Introductory verses
'A book about those twisted forks!
What could be more absurd?
No matter how the Professor talks,
'Twas trickery, on my word!
'Twas but a quiz; a clever hoax,
Played by some lad, or lass;
Or both, perhaps; and wiser folks
Will let the matter pass.'
Thus, peradventure, some may prate.
Reader, with courteous grace,
Ere thou shall give thy judgment, wait
Till thou hast read the case.
Facts, simple facts alone we state.
We've studied them in vain,
And having stated them, we wait
Till you their cause explain.
'A book about those Bealings Bells', wrote the Suffolk poet Bernard
Barton in 1841, when his friend Major Edward Moor, FRS begged
of him a prelude to the book(1) he had written about the haunting
of the great house at Bealings; something 'preternatural' had
been ringing the domestic bells. We can now conjecture that the
bursts of ringing could have been bursts of metal-bending action
on the bell springs; indeed, the author (who is Major Moor's great-great-great-nephew)
obtained near a metal-bender similar spring movements, made visible
by means of a galvanometer mirror and laser beam. Realizing later
that poor Major Moor may have entertained a metal-bender unawares,
he mutilated the two sets of verses for your edification.
Apologia
Psychic research is an underrated branch of science; it is likely
to lead to a depth of understanding of reality greater than that
which we already have; and the social consequences of such an
understanding could be very great. Yet the number of serious
scientists willing to devote time to it is at present small.
And this has usually been the case throughout modern history;
but there have nevertheless been times when the most far-sighted
and competent scientists have seen fit to devote serious effort
to it - one is reminded of Boyle, Faraday, Wallace, Weber, Crookes,
Rayleigh, Langevin and others. There have been certain periods
when interest has been aroused, usually as a result of publicity
given to a psychic subject of remarkable power. In a matter of
years the interest subsided, only to revive when another set of
social circumstances arose. Yet although many observations have
been made and some valuable knowledge obtained about the patterns
of psychic behaviour, there is next to nothing which could be
described as physical theory by which the phenomena might be interpreted.
The lack of such a theory has led to the observations themselves
being discredited, and indeed there are various social and psychological
pressures which reinforce this discredit. It is an interesting
example of the thesis that scientific observations are often judged
by social criteria.
The subtlety and elusiveness of the psychic phenomena are very
great, as great as any in the history of science. Unfortunately,
the polarization of opinions not only among the population at
large, but among scientists themselves, is also great. It would
be presumptuous to claim that these chapters will set all this
to rights. But they may spread some seed of influence, from which
theoretical advance could come; before many years our outlook
on these phenomena will probably have changed beyond recognition.
It is from the standpoint of an experimental physicist that this
book is written. Always to some extent dissatisfied with existing
physical theory, I became interested in psychic research when
the young Uri Geller visited England to demonstrate paranormal
metal-bending on television. Once I became committed by my own
observations to recognizing that these peculiar physical phenomena
really took place, I started to spend time on observations, in
the belief that the phenomena demanded a new approach in physics
in order to explain them. The study has therefore a rather different
aim from the usual parapsychological studies descended from the
pioneer work of Rhine. I am more concerned here with physical
than with mental phenomena. Very probably the two types of study
are different sides of the same coin; but it is more befitting
that the physicist should concentrate on investigations in which
he has most experience and expertise.
Physical scientists are on the whole ignorant of the concepts
used by psychologists, and the neurological bases for these concepts
are very far from being understood. I shall find it necessary
to distinguish between mind and brain, without claiming that the
mind is necessarily non-material. In interpreting psychic and
parapsychological phenomena, I shall claim that mind is unlike
the rest of matter in having characteristics which are apparently
trans-spatial and trans-temporal. The importance of these phenomena
lies partly in their evidence for what has been called a dualistic
mind-matter interaction.
Validation of psychic phenomena - that is, the observational proof
of their reality by many instrumentalists in agreement - is an
important part of psychic research. Orthodox techniques of physics
provide the basis for this validation.
The backbone of the study is the detailed instrumental observation
of 'the metal-bending phenomenon'. But having described this,
I feel entitled to speculate about its interpretation. And immediately
I am confronted, by the most serious implications for physical
theory. What is needed is a minimum hypothesis required for the
interpretation of physical psychic phenomena. I rashly attempt
to explore one such hypothesis, and comment on other possibilities.
This is my apologia for writing what might be claimed to be a
book containing not only reports of observation, but speculation.
There remains the possibility that my own observations have been
grossly in error, or alternatively that I have personally indulged
in scientific fraud, of the kind occasionally described in the
novels of C.P. Snow.(2) The second alternative has been to a large
extent ruled out by my policy of involving other scientists directly
in my experiments; but the first alternative must be considered
more seriously. To what extent have I been deceived in my observations?
The instrumentation of metal-bending phenomena is technically
straightforward. The difficulty lies in 'social components involved
in the assessment of scientific findings, a process normally thought
of as being in some way immune from social forces'.(3) The reader
must make his own assessment of my competence as an observer and
experimenter. Alas, a lifetime's experience of these things has
left me only too conscious of my own shortcomings. But I would
take issue with those who assert that experimental scientists
are especially gullible and unqualified to investigate psychic
phenomena. Nearly all of those who first investigated Uri Geller
have been subject to smear attack by people unwilling to consider
the possibility of the existence of anything which is not entirely
materialistic or behaviouristic. Such attacks are more familiar
in party politics than in scientific investigation, and it may
be that their comparative rarity in science is connected with
the fact that politics is much as it was two thousand years ago,
whereas science has been able to make advances.
These chapters are not the place to refute such attacks as have
been made on me, but I have answered (4) in detail elsewhere one
particularly inaccurate account of my activities.
Although Uri Geller has not been caught red-handed in faking a
paranormal physical phenomenon, yet adverse circumstantial evidence
about his public performances has been given wide publicity.
This exercise has created an atmosphere in which not only Geller
but also the researchers into metal-bending have come to be regarded
as suspect by the scientific community. Colleagues have been
polite, but blasts of icy wind have often reached me.
It has sometimes been difficult for me to maintain an objective
attitude in such an atmosphere. The reactive response of becoming
partisan has had to be avoided. But it is also difficult to avoid
feeling aggrieved that much uninformed as well as informed criticism
has appeared. If my caution has in any way been strengthened
by affairs in the public arena, then it is all to the good. But
it will be clear to experimental parapsychologists reading this
manuscript that my attitude is not 'hard line'. My approach yields
apparent results quickly, but for this reason the greater caution
is necessary. The consequences of the teleportation phenomenon
for physics are so serious and fundamental that it is necessary
to be very careful before accepting the evidence for its existence.
The worst thing that could happen would be the polarization of
the scientific community into professional sceptics and professional
believers.
Yet this polarization has to some extent appeared, and has been
promoted and encouraged by popular writings. It is stated by
the science writer Martin Gardner that 'the researchers, almost
without exception, are emotionally committed to finding phenomena'.
But we might with equal justice claim that many science journalists
are emotionally committed to finding that there are no phenomena.
I have become just as sceptical of such reporting as I am bound
to be of reports of paranormal physical phenomena.
After five years' work I am still largely committed to the policy
outlined in chapter 1: 'Believe nothing that you hear and only
half of what you see.' But if this policy is universally accepted,
then who is going to believe me? And if someone is sufficiently
trusting to spend time doing similar work, then who is going to
believe him? There is thus a 'regression of disbelief', similar
to the 'regression of observation' in the quantum theory of measurement.
The regression of disbelief is surmountable only by a more intensive
concentration of orthodox scientific effort on these alleged phenomena.
But it is also true that scientists are emotionally committed:
to a belief in their own scientific method.
A criticism I have often heard is that 'we all wanted the events
to happen.' This is in some degree true, and it may be that
this is why they did happen. There is an unmeasured parameter
in the experiments, namely the attitude of the observers. But
I did not always know exactly what it was that I wanted to take
place; and sometimes what did take place was different from what
I expected.
It is of course not possible for an investigator of psychic physical
phenomena to choose exactly the field in which he makes his observations;
to a great extent he must accept what turns up, and subject this
to rigorous test.
But it must be admitted that when it comes to a choice of paranormal
physical effects to investigate, the metal crystal lattice has
several advantages. It is both stable against thermal and other
normal external changes, and its own physical behaviour is well
understood. It does not require isolation in a container, as
does a liquid or gas, and its high electrical conductivity damps
out potential gradient and electrostatic charge. By contrast,
biomolecular systems and living organisms are less well understood
structurally and are rather more difficult to maintain in a completely
stable state. Gases, liquids and especially plasma are subject
to various instabilities. For example, 'Kirlian photography'
of high frequency discharges around the body can show interesting
effects, but such discharges are complex and difficult to understand
quantitatively even in the absence of possible psychic influences.
Effects due to impurities, and in particular surface effects,
are equally troublesome in all materials; they represent the principal
source of awkwardness in physical science, and should be avoided
as far as possible. It is well-known among scientists that 'God
made matter, but the Devil made surfaces.' At least the surface
area can be minimized for a metal crystal, and much is already
known about the effects due to impurities in metals and semiconductors.
So although paranormal physical phenomena (sometimes known as
'occult phenomena') represent possibly the greatest challenge
to physics at the present time, at least metal-bending can be
said to be the easiest part of that challenge.
In collecting the observations I have called on the help of many
people, and it has been generously granted. I gratefully acknowledge
finances for the research which have come from Mr Instone Bloomfield,
through the London Society for Psychical Research, and more recently
from Mr Donald Webster, through the New Horizons Research Foundation
of Toronto. My colleagues in research have included above all
David Robertson; and I have had the expert assistance of Nick
Nicola, Sadeq Kadifachi, Ken Jacobs, Brian Warford, Tony Walker
and two Bill Marshes. Charles Lane has performed the glassblowing.
Much encouragement and advice have come from David Bohm, Arthur
Ellison, Arthur Koestler, Brian Inglis and George Owen. The excellence
of the photographs has been due to David Rookes, and of the drawings
to Roy Abrahams. Computer programming and numerical analysis
are largely by Lech Jankowski. In the preparation of the text
the burden of typing has fallen on my wife, Lynn.
But it is to the metal-benders themselves and their families that
the greatest debt of gratitude is owing. There could have been
no study of the phenomena if they had not spent long patient hours
with me, waiting for things to happen. I will not single out
any for special mention at this point since there are so many
who have contributed; but it will be clear from the text how generous
with their time and effort many of them have been.
Thank you, metal-benders.
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