The Global Consciousness Project

Hat tip to Dean Radin for posting this.

The Global Consciousness Project is an international collaboration of scientists, engineers, and artists. We maintain a global network that has been collecting data continuously since 1998 from sensitive instruments which produce random sequences. Our purpose is to examine subtle correlations and structure in the data that seem to reflect the presence and activity of consciousness in the world. Looking at major global events including both tragedies and celebrations, we have learned that when millions of us share thoughts and emotions the GCP network shows correlations. We interpret this as evidence for interconnections at a deep, unconscious level. An implication is that we are part of a growing global consciousness or oneness. From a CBS2 news item recorded by Brian Keefe in July 2005. For more information on the GCP, go to their website.

This is mind-boggling. As Radin points out, "Note that the comment that they're "just looking for patterns in random data" is absolutely not true. See the website for more details on the hypothesis-testing nature of this experiment."

This is the statement from the media page:

The Global Consciousness Project (GCP) is also known as the EGG Project. It does not have a corporate office, and is a volunteer collaboration involving about 100 researchers, analysts, and egg hosts. Some of us work at universities or institutes in various parts of the world, but these institutions are not funding sponsors or responsible hosts of the project. In particular, this project is not sponsored by Princeton University nor any of its departments or programs. Our funding comes from private donations generously given by a number of contributors.

Dr. Roger Nelson is the author of most pages and analytical presentations on the GCP site proper. All materials on the website are under Copyright © by Roger Nelson for the Global Consciousness Project. All rights reserved. Acknowledgement and datelines are given when material is included from other individuals (e.g., some of the architecture and programming documents, and a number of the analysis pages). Interpretations of GCP data that are not acknowledged on the GCP website may not be attributed to the GCP. A discussion of our expectations and policies on intellectual property is included in the GCP planning documents. We do not endorse nor contribute to any other website that uses the phrase "Global Consciousness" in its name. We do provide a list of links to philosophically aligned sites.

Brief excerpts of the material on the GCP website may be used in scholarly work and in professional reportage, if accompanied by appropriate source and credit information including the web address: http://noosphere.princeton.edu/. As a precondition for participating in interviews or filming of our work for TV or radio specials and programs, we require an opportunity to see what the program does with the GCP work before it is put into final edit. This requirement applies also to the use of materials from publications and web pages describing the GCP. The intent of these conditions is explicitly to allow fact checking, and to ensure an opportunity for a fair response to criticisms or skeptical commentary, if such are to be included in the program. Exceptions may be made for news items with a fast turnaround schedule.

The descriptive material about the project has been written over a period of several years. It is largely correct, but may be out of date. Check with Roger Nelson if you have questions. A summary description in a One Page Summary is available, and an Executive Summary written for potential funders includes a list of findings. There is a slightly longer Brief Overview. A complete description of the project development can be found in the EGG Story, or by following links from the homepage. Some of the most frequent questions, including skeptical commentaries, are discussed in the FAQ. An archive of GCP/EGG updates also points to recent analyses.

We participate in various conferences. Some examples are a meeting in 2007, Imagination, Consciousness and the New Science: Opening New Doors of Perception, and the 7th Bial Symposium in Porto, Portugal, March 2008. The annual meetings of the Society for Scientific Eploration, usually in late May or early June, and the Parapsychological Association, usually in Early August, are favorite venues. For details see the SSE website and the PA website. Both organizations need and deserve support -- they provide a forum for forefront research.

We occasionally are the subject of news or media specials. Recent samples: A Time Magazine article by Science writer Michael Lemonick, May 30 2005 (this is a 700 Kb pdf file). A news segment by Correspondent Brendan Keefe, CBS 2 News May 13 2005. (a 3.3 Mb mp3 file). You can see this also on on CBS 2's website. March 23 2006: Garvin Thomas and Dean Smith, KNTV, San Francisco, did a special report, titled "The Science of Connecting Mind Over Matter" linked at NBC11.com. It may be buried there, but a zipped, realplayer version is available (but huge, 300mb) here. A more comprehensive piece was done by Discovery Canada, Daily Planet Show June 2004 (a RealPlayer stream). Also from Canada is an hour-long interview by Bernice Landry on the CBC Ideas show in wma format. An mp3 version is available (100 Mb). An interview in April 2007 by Kala Ambrose for Explore Your Spirit is available (48 Mb mp3).

The GCP is logistically part of the IONS research program, and there are some Teleseminar Interviews on the Shift in Action part of the IONS website.

Articles and technical papers have been published in several venues. A fully detailed article describing the experimental methods and procedures, with examples and a summary of the first two years of results, has been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Parapsychology. A preprint is available for download as a pdf file (2 MB). A technically robust analysis of the September 11 2001 results has been published in Foundations of Physics Letters, and the page-proof is available as a pdf file (1 MB). Two relevant articles are in Volume 16, Number 4, (Winter 2002) of the Journal of Scientific Exploration. These and some less technical articles are included in an annotated list of recent publications.

The latest analyses and summaries are presented in tables and graphs on the Current Results page. There are links from the main table to detailed descriptions and analyses of the individual events, and there are further links to various exploratory analyses. A website usage page shows site traffic.

If you have further queries, please send them to the Project Director. Please do not call the PEAR lab.

If you would like to be on our email list to receive occasional informal updates on the project, please send an email note from the address we should use.

Roger Nelson

Tags: Global Consciousness Project, Dean Radin, Princeton, noosphere, unconscious, interconnections, 9/11, Dr. Roger Nelson, random number generators, collective unconscious