two centuries, some of the advances in physics during the twentieth century do not look so convincingly spectacular. So we actually began our third millennium bogged down by unanswered questions and growing concerns regarding the scope and range of validity of 'normal' physics. These questions have kindled doubts as to the fundamental nature of the quantum in understanding physical reality, just as they have raised the hope of finding a more fundamental understanding of nature and thus portend a new revolution in how we interpret and understand physical reality. At this point in time, the concept of consciousness reared its intellectually ugly head once again. The scientific community lost consciousness at the beginning of the twentieth century when psychology was based on behavior instead of mind. Yet consciousness is necessary within physics for many different reasons and the  consequences of developing a physical concept of consciousness are revolutionary to say the least. So it is suggested that a new look be taken at the field of paraphysics and toward this end a call is put out to develop a new academic organization supporting paraphysics.

The ultimate goal of science is to find truth in its understanding of nature. Science progresses toward this goal by making accurate observations of events and phenomena in nature and developing hypotheses and theories to explain the observations. In a very real sense, there is only one nature and one universe, so all observations are tied together such that science is one even though it may be split into many different academic disciplines. So it should come as no surprise that the smallest and simplest things in nature are intimately related to the largest and most complex things in nature. It is the goal of science not just to explain all of these individual things by the most accurate and simplest theory possible, but also to explain their intimate relationships. As different as they may seem, life, mind and consciousness are intimately related to the birth and death of stars and galaxies as well as the whole of the universe. The deepest mysteries of physics, Dark Matter and Dark Energy, are intimately related to the simplest forms of life imaginable as well as the most complex and elevated consciousness that could ever be conceived. However, science has a major problem in trying to understand such concepts. It is limited by the same human consciousness that stores and interprets the observations and data regarding all of physical and material reality. So in the end, science cannot understand the most basic and fundamental principles of reality, such as the true nature of matter, unless it also understands the consciousness that is sensing, observing and interpreting the data it collects on matter and the world around it as well as the limits that each imposes on the other. Everything in science is intimately related because everything in nature is ultimately connected. There are no exceptions.

In 1974, Brendan O’Regan and James Beal declared the emergence of a new field of science, paraphysics. The decade of the 1970s also saw the first publication of the Journal of Paraphysics; increasing publications and interest in paraphysics and physics of the paranormal; the entrance of physicists into parapsychology in larger numbers than ever before, resulting in new avenues of research; and the development of a secret government program for the study and application of paranormal abilities. These and related developments seemed to represent the culmination of a long evolutionary process by which normal physics was slowly coming to terms with para¬normal physical phenomena; however, the acceptance of paraphysics as a legitimate field of science is yet to be accomplished nearly three decades later. In fact, at the end of the second millennium use of the word paraphysics has declined in spite of recent developments concerning the scientific verification of psi phenomena and a new mindset in parapsychology.

The existence of ghosts and apparitions is theoretically possible in a scientific sense, a fact which should come as a surprise to both the scientifically trained and those who are not. In other words, all those people who have seen or experienced ghosts and apparitions could have come into contact with something that is physically real. It is possible and perhaps even probable that they are neither fictional experiences created in the mind of the experiencer nor are they made of matter, although they can be sensed as 'things' in our extended external physical (nonmaterial) universe by the mind through either our normal senses or directly through consciousness, if not both together. We have - and the term 'we' is meant to include both non-scientists and scientists alike - unfortunately succumbed to the simple belief that ‘things’ are either mind or matter (purely mental as opposed to material) or they belong to a classification that only allows Cartesian Mind or Matter (religious as opposed to scientific, respectively). Yet there exists a good many real ‘things’ that exist somewhere between mind and matter as well as Mind and Matter. Considering these differences opens up a vast region of physical reality that is never considered by anyone, including scientists, under any circumstances in any meaningful way. In other words, the simple words of mind and matter have far too many meanings, connotations and interpretations to be of use in something as exact as science where all quantities must be well defined. When mind and matter are more carefully and scientifically defined, the survival of mind and consciousness as physical but non-material entities that can be ‘observed’ under special physical conditions becomes possible. Ghosts fall into this category of physical ‘things’.

The best evidence presently available for the afterlife has already been tried and found wanting, although there is a great deal of good and various levels of even better evidence when NDEs, reincarnation, new standards for verifying mediumship, death bed visions and other phenomena related to dying and the afterlife are considered. But none of these rises to the level of ‘best evidence’ for ‘proving’ the reality of the afterlife. The truth is that there is no falsifiable evidence that can distinguish between the afterlife and other paranormal phenomena, i.e., there are always alternative super-psi or general psi explanations for the data, stories and evidence gathered by parapsychologists and experienced by individuals. The afterlife hypothesis is neither falsifiable nor verifiable given the absolute best ‘so-called evidence’ available today. Only a valid theory could offer scientific verifiability and also distinguish whether the evidence gathered so far supports the afterlife concept or super-psi. So, with no valid theory of the afterlife available, either an independent acceptable theory based on specific phenomena or better yet as part of a greater comprehensive theory of physical reality, there is nothing on which to base a truly rigorous experiment that could verify the afterlife to the satisfaction of both the scientific and non-scientific communities. Some form of valid acceptable theory is necessary and long overdue to explain and verify the various paranormal phenomena as well as hone the scientific search for survival of consciousness and the afterlife. We must assume that at least consciousness survives as either part or the whole of any possible afterlife. All of the common paranormal examples that deal with the afterlife are in some way simply different data points that should be used to follow the scientific method and lead to some common physical concept that we identify as the afterlife, so the hypothesis can be tested and verified. Not one of these examples is based on anything other than experiences/observations for which no comprehensive scientific model has ever been developed and/or studied in enough detail to even attempt to verify even the minimum level survival of consciousness in some manner. Only one theoretical unification model in modern physics, the single (operational) field theory or SOFT, is comprehensive enough to model life, mind, and consciousness and their evolution in enough specific detail to even talk logically about survival of consciousness. Be this as it may, the only possible ‘best evidence’ would then be the direct experience of higher consciousness, as in NDEs and enlightenment, which are very personal experiences, but even then, it could only be used as evidence, the best evidence, when it can be analyzed and understood as a physical phenomenon within the context of SOFT, an equivalent or better theoretical model.
Keywords: afterlife, best evidence, NDEs, enlightenment, fourth dimension, hyperspace, four-dimensional space-time, five-dimensional time-space, unification, 0-D point/twist, psi, paranormal phenomena, consciousness, higher consciousness, A-fields, physical evolution, unification, psi, ‘pattern matching’

Science, the paranormal and spirituality form a spectrum of sorts, ranging from the physical world and the logic that science uses to describe and probe it, to consciousness and intuition where the roots of the paranormal and spirituality can be found. The paranormal mediates between our scientific and spiritual worldviews, just as consciousness seems to bridge the enormous chasm between our internal mental image of self and the external material world. Therefore, a scientific study of paranormal phenomena seems the best way to understand spirituality at a higher level of physical reality than just our normal intuitive feelings for the world in which we live, our purpose in the world and how we interact with it. Within this context, the scientific study of the paranormal can be broken down into several historical periods. Each period coincides with specific developments and advances in scientific worldviews that are sometimes separated by paradigms shifts, both large and small. This fact is important because a new change in scientific worldview has recently begun to emerge and it coincides with new advances in the scientific study of consciousness which will greatly enhance and alter our worldview of the paranormal and spirituality.

During the last half of the nineteenth century a confluence of intellectual, cultural and scientific notions gave rise to the practice of modern spiritualism. Past histories of science and culture have considered the events surrounding modern spiritualism as a historical aberration especially when placed in the context of the science of the era. Yet modern spiritualism was as much a consequence of the successes of Newtonian science as was the Second Scientific Revolution. Several of the factors in its development are noted; The rise of evolution, conservation laws in physics and chemistry, the ‘Naturphilosophie’ ideas of convertibility of forces and unity of nature, the Romantic notions of organic nature as opposed to a strictly mechanistic view of nature, the Principle of Continuity, the mind-matter paradox, aether theories, Riemannian (non-Euclidean) geometries and other geometries of hyperspace, as well as older forms of occultism and spiritualism. Among these notions, the Principle of Continuity is identified as a “unit-idea” which has influenced the intellectual development of mankind since the early Greek era. But to a far greater extent, the rise of modern spiritualism was a continuation of scientific speculations on the interaction between mind and matter which only occurred when Newtonian science was well enough advanced to once again consider the role of mind in nature and science. When considered within this context, both the development of the scientific aspect of spiritualism and psychical research in the final decades of the nineteenth century can be viewed as a valid scientific endeavor as well as an integral part of the overall development of science.

It is fairly common to refer to our use of the paranormal aspects of consciousness as a sixth sense, but the idea of a sixth sense comes much closer to the truth of our physical situation in the universe-at-large than we might imagine. The universe in which we exist is commonly thought to be a four-dimensional space-time continuum. All five of our normal senses evolved within this common four-dimensional environment. Each individual consciousness interacts with the four-dimensional world via our five normal senses. However, our universe is actually five-dimensional so it would be safe to assume that human evolution has also taken the fifth dimension of the space-time continuum into account and given humans a sixth sense. According to all indications in modern science, this assumption would prove true. Our sixth sense actually represents the manner by which we gather information about the universe in which we exist via the fifth dimension, just as our normal five senses allow us to gather information about our physical environment within the four normal dimensions of space-time. Even when our four-dimensional material bodies die, we still continue to exist, communicate and gather information via this five-dimensional connection with the rest of the universe, and sometimes show ourselves and communicate with the living.

Great strides have been made in the neurosciences over the past few years, especially in the areas of neurophysiology and neurophysics. In fact, the area of research called neurophysics has only emerged as a viable branch of physics in the past decade or two. The object of these researches goes beyond just discovering how the brain functions, but to actually discover the neural correlates of mind and consciousness. On the other hand, developing physical models of consciousness from the opposite direction of a theoretical rather than an experimental or observational direction has also become popular over the past few decades. Together, these two approaches have raised the possibility that science will soon understand enough about mind and consciousness to answer important questions that have haunted philosophical thought and metaphysical speculations for several millennia, the most important of which might be ‘How does human consciousness emerge within the brain? And ‘What is the relationship between consciousness and the greater universe?’ These questions represent perhaps the greatest and the most important mysteries of all science because they define who we are, where we have been and where we are going as an intelligent species.

The term paraphysics has been greatly maligned over the decades; of that there can be no doubt. In the meantime, the science of paraphysics has become a popular dumping ground for all types of phenomena, whether real or not, that do not 'seem' to fit the present paradigm of "normal" science. Without rendering any prior judgment on the claims of ufologists, there is no evidence that UFO phenomena are paraphysical. On the other hand, there is no evidence that UFOs are not paraphysical in nature. This raises the question, where do UFOs fit in science? This question has been asked over and over and led to bitter debate in some quarters, by scientists and laymen alike, with no answers forthcoming. What is needed is a sober, non-biased and reasonable approach to the UFO problem by the scientific community (as well as support by the government/military establishment).

It is a common error to equate paraphysics with parapsychology since they are entirely different, although related, disciplines. Paraphysics is concerned with natural phenomena that physics does not normally cover in its day to day business and this obviously includes the paranormal and so much more. After all, paranormal is still natural and physics studies the realm of all that is in nature and thus natural. Paraphysics is a branch of theoretical physics and should include any physical phenomena not normally sensed and conveyed to the human mind by way of our five normal senses, not necessarily material phenomena alone. This would include any possible life force that go beyond the normal bio-chemical interactions normally associated with life as well as mind and consciousness itself, at least as long as they are not just material epiphenomena. Within this context, paraphysics would include not only paranormal phenomena, but any natural phenomena dependent on the existence of higher-dimensional spaces than our normal three-dimensional material space. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the science of paraphysics including analytical arguments why it should be considered a legitimate science as well as definitions and histories of the subject. Furthermore, the book outlines the initial development of a new unification theory of physical reality that can easily explain paranormal phenomena as well as mind and consciousness.

Everyone seems to have some innate idea that there is an afterlife. Developing a mental picture of the afterlife seems quite natural to us and seems be as old as humankind, more than likely predating even the earliest development of religions. However, religions have taken the initiative in dictating our most commonly held views of the afterlife over the past few thousand years even though there is no hard and fast rule stating that only religions have the right to develop views of the afterlife to the exclusion of all other forms of human knowledge. In fact, a concept of the afterlife is more fundamental to religions as a whole than belief in a Supreme Being, God or gods. Some of religion’s grasp on concepts of the afterlife have recently slipped as moviemakers have taken the initiative in representing how we picture the afterlife. On the other hand, science has been conspicuously absent from this whole process even though science has developed more and more complex paradigms about life, mind and consciousness, just those concepts which would seem important with regard to any possible afterlife. The very silence of science on this issue is simply deafening. However, the present lack of scientific worldviews that include some form of an afterlife will soon change as science takes a greater interest in the concept of consciousness and develops working theories to explain consciousness. Only then will science begin to consider the possibility that consciousness, at the very least, could survive death of the body and brain and only then will science consider the possibility that the afterlife is another part of our physical reality requiring explanation.

Presented at the annual ARPR meeting, Philadelphia, Summer 2002

Abstract: The practice of mediumship, in one form or another, is as old as human history itself. Moreover, The human race as a whole has shown a keen interest in the prospect of communicating with its dead ancestors, relatives and friends even though mediumship has been at odds with science and the scientific worldview ever since science first began to eradicate the hold of superstition on human thought, so the human interest in communication with the dead poses a paradox for our modern society which cherishes and favors its scientific ideals. This begs the question: Why, in the face of open skepticism, scientific criticism and common sense does this paradox persist? Perhaps because we have an innate intuitive sense that ‘life’ is more than just the sum of the physical components of the living body. Therefore, some part of life must survive the death (cessation of electro/chemical action) of the material body. This intuitive notion is seemingly devoid of scientific or logical support, but it still persists. The logical conclusion then is that the scientific community will never accept mediumship until life is defined and it is PROVEN that some physical portion of ‘life’ survives the death of the living body.

A large gap between science and religion has existed since Natural Philosophy was wrenched from the hands of religion during the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. Since then, a clear line of demarcation has separated spirituality and scientific inquiry, to the detriment of both. Spirituality and mysticism, the most fundamental aspects of religion, deal directly with intuitive and emotional interpretations of reality supported by faith, while physics, the most fundamental of the sciences, deals with the logical and reasonable interpretations of physical reality based on verification. Yet both areas of inquiry are examining the same reality, so it should be suspected that both intuition and logic would come to the same conclusions about physical reality at some point in time. Within the past few decades these two roads to understanding the nature of reality have been progressing toward a common revolutionary understanding of reality, which is embodied in the person of the mystic physicist or mysphyt. As the mysphyt revolution emerges, new theories of the nature of reality will finally explain such complicated issues as consciousness and matter as well as enlightenment. In fact, a new theory of physical reality is already beginning to break down past barriers as well as extend and enhance the continuing evolution of human consciousness.

Single field theory is based on one and only one basic assumption which has a long history within the scientific community - the reality of a fifth macroscopically extended spatial dimension in addition to the four dimensions of the normal experiential space-time continuum. The existence of the higher dimension allows the quantization of the continuum and leads to several new consequences: (1) It accounts for paraphysical phenomena; (2) It can be used to explain life, mind and consciousness, which are also paraphysical in nature; A new theory of the atomic nucleus evolves from the geometrical structure of space-time; And (4) the spiral shape of galaxies and related phenomena can be explained.  Once space-time is quantized, a new evolutionary model of life, mind and consciousness are all but guaranteed by the specific geometrical structure of the space-time continuum.

Every living organism is characterized by two different classes of complex physical field patterns. These constitute (1) the ‘life force’ or biofield and (2) the mind-consciousness complex. The biofield deals with the normal biological functions of anatomy and physiology, which can be represented by a complex three-dimensional matter/energy field pattern within the overall quantized space-time continuum. But the particles, atoms and molecules that comprise that material body can also be associated with a pattern of changing electrical charges and associated fields that generate an even more complex pattern of magnetic field variations (constituting magnetic domains in various groupings) around them. Together these complex field patterns of electric scalar and magnetic vector potential constitute the mind and consciousness that are characteristic of all living organisms.This physical model has grave consequences because it directly implies the survival of consciousness/mind beyond material body, a new form of non-traditional top-down evolution from consciousness to the organism and DNA and the necessity of new as yet unrealized higher senses that are a result of directly realizing and experiencing the higher embedding fifth space-like dimension that is required by the physics of our commonly experienced four-dimensional space-time continuum. The awareness of ‘self’ that normally characterizes the present level of human consciousness is a product of the normal three-dimensional world of experience and evolved according to the physics of the four-dimensional space-time continuum some forty to one-hundred thousand years ago, therefore the existence of a higher embedding physical (though non-material) dimension implies that we either have evolved or are presently evolving a second higher self that can take advantage of the embedding space just as our material awareness utilizes the four-dimensional space-time continuum and that we are still evolving an even higher level of consciousness. The human species is not just still evolving, but the rate of evolution is accelerating which strongly implies that we are on the threshold of a new evolutionary leap forced on us by a newly emerging higher level complexity of consciousness.

Human and non-human living organisms have traditionally been reduced and studied as animate material bodies. Life has been defined by the mechanical structures and biochemical processes that sustain living organisms within this historical context, while mind and consciousness have been relegated to electrochemical interactions within the human brain. Yet physicists should view the body as a complex pattern of energetic material particle exchanges instead of the biochemical processes normally studied by chemists and biologists. The scientific view of life has recently expanded beyond its earlier limits as new research has concentrated on the electric, magnetic and electromagnetic characteristics of living material bodies as well as the brain. Yet the overall concept of life, in so far as life is something beyond the normal biochemical processes that sustain life, has not kept pace with these changes. Once these new research efforts have been taken into account, it is easy to demonstrate that life – the “life” or “vital force” as it was once called – can be equated to the overall matter/energy pattern of the organism. Some scientists call this pattern the biofield. Mind and consciousness can then be equated to the electric and magnetic counterparts of the matter/energy pattern of living organisms. Doing so does nothing to disrupt or disturb the current thinking that the ‘process of life’ is purely biochemical. In fact, all living organisms, from the simplest one-celled organism to the most complex living organism known, a human,  are extremely complex material/energy patterns (comprising the structural and biochemical body) superposed by the extremely complex electric (electromagnetic scalar potential) field patterns and magnetic (electromagnetic vector potential) field patterns that constitute minds and consciousness.

This paper discusses the topic of evaluating systems for health and entertainment when specifically targeting the older adult population. Building upon and extending on two previous studies that used a well-known discount usability evaluation method, heuristic evaluation, as well as a list of heuristics specifically created to evaluate smartphone apps that keep older adults' needs and characteristics in mind, this paper presents the assessment of the previous aggregated list of heuristics by ten experts after using it. Results show that the list of heuristics used in our previous studies does receive a positive assessment by the ten evaluators in terms of their appropriateness, completeness, usefulness, and clarity. Moreover, this paper reinforces that despite being a conventional and mature method, heuristic evaluation does offers valuable feedback regarding user interface flaws.

An analysis of historical trends in science indicates that the study of the paranormal is not only valid from the scientific perspective, but has been an integral and important part of science since the birth of science. This conclusion is based upon a consideration of the Cartesian Paradox of mind and matter, which sets the boundaries between the scientific and non-scientific parts of our perceived world. Study and belief in the paranormal is not now and has never been either a popular fad or a trendy fashion. In fact, recent trends in science clearly demonstrate that a new revolution in science is approaching and that the paranormal will be explained as science changes in the near future.

At each annual meeting of the ASPSI, panels of the major speakers are scheduled to discuss important questions regarding the relationship between science, the paranormal and survival as well as related social and philosophical issues. Each panel member is expected to submit a “Position Paper” prior to the conference so that his/her opinions can be related to the broader membership of the Academy through the printed Proceedings. The questions that the panel members are asked to consider usually incorporate ideas such as the effect that scientific proof of survival might have on society, why the scientific community does not accept evidence of survival, how acceptance of the paranormal might influence religions, the question of ghosts, the relevance of psi to survival and any new developments in science that would enhance the acceptance of psi, the paranormal and the question of survival of consciousness. The panel members usually state their positions when the panel discussion begins and then questions are directed to the panel members for clarification from the audience.

Not only has there been a great deal of reticence within the scientific community to consider the reality of psi, let alone develop a physical theory to explain it, but within the smaller scientific community that does pay attention to psi and paranormal phenomena even the possibility of developing a physical theory of psi has also been attacked.  Yet in the past few decades the possibility for a physical theory of psi has gained popularity as has interest in physical theories of consciousness. This particular contribution to the field was first written in 1979 during the darker ages of theoretical psi research, but it still conforms to modern theoretical researches in hyper-dimensional physical spaces that have been developed since then.

This paper discusses the topic of evaluating systems for health and entertainment when specifically targeting the older adult population. Building upon and extending on two previous studies that used a well-known discount usability evaluation method, heuristic evaluation, as well as a list of heuristics specifically created to evaluate smartphone apps that keep older adults' needs and characteristics in mind, this paper presents the assessment of the previous aggregated list of heuristics by ten experts after using it. Results show that the list of heuristics used in our previous studies does receive a positive assessment by the ten evaluators in terms of their appropriateness, completeness, usefulness, and clarity. Moreover, this paper reinforces that despite being a conventional and mature method, heuristic evaluation does offers valuable feedback regarding user interface flaws.

Given the present paradigms and attitudes that influence the continuing development of science, the undisputed recognition of paranormal phenomena seems no more than a "pipe dream" even though today's scientific establishment is more liberal than ever before. However, a 'pipe dream' does not represent a scientific impossibility. There now seems to be ample experimental evidence for precognition, telepathy, micro-psychokinesis and other forms of the paranormal, but paranormal phenomena will never be recognized as undisputed as long as this evidence flies in the face of our commonly accepted scientific theories and concepts of physical reality. So the key element necessary for the complete recognition of paranormal phenomena must be a theory that allows, and perhaps even requires, the reality of what we now regard the paranormal. This is an unpublished essay. As far as I know, the final entry date of the contest was extended twice and no winner was ever announced.

The ultimate goal of science is to find truth in its understanding of nature. Science progresses toward this goal by making accurate observations of events and phenomena in nature and developing hypotheses and theories to explain the observations. In a very real sense, there is only one nature and one universe, so all observations are tied together such that science is one even though it may be split into many different academic disciplines.  So it should come as no surprise that the smallest and simplest things in nature are intimately related to the largest and most complex things in nature.  It is the goal of science not just to explain all of these individual things by the most accurate and simplest theory possible, but also to explain their intimate relationships. As different as they may seem, life, mind and consciousness are intimately related to the birth and death of stars and galaxies as well as the whole of the universe. The deepest mysteries of physics, Dark Matter and Dark Energy, are intimately related to the simplest forms of life imaginable as well as the most complex and elevated consciousness that could ever be conceived. However, science has a major problem in trying to understand such concepts. It is limited by the human consciousness that stores and interprets the observations and data regarding all of physical and material reality. So in the end, science cannot understand the most basic and fundamental principles of reality, such as what is the nature of matter, unless it also understands the consciousness that is sensing, observing and interpreting the data it collects on matter and the world around it as well as the limits that each imposes on the other. Everything in science is intimately related because everything in nature is ultimately connected. There are no exceptions.

All physical fields are associated with the concept of 'Potential'. Physical fields are characterized by pure 'Potential' before an object is placed in the fields to create potential energies. Thus 'Potential', in a real sense, describes the structure and magnitude of the field at any point location within the field itself. The word 'subtle' is only associated with the field magnitude and says nothing about the field structure or 'Potential' at a location. So perhaps 'subtle' energies are due to a special field structure within the fundamental fields. I contend that the 'subtle' energies that are associated with 'psi' phenomena are potential energies that emerge from specific field (magnetic potential) structures. On the other hand, our common 3-space is electrically constituted while the 4th spatial dimension in the Clifford time- independent model, which is the 5th dimension of space-time in the Einstein- Kaluza model, is magnetically constituted. According to the Single Field Theory (SOFT), our 4-D space-time has a sub-microscopic 'effective width' in the fifth direction, while each point in space-time is macroscopically extended in the fifth direction. So our universe is a 4-D 'sheet' embedded in a 5-D manifold (Mathematically speaking), but the 'sheet' is continuous with the universe outside of the 'sheet' - The 'sheet' and the 5-D single field are not separate things The 'sheet' is merely the densest portion of the single field. From this physical-material structure, a holistic physical model of life, mind and as matter-energy, electric and magnetic potential patterns consciousness can be

The theoretical study of consciousness needs to move in a new direction if it hopes to be successful. The first step is to take a logical look at how life, mind and consciousness could have evolved and then to find a physical theory of reality that could account for the specific characteristics of this evolutionary path.  When this is done, it has been found that: (1) Life, the proverbial ‘life force’, is a five-dimensional complexity of chemical reactions; (2) Mind is a second five-dimensional field complexity that controls life once it has evolved. Its evolution coincides with the formation of the brain; and, (3) Consciousness results from the evolution of a third level complexity. This complexity forms from the electrochemical memories stored in the brain and results from the formation of new resonance patterns within the five-dimensional mind.

New research indicates that the “living force” can be equated to the overall matter/energy pattern of an organism, while mind and consciousness are the electric and magnetic counterparts of the matter/energy pattern. In fact, all living organisms are complex material/energy patterns (comprising the structural and biochemical body) supplemented by extremely complex electric (electromagnetic scalar potential) field patterns and magnetic (electromagnetic vector potential) field patterns, constituting mind and consciousness. The brain alone should no longer be considered the home of mind and consciousness in the body. It only seems so because of the dense concentration of neurons in the brain. A strict study of the magnetic vector potential field patterns associated with neurons and neural nets demonstrates how thoughts and streams of thought originate in the brain and are stored magnetically at and within the points in space-time occupied by the brain and body. Microtubules, which act as bio-magnetic induction coils, form electromagnetic transceivers in conjunction with axon wall capacitors within neurons. They are the primary structural bio-unit used for building, storing and retrieving memories in the mind. Mind and consciousness could thus be considered a four-dimensional electric-magnetic potential field holographic body that maintains a semi-independent existence and survives death.

In the past few decades, two new ‘crises’ for fundamental physics have emerged  by the observation of phenomena that indicate the existence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.  These are not problems which can be solved by quantum theory, but rather problems that are related to gravity theory as expressed by the general theory of relativity.  Numerous suggestions and hypotheses have been suggested to explain these problems, but no particular hypothesis or resulting model has proven satisfactory and no model yet proposed seems to be able to explain both DM and DE even though most physicists agree that the two should have a single common explanation.  However, one new model has emerged that is able to explain both DM and DE without any additional hypotheses.  Yet this  new model is not without consequences for the rest of physics and science.  Accepting this new model would mean accepting the existence of a fourth spatial-like dimension in addition to our normal four-dimensions of space-time.  Furthermore, the nature of life, mind and consciousness also emerge from this physical model which leads to explanations of both paranormal phenomena and the possibility that mind and consciousness survive death of the material body. This slideshow summarizes in equations the explanations of Dark Matter and Dark Energy based on the single field theory (SOFT), how they lead to the quantization of the single field as well as well as a total unification of physics out of which life, mind, consciousness and their consequences emerge.

Photographing ‘orbs’ in cemeteries and haunted houses has become extremely popular in the past few years, but no one, to my knowledge, has ever conducted a scientific study of these ‘orbs’. Many people, including both professional ghost hunters and skeptics alike, automatically chalk the ‘orbs’ up to reflected light from various types of material particles (either animate or inanimate) using ‘cheap’ low resolution digital cameras. Yet I myself have photographed ‘orbs’ that defy simple explanation as light reflected from dust, insects, water droplets and so on in a variety of physical situations. So my students and I conducted an experiment to determine the nature of the ‘orbs’ in an upper level philosophy of physics course that I taught. We concluded that nearly all ‘orbs’ are more than likely just photographs of common particulate matter that is out of focus, but science should be
interested in the very few examples of ‘orbs’ that do not fall into this catchall explanatory category.