Little Black Boxes

The experiments that started it all sound more like pranks than scientific endeavors: subjects, expecting placid images of roses and landscapes, were surprised with a sudden and disturbing picture of a snake or spider. Researchers quickly discovered that when humans receive an unexpected shock, a detectable electrical pulse races through their skin.

And then, scientists noticed a number of individuals actually experienced this pulse *seconds before* they were shown the pictures!

Later, Professor Robert Jahn asked ordinary people off the street to focus their attention on a simple computer -- a random number generator -- while it coughed up ones and zeros a thousand times a second. When unattended, the generator's results were flatline: perfectly random. When focused on -- even by people professing no psychic ability at all -- the stream of numbers inexplicably skewed.

With this unexplained effect in mind, The Global Awareness Project placed dozens of black boxes all over the world. To their amazement, they discovered the shift in results not only occurs when individuals focus on the box ... but also when large populations fix their attention on any one event. As the world watched Lady Diana's funeral, for example, black boxes around the world reported skewed results. The numbers shifted again during the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia. And again during America's supercharged 2000 election.

And now, the reputable scientists involved in the Global Awareness Project have revealed a new finding: the distinctive skewing of the numbers begins *prior* to global events. Reviewing their data, researchers have found non-random skewing began hours before both 9/11 and the Asian tsunami.

The effect remains unexplained – and while results have been widely duplicated, many researchers are wary of discussing it, for fear of ridicule.

The article raises interesting questions about the science of prediction. Is it possible that random events – from lists of computer-generated numbers to a spread of shuffled Tarot cards – can “sample” and point to future events?