Harold E. Puthoff
Harold E. Puthoff | |
---|---|
Born | 1936 (age 87–88) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Education | |
Occupation(s) | parapsychologist |
Known for | Paranormal research |
Harold Edward "Hal" Puthoff (born 1936) is an American physicist and
Early life and career
Puthoff was born in
He took an interest in the Church of Scientology in the late 1960s and reached what was then the top OT VII level by 1971.[4] Puthoff wrote up his "wins" for a Scientology publication, claiming to have achieved "remote viewing" abilities.[5] In 1974, Puthoff also wrote a piece for Scientology's Celebrity magazine, stating that Scientology had given him "a feeling of absolute fearlessness".[6] Puthoff severed all connection with Scientology in the late 1970s.[7]
Business ventures
In 1985, Puthoff founded a for-profit company, EarthTech International in Austin, Texas. At about the same time, he founded an organization, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin (IASA), which he directed.[8] IASA, funded by anonymous donors, pursues ideas Puthoff finds interesting related to energy generation and propulsion.
Puthoff and EarthTech were granted a US Patent[9] in 1998, with claims that information could be transmitted through a distance using a modulated potential with no electric or magnetic field components. While "the invention does appear to rest on solid, albeit somewhat obscure, physics principles", the case is used for educational purposes in patent law where "the examiner failed to make a prima facie case for inoperability or lack of enablement".[10] According to the Wisconsin Law School case study, "The lesson of the Puthoff patent is that in a world where both types of patents are more and more common, even a competent examiner may fail to distinguish innovation from pseudoscience."
Parapsychology and pseudoscience
In the 1970s and 1980s Puthoff directed a program at
Uri Geller was studied by Russell Targ and Puthoff at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Targ and Puthoff declared to have demonstrated that Geller had genuine psychic powers, though it was reported that there were flaws with the controls in the experiments and Geller was caught using sleight of hand on many other occasions.[14][15] According to Terence Hines:
Geller turned out to be nothing more than a magician using sleight of hand and considerable personal charm to fool his admirers. The tests at SRI turned out to have been run under conditions that can best be described as chaotic. Few limits were placed on Geller's behavior, and he was more or less in control of the procedures used to test him. Further, the results of the tests were incorrectly reported in Targ and Puthoff's Nature paper.[16]
Psychologists David Marks and Richard Kammann attempted to replicate Targ and Puthoff's remote viewing experiments. In a series of thirty-five studies, they were unable to replicate the results. While investigating the procedure of the original experiments, Marks and Kammann discovered that the notes given to the judges in Targ and Puthoff's experiments contained clues as to which order they were carried out. Examples included referring to yesterday's two targets, or the inclusion of the date of the session written at the top of the page. They concluded that these clues were the reason for the experiment's high hit rates.[17][18] Terence Hines has written:
Examination of the few actual transcripts published by Targ and Puthoff show that just such clues were present. To find out if the unpublished transcripts contained cues, Marks and Kammann wrote to Targ and Puthoff requesting copies. It is almost unheard of for a scientist to refuse to provide his data for independent examination when asked, but Targ and Puthoff consistently refused to allow Marks and Kammann to see copies of the transcripts. Marks and Kammann were, however, able to obtain copies of the transcripts from the judge who used them. The transcripts were found to contain a wealth of cues.[19]
Marks noted that when the cues were eliminated the results fell to a chance level.[20] James Randi noted that controlled tests by several other researchers, eliminating several sources of cuing and extraneous evidence present in the original tests, produced negative results. Students were also able to solve Puthoff and Targ's locations from the clues that had inadvertently been included in the transcripts.[21] Marks and Kamman concluded: "Until remote viewing can be confirmed in conditions which prevent sensory cueing the conclusions of Targ and Puthoff remain an unsubstantiated hypothesis."[22] According to Martin Gardner, Puthoff (and Targ) "imagined they could do research in parapsychology but instead dealt with 'psychics' who were cleverer than they were".[23]
Zero-point energy
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Puthoff co-authored papers[24][25] using the model of
Building on earlier theoretical work by
References
- ^ Melton, J. Gordon, ed. (2001). "Puthoff, Harold E.". Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Vol. 2 (5th ed.). Gale. p. 1264-5.
- ^ McRae, Ronald M (1984). Mind wars : the true story of government research into the military potential of psychic weapons. New York : St. Martin's Press. p. 92.
- ^ Jack David, Michael Park. (1978). Playback: Canadian Selections. McClelland and Stewart. p. 68. "Hal Puthoff, has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He worked for the Naval Security Group in Washington and then for the National Security Agency."
- ^ a b Hugh Urban. (2013). The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 113. "A physicist with a PhD from Stanford University, Harold Puthoff joined Scientology in the late 1960s and quickly advanced to the OT VII level by 1971."
- ^ Puthoff, Hal, Success Story, Scientology Advanced Org Los Angeles (AOLA) special publication, 1971.
- ^ Celebrity magazine, Minor Issue 9, February 1974.
- ^ Harold Puthoff, "Harold Puthoff Responds on Zero-Point Energy," Skeptical Inquirer, September/October 1998.
- ^ No relation to Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. Harold Puthoff at the Parapsychological Association
- ^ US patent 5845220
- ^ Rislove, Daniel C. (2006). "A Case Study of Inoperable Inventions: Why is the USPTO Patenting Pseudoscience" (PDF). Wis. L. Rev. 2006. 1304-1306. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- S2CID 4152651.
- ^ Russell Targ, Harold Puthoff. (2005). Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Abilities. Hampton Roads Publishing Company.
- ^ Ben Harris. (1985). Gellerism Revealed: The Psychology and Methodology Behind the Geller Effect. Calgary: Micky Hades International.
- ^ James Randi. (1982). The Truth about Uri Geller. Prometheus Books.
- ^ Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends... and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 163. "In reality, however, Geller, an experienced magician and showman, simply bends the objects when no one is watching. But, you may argue, millions of people were watching him on TV! Geller is a master at an essential tool of the magician: misdirection or distracting peoples' attention. He is quite good at projecting an air of innocence that belies his actions. That he can fool so many people is a tribute to slight-of-hand (sic) artistry, not psychic power."
- ^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 126
- ^ David Marks, Richard Kammann. (1978). Information transmission in remote viewing experiments. Nature 274: 680–81.
- ^ David Marks. (1981). Sensory cues invalidate remote viewing experiments. Nature 292: 177.
- ^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 135
- ISBN 978-1573927987
- ^ James Randi. (1997). "Remote viewing" in An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. St. Martin's Griffin.
- ^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation. Prometheus Books. p. 293
- ^ Ward, Ray (2017). "The Martin Gardner Correspondence with Marcello Truzzi". Skeptical Inquirer. 41 (6). Committee for Skeptical Inquiry: 57–59.
- Wikidata Q77838067.
- Wikidata Q21709034.
- S2CID 41358855. Archived from the original(PDF) on May 9, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
- ^ S2CID 250810284.
- PMID 9909333.
- PMID 17747645.
- ISSN 1050-2947.
- PMID 9902742.
- ^ Wesson, Paul S. "Cosmological constraints on the zero-point electromagnetic field." Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 378, Sept. 10, 1991, p. 466-470. Research supported by NSERC. 378 (1991): 466-470.
- ISSN 0163-1829.
- PMID 9960749.
- ISSN 1050-2947.
- ^ Massimo Pigliucci. (2010). Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. University of Chicago Press. p. 90.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-7715-9539-5
- ISBN 0-87975-198-3.