Is Your Brain Rigging the Game?

The unsettling connection between human thought and random outcomes...

Image by Deniz Avsar from Pixabay

When I’m bored or watching the news on TV and want something to engage my ADHD/hyperactive mind that doesn’t involve words (which distract me from listening to the news), I play backgammon against my iPhone. I’ve been doing it for years (Louise and I have been playing each other for over 50 years, mostly over dinner in restaurants and on planes.)

One of the weirdest things I’ve noticed is that when I take a chance and think to myself, “Okay, I’ll do this because there’s little chance the machine will roll a two,” it not only rolls the two, but rolls double twos!

Seriously; this happens at least once every dozen or so games. And it’s always when I think to myself, “No way it’ll do this.” It then hits me with doubles like it’s sneering at me way more frequently than anything that mere chance could account for.

Or it’s reading my mind. Or my mind is influencing the iPhone’s random number generator to produce the output most closely associated with the spike in emotion I experience when I think, “No way…”

Micro-psi effects, often described as the subtle influence of consciousness on physical systems, remain a compelling yet controversial area of inquiry in parapsychology and consciousness studies.

Researchers in this field explore whether human intention or observation can alter outcomes in random or chaotic systems.

One of the foundational studies in micro-psi research is Helmut Schmidt’s work in the 1970s. Schmidt utilized random number generators (RNGs) to investigate whether participants could influence the output through intention alone.

RNGs, which produce sequences of numbers based on quantum processes, are theoretically immune to external bias. But, amazingly, Schmidt’s experiments found that participants could achieve statistically significant deviations from randomness, implying a clear interaction between human consciousness and the physical system like the one I think I’m seeing with my backgammon game.

Critics questioned Schmidt’s methodologies, including potential biases in experimental design and data analysis. However, his work inspired decades of subsequent research, establishing Random Number Generator studies as a cornerstone of micro-psi investigations.

In 2006, scientists Bosch, Steinkamp, and Boller conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of RNG studies to assess the robustness of micro-psi effects. Their analysis encompassed nearly 400 experiments conducted over several decades. The results indicated a small but statistically significant effect size, suggesting that consciousness is actually capable of influencing what should be purely random outcomes.

Bosch et al noted that while the overall effect size was modest, the consistency across numerous studies added weight to the findings. Importantly, they addressed potential publication bias and methodological weaknesses, concluding that the observed effects were unlikely to result solely from chance or experimental artifacts. This meta-analysis remains a key reference point for proponents and skeptics alike.

Dean Radin’s work on the double-slit experiment elevated a quantum perspective into micro-psi research. In this classic physics setup, particles such as electrons or photons create an interference pattern when unobserved by a human but behave like particles when measured. Radin hypothesized that human intention might influence the collapse of the wave function, altering the interference pattern.

To understand the significance of Radin’s findings, it helps to first grasp the basics of the double-slit experiment. When photons (“particles” of light) pass through two closely spaced slits, they behave like waves, creating an interference pattern of alternating light and dark bands on a screen. This pattern suggests that each photon takes multiple paths simultaneously, interfering with itself. However, if a detector is placed at the slits so a person can observe which slit each photon goes through, the interference pattern disappears, and the photons behave like particles instead.

This phenomenon demonstrates the principle of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics, where particles like photons exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties depending on whether they are observed. The “collapse” of the wave function—the transition from a probabilistic wave state to a definite particle state—only occurs upon measurement.

Radin’s experiments sought to determine whether human intention could influence this collapse — another way of measuring the micro-Psi effect — effectively altering the interference pattern without direct physical interaction.

In his studies, participants were instructed to focus their attention on the double-slit apparatus with the intention of either strengthening or weakening the interference pattern. The apparatus itself was shielded from any physical or environmental interference, ensuring that any observed changes could not be attributed to external factors.

Radin succeeded in measuring subtle shifts in the interference pattern, analyzing the results to show statistically significant deviations that could correlate with participants’ intentions.

Radin’s results found small but consistent deviations in the interference pattern when participants focused their attention on the apparatus. These deviations were measured using highly sensitive photodetectors and statistical methods to rule out chance as an explanation. The findings suggested that consciousness might interact with quantum systems in ways not accounted for by traditional physics.

The implications of these results are profound.

If consciousness can influence the behavior of photons in a double-slit experiment, it challenges the conventional understanding of quantum mechanics and suggests a deeper connection between mind and matter.

It also raises questions about the nature of observation itself—a cornerstone of quantum theory—and whether consciousness plays a more active role in shaping physical reality than previously thought.

In 2023, Milojević and Elliott published a groundbreaking study that combined advances in machine learning with micro-psi research. They analyzed large datasets from RNG experiments using sophisticated algorithms to detect subtle patterns potentially influenced by human intention. Their findings reinforced earlier observations of small but significant deviations from randomness, providing a new level of analytical rigor.

Milojević and Elliott also explored the implications of micro-psi effects for understanding consciousness as a nonlocal phenomenon. They proposed that the observed effects might arise from entanglement-like interactions between human consciousness and physical systems, challenging conventional materialist paradigms.

In other words, consciousness may underlie physical matter!

Further evidence supporting micro-psi effects comes from the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), a long-term study initiated by Roger D. Nelson. The GCP employs a network of RNGs worldwide to investigate correlations between global events and deviations in randomness.

In other words, can millions of people experiencing the same strong emotion or thought at the same time actually influence what appear to be, based on the research mentioned above, subtle sensors of conscious like random number generators?

Significant deviations from randomness have been observed during major world events, such as natural disasters and large-scale celebrations, suggesting that collective human consciousness might influence actual physical systems.

Another line of inquiry stems from William Braud’s research on bio-PK (psychokinesis on biological systems). Braud demonstrated that human intention could subtly influence biological processes, such as the movement of microorganisms or the rate of seed germination. While these effects are also small, they provide further evidence that consciousness can impact physical systems under controlled conditions.

In addition, studies conducted by Jahn and Dunne at Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory revealed consistent, albeit modest, effects of human intention on mechanical and electronic systems. Their experiments, conducted over nearly three decades, involved thousands of participants and consistently yielded results that defied chance expectations.

The cumulative evidence from decades of research suggests that micro-psi effects like my backgammon game seems to be expressing, while subtle and often elusive, cannot be easily dismissed.

These findings raise profound questions about the nature of consciousness and its relationship to physical reality. If human intention can influence random or quantum systems, this could have far-reaching implications for fields ranging from physics to medicine.

They could also explain how and why prayer — simply another form of focused intention — can work the way Christian Scientists and others have claimed for millennia.

The study of micro-psi effects remains a frontier in understanding the interplay between consciousness and the physical world. From Schmidt’s pioneering RNG experiments to Milojević and Elliott’s modern analyses, researchers have consistently uncovered subtle anomalies that challenge our conventional understanding of reality.

Additional studies, such as those by the Global Consciousness Project, Braud’s bio-PK experiments, and the PEAR Laboratory, provide further evidence supporting the validity of these effects.

While much work remains to establish the mechanisms underlying micro-psi phenomena, their potential implications are profound. As methodologies improve and interdisciplinary collaborations expand, micro-psi research may one day illuminate fundamental truths about the nature of consciousness and its role in shaping the universe.