IONS X - the "moonshot" of the Institute of Noetic Sciences

Courtesy of Craig Weiler's Quora page - I remember reading once before that IONS was planning a "moonshot," that is, an ambitious research programme comparable with the mission to put a man on the moon 50 years ago. Here it is - it's called IONS X, and the goal is to develop "an ethical consciousness-dependent switch that responds to a specific mental signals from an operator," meaning that it responds to direct mental influence, not by conventional means:
https://noetic.org/science/overview/ions-x/

I suspect this is essentially a branding exercise - a way of tying together the various pieces of research that are being done at IONS, for publicity purposes.

I have to say it reminds me far too much of the Soulphone for my liking - a claim that they're going to do something that is a million miles away from anything parapsychologists are able to do now or are likely to be able to do in the foreseeable future, which is only going to result in disillusionment in the long term.

It looks impossible to me, just some good old hype machine to get visibility.

I have to say it reminds me far too much of the Soulphone for my liking - a claim that they're going to do something that is a million miles away from anything parapsychologists are able to do now or are likely to be able to do in the foreseeable future, which is only going to result in disillusionment in the long term.

I wouldn't go that far. For one thing, they're not claiming that they have Einstein and Michael Jackson collaborating from beyond the grave on their tech. And I see much less emphasis on an individual personality, the way Soulphone seems to trade heavily on Gary Schwartz.


I don't care to wager that they'll make anything earth-shattering, but it looks like a sincere effort to me.

Dean Radin of IONS has been deeply involved in REG research for some times. He was part of the original Global Consciousness project. He has conducted studies of the effect of meditating people on REGs and has published studies of the effect of intentionality on the double-slit experiment.

I have worked a little with a Psyleron REG and know the output does become less random under the influence of intention. In fact, Psyleron http://www.psyleron.com/ was working on a toy (a tank, I think) equipped with an REG and to be steered by the operator's intention. All of that without physical connectivity. I saw one study (which I cannot find now) in which researchers ran such a vehicle in a closed space. It did react to intentionality, but there was no actual deliberate guidance. The plot of the vehicle's track tended to concentrate around the intended part of the enclosure, but otherwise, the randomness prevailed. I think they have all given up for now.

Making a mind-controlled switch is not a big deal these days. The real task is to find ways to make control of such a switch useful enough to be reliable. I expect Schwartz will find the same sort of problem with his soulphone as he claims to invent for a price that which has been invented for free.

Hmmm... The emphasis on the “switch” being potentially “biological” (besides electrical or physical) is interesting. Remember those papers discussing that neurons could somehow interact at a distance? If I was going to bet this was possible, that would be my way to do it.

Dean Radin of IONS has been deeply involved in REG research for some times. He was part of the original Global Consciousness project. He has conducted studies of the effect of meditating people on REGs and has published studies of the effect of intentionality on the double-slit experiment.

I have worked a little with a Psyleron REG and know the output does become less random under the influence of intention. In fact, Psyleron http://www.psyleron.com/ was working on a toy (a tank, I think) equipped with an REG and to be steered by the operator's intention. All of that without physical connectivity. I saw one study (which I cannot find now) in which researchers ran such a vehicle in a closed space. It did react to intentionality, but there was no actual deliberate guidance. The plot of the vehicle's track tended to concentrate around the intended part of the enclosure, but otherwise, the randomness prevailed. I think they have all given up for now.

Making a mind-controlled switch is not a big deal these days. The real task is to find ways to make control of such a switch useful enough to be reliable. I expect Schwartz will find the same sort of problem with his soulphone as he claims to invent for a price that which has been invented for free.

I suppose it depends what you mean by "switch." I think it conveys the impression of something very different from a tiny statistical change in the behaviour of a system, which is difficult to replicate, in which case it would be a very big deal indeed.

It is a big deal because it predicts the existence of some kind of media to propagate intentionality that would seem to be currently undefined by known physical principles. Otherwise, the ability to decisively influence the output of an REG is well-established.

Most parapsychologists are resisting theorizing about a psi Field, preferring to force-fit quantum mechanics to explain the propagation ... entanglement, for instance. Part of our problem has always been people trying to solve problems while limiting themselves to known principles. I think this is one of those cases.

Making a switch to trigger on threshold changes in randomness is simple enough. As has been noted, the real task is making it dependable enough to move such a switch from novelty to useful tool. I think that is where Radin is probably going.

I think he will need to concentrate on techniques for training the human operator of the switch. Radin is an electronics engineer and can do the switch. He has experience and a lot of help with the mind part. It will be fun to watch. Amongst the parapsychological community, I feel he is the most capable.