Psychics
The proposition that individuals exist who possess what are popularly referred to as psychic abilities has constituted a tantalizing but difficult subject for investigation by scientific researchers and individuals. Though the kinds of abilities manifested by psychics might be properly supposed to constitute a kind of supernatural activity, the scientists who have worked in this field have sought to determine if psychic phenomena could ever be subjected to rigorous testing as determined by the precepts of the scientific method. One important component of this field that has preceded the performance of theoretical speculation as to the possible basis of psychic abilities in nature has been the conducting of tests of self-claimed or otherwise identified psychics. A well known example of this technique that has long been in use for research into the existence of psychics is referred to as the Ganzfeld experiment. The main principle of this psychic research method is the inducement of a condition resembling sensory deprivation, a technique which has been in common use since the 1930s.
To be officially considered a psychic for the purposes of scientific codification, an individual must be proven to possess the ability to gain access to the mental processes of another person through paranormal means. The hypothesis that the Ganzfeld experiment could yield verifiable results pointing to the conclusive judgment that a test subject possessed psychic powers was first formed in the early nineteen seventies, an era in scientific research and thought that was marked by widespread interest in the possible existence of paranormal powers that could manifest long speculated abilities in terms of “reading” other people’s thoughts without their knowledge or permission. A researcher who had been conducting research on dreams and extra sensory perception through the Maimonides Medical Center named Charles Honorton realized that the state of sensory deprivation which was thought to be a possible means for enabling the existence of psychic powers could be created through the employment of the technique of the Ganzfeld experiment. The results of this research was then published in 1974 in a medical journal, establishing the ganzfeld experiment as a central criterion for evaluating psychics.
gGanzfeld experiments have been conducted at a steady rate in the decades since the research methodology for evaluating psychics was first established. Surveys of this field of experimental inquiry have found that eight-eight tests were held between 1974 and 2004. After first formulating and vocally advocating for this kind of research as a means for evaluating the possible existence of psychic abilities, Charles Honorton has continued to hold up the experimental method as a reliable and effective procedure, sometimes arriving at vocal disagreements with his fellow researchers over the high claims he makes for the Ganzfeld procedure. He presented a paper at a conference on the field of psychic research in 1982 that asserted that thus far analysis of the results of Ganzfeld experiments suggested that psychics really could use the powers they claimed to have, a finding which was countered by another participant’s paper.