1 00:00:03,603 --> 00:00:05,696 Freeman: Touch... 2 00:00:05,772 --> 00:00:08,172 Taste... 3 00:00:08,241 --> 00:00:10,801 Sight... 4 00:00:10,877 --> 00:00:13,437 Smell... 5 00:00:13,513 --> 00:00:16,107 Hearing. 6 00:00:16,182 --> 00:00:20,118 These are the senses that connect us to the world. 7 00:00:20,186 --> 00:00:23,155 But are there more than five senses? 8 00:00:25,358 --> 00:00:28,850 Researchers are diving into hidden folds of our brains, 9 00:00:28,928 --> 00:00:34,366 discovering that the blind can actually see... 10 00:00:34,434 --> 00:00:40,566 That thoughts can fly across space... 11 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:46,636 And that somehow, we might have the power to feel the future. 12 00:00:46,713 --> 00:00:51,047 Is there a sixth sense? 13 00:00:51,117 --> 00:00:56,919 Space, time, life itself. 14 00:00:59,392 --> 00:01:04,056 The secrets of the cosmos lie Through the Wormhole. 15 00:01:17,243 --> 00:01:22,078 The human brain is a truly remarkable organ. 16 00:01:22,148 --> 00:01:24,446 It contains as many nerve cells 17 00:01:24,517 --> 00:01:27,077 as there are stars in the Milky Way. 18 00:01:27,153 --> 00:01:33,956 Sights, sounds, smells, anything happening in the world around us 19 00:01:34,027 --> 00:01:36,359 triggers waves of activity 20 00:01:36,429 --> 00:01:40,957 that ripple through this vast network in our heads. 21 00:01:41,034 --> 00:01:43,366 Could this network interact with the world 22 00:01:43,436 --> 00:01:45,666 in ways we don't yet understand? 23 00:01:45,738 --> 00:01:48,229 We are only just beginning to see 24 00:01:48,308 --> 00:01:51,209 what these cells are really capable of. 25 00:01:51,277 --> 00:01:54,440 As long as the brain remains a mystery, 26 00:01:54,514 --> 00:01:58,712 the sixth sense cannot be written off as superstition. 27 00:01:58,785 --> 00:02:03,279 Scientifically, it's entirely possible. 28 00:02:06,559 --> 00:02:09,357 I was mostly a good kid. 29 00:02:09,429 --> 00:02:14,093 But every once in a while, I stepped out of line. 30 00:02:17,337 --> 00:02:20,966 But even with my back turned... 31 00:02:23,076 --> 00:02:25,704 ...I knew when I'd been caught. 32 00:02:25,778 --> 00:02:28,110 I could just... 33 00:02:28,181 --> 00:02:31,309 Feel her accusing stare. 34 00:02:32,552 --> 00:02:36,716 Was this a sixth sense? 35 00:02:40,126 --> 00:02:43,653 At Tilburg University in the Netherlands, 36 00:02:43,730 --> 00:02:44,992 Beatrice de Gelder is researching 37 00:02:45,064 --> 00:02:47,624 how emotions travel from person to person. 38 00:02:47,700 --> 00:02:50,999 She studies blind sight... 39 00:02:53,239 --> 00:02:57,505 ...a strange phenomenon in which some blind people 40 00:02:57,577 --> 00:03:01,707 are able to see emotions in other people's faces. 41 00:03:01,781 --> 00:03:05,182 De Gelder: We tend to think of visual perception 42 00:03:05,251 --> 00:03:07,151 as a matter of intact eyes. 43 00:03:07,220 --> 00:03:08,653 In fact, the eyes only see 44 00:03:08,721 --> 00:03:11,019 because they are connected to the brain. 45 00:03:11,090 --> 00:03:14,651 Freeman: Most of Beatrice's patients don't appear blind. 46 00:03:14,727 --> 00:03:18,254 On the outside, their eyes look perfectly normal. 47 00:03:18,331 --> 00:03:22,267 But on the inside, there is hidden damage. 48 00:03:24,337 --> 00:03:25,861 In a healthy brain, 49 00:03:25,939 --> 00:03:29,739 a complex symphony of signals flows from the eyes 50 00:03:29,809 --> 00:03:32,801 to a region called the visual cortex. 51 00:03:32,879 --> 00:03:35,973 But if the visual cortex gets damaged, 52 00:03:36,049 --> 00:03:38,449 usually as a result of a stroke, 53 00:03:38,518 --> 00:03:41,646 the signals can no longer be picked up. 54 00:03:41,721 --> 00:03:45,851 A stroke normally affects only one side of the cortex, 55 00:03:45,925 --> 00:03:49,691 leaving the patient blind in one eye. 56 00:03:49,762 --> 00:03:51,525 Beatrice is investigating 57 00:03:51,598 --> 00:03:54,431 whether the brain might have other ways 58 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:56,968 to pick up signals from that eye. 59 00:03:57,036 --> 00:03:59,402 She uses a partition to separate 60 00:03:59,472 --> 00:04:03,636 what a patient's blind eye and functioning eye can see. 61 00:04:03,710 --> 00:04:08,738 A computer shows images of happy, sad, or angry faces 62 00:04:08,815 --> 00:04:10,112 to one side only. 63 00:04:12,185 --> 00:04:13,982 De Gelder: So, we present a stimulus. 64 00:04:14,053 --> 00:04:16,044 It's an image of somebody laughing, 65 00:04:16,122 --> 00:04:17,282 somebody expressing joy. 66 00:04:17,357 --> 00:04:19,587 Freeman: Electrodes on the patient's face 67 00:04:19,659 --> 00:04:21,650 pick up any twitches of his muscles, 68 00:04:21,728 --> 00:04:26,324 detecting if he reacts to the emotions on display. 69 00:04:28,001 --> 00:04:32,370 We see that his face was actually imitating. 70 00:04:32,438 --> 00:04:35,771 He was using the same muscles without knowing it, of course, 71 00:04:35,842 --> 00:04:38,402 that the model he is seeing on the screen 72 00:04:38,478 --> 00:04:40,673 uses to produce that smile. 73 00:04:40,747 --> 00:04:45,684 Freeman: What's remarkable is that the emotional faces 74 00:04:45,752 --> 00:04:48,949 are being shown only to the patient's blind side. 75 00:04:49,022 --> 00:04:52,788 The seeing eye only sees neutral expressions. 76 00:04:52,859 --> 00:04:54,724 Yet, time and again, 77 00:04:54,794 --> 00:04:57,524 Beatrice's patients imitate the emotions 78 00:04:57,597 --> 00:04:59,531 their blind eye is looking at. 79 00:04:59,599 --> 00:05:05,333 But the response is not a conscience one. 80 00:05:05,405 --> 00:05:06,895 De Gelder: We asked the person, 81 00:05:06,973 --> 00:05:08,702 "Were you sure, or are you guessing?" 82 00:05:08,775 --> 00:05:12,006 And we systematically get the answer that they were guessing. 83 00:05:12,078 --> 00:05:16,879 Freeman: Beatrice believes blind sight is a deeply buried, 84 00:05:16,949 --> 00:05:18,940 subconscious sensory system 85 00:05:19,018 --> 00:05:20,883 rooted in a hidden part of the brain 86 00:05:20,953 --> 00:05:23,717 that receives signals from the eyes 87 00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:26,657 only when the image is loaded with emotion. 88 00:05:29,295 --> 00:05:32,230 But where could that part of the brain be? 89 00:05:33,433 --> 00:05:35,264 De Gelder: We are really trying 90 00:05:35,335 --> 00:05:37,701 to tap into the different layers of the brain. 91 00:05:37,770 --> 00:05:39,135 From the surface landscape, 92 00:05:39,205 --> 00:05:41,400 we try to sort of go underground in a way. 93 00:05:41,474 --> 00:05:43,169 You can see that this is, like, 94 00:05:43,242 --> 00:05:45,369 underground or undercover work. 95 00:05:46,446 --> 00:05:48,380 What is it all built on? 96 00:05:48,448 --> 00:05:50,313 What are the lower, more ancient layers? 97 00:05:50,383 --> 00:05:54,149 Freeman: Beatrice uncovered those layers 98 00:05:54,220 --> 00:05:56,882 by showing the same images of facial expressions 99 00:05:56,956 --> 00:06:01,290 to blind-sight patients while they were inside an MRI. 100 00:06:01,361 --> 00:06:04,330 Normally, information from the eyes 101 00:06:04,397 --> 00:06:09,027 travels down the optic nerve directly to the visual cortex. 102 00:06:09,102 --> 00:06:11,764 But when the eyes are looking at human emotions, 103 00:06:11,838 --> 00:06:14,272 the signals diverge from that path 104 00:06:14,340 --> 00:06:17,798 and travel to the amygdala, the superior colliculus, 105 00:06:17,877 --> 00:06:21,711 and six other structures in the brain. 106 00:06:21,781 --> 00:06:22,941 De Gelder: The human visual system 107 00:06:23,015 --> 00:06:25,745 consists at least of nine different pathways. 108 00:06:25,818 --> 00:06:28,685 Only one of those we begin to understand, 109 00:06:28,755 --> 00:06:32,885 and the eight other ones are completely in the background. 110 00:06:34,327 --> 00:06:37,956 So it's only in the case where that one needs to be sidestepped 111 00:06:38,030 --> 00:06:40,521 that the alternative pathways have a chance. 112 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:46,163 Freeman: Beatrice has identified subconscious mental pathways 113 00:06:46,239 --> 00:06:50,266 that allow us not to see emotional stimuli 114 00:06:50,343 --> 00:06:52,106 but to sense them. 115 00:06:52,178 --> 00:06:53,873 We all have these pathways, 116 00:06:53,946 --> 00:06:56,608 even though they are normally overwhelmed 117 00:06:56,682 --> 00:06:59,242 by our primary sense of sight. 118 00:06:59,318 --> 00:07:02,219 It's the first scientific evidence 119 00:07:02,288 --> 00:07:04,984 of a new sense beyond the five we know. 120 00:07:05,057 --> 00:07:08,049 De Gelder: One should have a sympathetic ear 121 00:07:08,127 --> 00:07:10,288 to those noises about a sixth sense 122 00:07:10,363 --> 00:07:11,955 because we don't have a clear view yet 123 00:07:12,031 --> 00:07:13,658 of the abilities of the brain. 124 00:07:13,733 --> 00:07:16,497 Freeman: Beatrice's work has shown 125 00:07:16,569 --> 00:07:18,969 that our brains can sense things 126 00:07:19,038 --> 00:07:21,871 even when we are not aware of them. 127 00:07:21,941 --> 00:07:25,502 It implies that any search for a sixth sense 128 00:07:25,578 --> 00:07:28,638 depends on understanding the boundary 129 00:07:28,714 --> 00:07:33,117 between conscious awareness and subconscious experience. 130 00:07:37,657 --> 00:07:40,785 Once a month, an elite group of philosophers 131 00:07:40,860 --> 00:07:44,796 meets at a small tavern in Greenwich Village. 132 00:07:47,733 --> 00:07:49,428 Greetings, New York. 133 00:07:50,503 --> 00:07:51,697 Freeman: They call themselves 134 00:07:51,771 --> 00:07:54,433 the New York Consciousness Collective. 135 00:07:54,507 --> 00:07:57,305 # I act like you act # 136 00:07:57,376 --> 00:07:59,936 # I do what you do # 137 00:08:00,012 --> 00:08:05,109 Freeman: At the helm of this jam session is David Chalmers. 138 00:08:05,184 --> 00:08:08,449 He may never fill Madison Square Garden, 139 00:08:08,521 --> 00:08:13,288 but his research is earning him a growing fan base in academia. 140 00:08:13,359 --> 00:08:15,190 He's trying to understand 141 00:08:15,261 --> 00:08:19,357 the nature and limits of consciousness. 142 00:08:19,432 --> 00:08:21,832 # What consciousness is # 143 00:08:21,901 --> 00:08:25,428 # I ain't got a clue # 144 00:08:25,505 --> 00:08:28,633 Consciousness is pretty well the biggest mystery in the world, 145 00:08:28,708 --> 00:08:31,541 and for these reasons, because it's such a hard problem, 146 00:08:31,611 --> 00:08:33,442 scientists tended just to set it aside. 147 00:08:33,513 --> 00:08:35,140 Science is objective. 148 00:08:35,214 --> 00:08:37,307 Consciousness is subjective. 149 00:08:37,383 --> 00:08:39,613 It's just in the last couple of decades, really, 150 00:08:39,685 --> 00:08:41,619 that scientists have started coming back 151 00:08:41,687 --> 00:08:44,417 to consciousness as a problem in its own right. 152 00:08:44,490 --> 00:08:48,620 Freeman: David believes the way to understand consciousness 153 00:08:48,694 --> 00:08:51,891 is to think of it in layers - 154 00:08:51,964 --> 00:08:55,456 layers constructed from the data our senses are gathering. 155 00:08:55,535 --> 00:08:57,935 So, consciousness has all these different levels. 156 00:08:58,004 --> 00:09:00,165 First of all, there's primary consciousness. 157 00:09:00,239 --> 00:09:02,537 This is consciousness of the things around you. 158 00:09:02,608 --> 00:09:05,441 I look out, I might see someone and see what's around them. 159 00:09:05,511 --> 00:09:08,071 That's my first level of consciousness. 160 00:09:08,147 --> 00:09:10,047 But then if I stop and reflect, 161 00:09:10,116 --> 00:09:12,778 I could be conscious of my consciousness. 162 00:09:12,852 --> 00:09:16,015 I can become conscious of what I'm thinking about. 163 00:09:16,088 --> 00:09:19,251 Then we've got consciousness within consciousness. 164 00:09:19,325 --> 00:09:20,519 If I reflect again, 165 00:09:20,593 --> 00:09:23,061 I can start to be conscious of the fact 166 00:09:23,129 --> 00:09:25,597 that I'm conscious of my consciousness. 167 00:09:25,665 --> 00:09:29,761 Then you get consciousness that contains consciousness 168 00:09:29,835 --> 00:09:31,325 that contains consciousness. 169 00:09:31,404 --> 00:09:32,564 Go three levels deep. 170 00:09:32,638 --> 00:09:37,598 In principle, you could repeat this to infinity. 171 00:09:37,677 --> 00:09:41,613 Freeman: Since our brain is dealing with so many layers, 172 00:09:41,681 --> 00:09:45,447 it stands to reason that we might not always be aware 173 00:09:45,518 --> 00:09:47,486 of everything we're sensing. 174 00:09:47,553 --> 00:09:50,386 Chalmers: Some things are in the background 175 00:09:50,456 --> 00:09:51,889 of your consciousness, 176 00:09:51,958 --> 00:09:55,086 way out in the distance. 177 00:09:55,161 --> 00:09:58,358 Some things are flickering through your consciousness 178 00:09:58,431 --> 00:10:04,063 that grab your attention for a moment, then they move on. 179 00:10:04,136 --> 00:10:07,970 Some things are in the focus of your consciousness. 180 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:09,940 They grab your attention. 181 00:10:10,009 --> 00:10:11,442 They don't let go. 182 00:10:11,510 --> 00:10:14,911 Freeman: But how do we discover what we are missing? 183 00:10:14,981 --> 00:10:19,145 Why does only certain neural activity 184 00:10:19,218 --> 00:10:22,119 manage to fight its way into our awareness? 185 00:10:22,188 --> 00:10:24,850 What's actually happening in our brains 186 00:10:24,924 --> 00:10:26,915 when we are conscious of something 187 00:10:26,993 --> 00:10:30,156 is still a complete mystery. 188 00:10:30,229 --> 00:10:32,823 One of the basic questions about consciousness 189 00:10:32,898 --> 00:10:36,163 is whether you can explain it in terms of physical processes 190 00:10:36,235 --> 00:10:38,726 'cause we've got used to the idea in science 191 00:10:38,804 --> 00:10:41,272 that you start with a few basics in physics, 192 00:10:41,340 --> 00:10:42,932 like space and time and matter. 193 00:10:43,009 --> 00:10:45,443 Put them together, you can explain everything else. 194 00:10:45,511 --> 00:10:46,739 You can explain chemistry. 195 00:10:46,812 --> 00:10:47,972 You can explain biology. 196 00:10:48,047 --> 00:10:50,106 Now, I think in the case of consciousness, 197 00:10:50,182 --> 00:10:52,309 this great chain of explanation breaks down. 198 00:10:52,385 --> 00:10:55,252 My view is, we've got a new fundamental building block 199 00:10:55,321 --> 00:10:56,686 in nature of consciousness, 200 00:10:56,756 --> 00:11:00,920 and we need to understand the fundamental laws that govern it. 201 00:11:02,395 --> 00:11:04,795 Freeman: This scientist thinks he's discovered 202 00:11:04,864 --> 00:11:09,631 a new and surprising aspect of consciousness. 203 00:11:09,702 --> 00:11:13,229 He believes it does not simply exist within our minds 204 00:11:13,305 --> 00:11:16,206 but extends outward, as well. 205 00:11:16,275 --> 00:11:21,076 And he claims he has the evidence to prove it. 206 00:11:24,917 --> 00:11:27,408 What is a thought? 207 00:11:27,486 --> 00:11:28,953 Neuroscientists would say 208 00:11:29,021 --> 00:11:31,512 it's just a pattern of electrical activity 209 00:11:31,590 --> 00:11:33,490 inside our brains. 210 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:38,895 But if I scowl or smile, my thoughts can cross a room. 211 00:11:38,964 --> 00:11:42,695 In fact, they're reaching out to touch you right now. 212 00:11:42,768 --> 00:11:46,932 Some scientists believe this is how the sixth sense works - 213 00:11:47,006 --> 00:11:50,999 that human thoughts merge into a collective consciousness 214 00:11:51,077 --> 00:11:53,671 that spans the globe. 215 00:11:55,748 --> 00:11:59,616 Roger Nelson has spent the past 30 years 216 00:11:59,685 --> 00:12:02,916 looking for evidence of a global mind. 217 00:12:02,988 --> 00:12:06,389 Nelson: Consciousness lives in the real world. 218 00:12:06,459 --> 00:12:07,926 The touch is very light. 219 00:12:07,993 --> 00:12:10,985 But to the degree that it's a real touch, 220 00:12:11,063 --> 00:12:12,394 it's extremely important. 221 00:12:12,465 --> 00:12:15,491 Most people don't believe this is possible. 222 00:12:15,568 --> 00:12:19,937 The research shows that it is possible. 223 00:12:20,005 --> 00:12:22,997 Freeman: In the mid-1980s, Roger began investigating 224 00:12:23,075 --> 00:12:24,474 a strange phenomenon 225 00:12:24,543 --> 00:12:28,001 that had been reported by several other researchers. 226 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:32,312 They had noticed that the readouts of electronic devices 227 00:12:32,384 --> 00:12:34,443 called random-number generators 228 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,853 could be affected by people sitting next to them 229 00:12:37,923 --> 00:12:42,087 if those people focused their thoughts on them. 230 00:12:42,161 --> 00:12:44,891 In the course of a long series of experiments over years, 231 00:12:44,964 --> 00:12:47,228 we found that people could change the behavior 232 00:12:47,299 --> 00:12:49,028 of these random-number generators 233 00:12:49,101 --> 00:12:52,764 very slightly but significantly. 234 00:12:52,838 --> 00:12:56,604 Freeman: Random-number generators are electronic coin tosses. 235 00:12:56,675 --> 00:12:59,007 Instead of heads or tails, 236 00:12:59,078 --> 00:13:02,844 they throw ones or zeros. 237 00:13:02,915 --> 00:13:07,409 Their results are supposed to be totally random. 238 00:13:07,486 --> 00:13:11,286 Roger reasoned that if one person sitting close by 239 00:13:11,357 --> 00:13:13,291 could alter their readouts, 240 00:13:13,359 --> 00:13:16,760 then perhaps the mass thoughts of entire cities 241 00:13:16,829 --> 00:13:18,194 could do the same. 242 00:13:18,264 --> 00:13:22,132 Could random-number generators placed around the world 243 00:13:22,201 --> 00:13:26,069 be used to track the minds of millions of individuals? 244 00:13:26,138 --> 00:13:30,131 Nelson: What we have done is set up a scientific experiment 245 00:13:30,209 --> 00:13:32,336 with a fairly simple hypothesis. 246 00:13:32,411 --> 00:13:33,742 The idea is, 247 00:13:33,813 --> 00:13:37,340 when large numbers of people share a consciousness state, 248 00:13:37,416 --> 00:13:38,747 especially emotional, 249 00:13:38,818 --> 00:13:42,845 then our network will show deviations from randomness. 250 00:13:42,922 --> 00:13:44,947 Freeman: By the late 1990s, 251 00:13:45,024 --> 00:13:48,721 Roger had persuaded several colleagues across the globe 252 00:13:48,794 --> 00:13:52,423 to collect random-number data in their labs. 253 00:13:52,498 --> 00:13:55,990 The Global Consciousness Project was born. 254 00:13:56,068 --> 00:13:57,262 This is a map 255 00:13:57,336 --> 00:13:59,668 that shows where the Global Consciousness Project 256 00:13:59,738 --> 00:14:03,174 has installations all around the world. 257 00:14:03,242 --> 00:14:07,042 That's Hawaii there, Australia, New Zealand, 258 00:14:07,112 --> 00:14:09,080 lots of them in Europe. 259 00:14:09,148 --> 00:14:12,413 There's a random-event generator or a random-number generator 260 00:14:12,484 --> 00:14:15,146 attached to a computer at each of those places. 261 00:14:15,221 --> 00:14:18,315 Freeman: This global network runs 24/7, 262 00:14:18,390 --> 00:14:22,349 collecting data and then sending it back to a server 263 00:14:22,428 --> 00:14:25,022 at Roger's lab in Princeton. 264 00:14:25,097 --> 00:14:27,622 Nelson: We take the real-time data, 265 00:14:27,700 --> 00:14:31,796 and every second, a color block will appear. 266 00:14:31,871 --> 00:14:33,600 Mostly it's small, 267 00:14:33,672 --> 00:14:38,041 but when there's a big deviation in the data like that... 268 00:14:38,110 --> 00:14:41,045 Oh, my God, another one. 269 00:14:42,281 --> 00:14:45,011 This is unusual to see so many large deviations 270 00:14:45,084 --> 00:14:46,449 in such a short time. 271 00:14:46,518 --> 00:14:50,386 Freeman: Every time there was a major global event, 272 00:14:50,456 --> 00:14:54,620 Roger checks to see if his network deviates from normal. 273 00:14:54,693 --> 00:14:56,524 And many times, it does. 274 00:14:56,595 --> 00:14:58,756 Some of the strongest changes 275 00:14:58,831 --> 00:15:03,200 took place during the presidential elections of 2008. 276 00:15:05,404 --> 00:15:06,598 Nelson: When the polls closed, 277 00:15:06,672 --> 00:15:10,199 the media were saying, "Looks like Obama has won." 278 00:15:10,276 --> 00:15:12,176 This graph shows the data 279 00:15:12,244 --> 00:15:16,340 from the time the polls closed for the next five hours. 280 00:15:16,415 --> 00:15:18,406 In the middle of that is Obama's victory speech. 281 00:15:20,619 --> 00:15:23,884 We have never been just a collection of individuals. 282 00:15:23,956 --> 00:15:28,825 We are and always will be the United States of America. 283 00:15:32,531 --> 00:15:34,829 Nelson: This is a strong trend. 284 00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:36,765 It just goes straight up this incline. 285 00:15:38,170 --> 00:15:39,728 It's like 1,000-to-1 odds 286 00:15:39,805 --> 00:15:43,297 that we should have that accumulation of positive effects 287 00:15:43,375 --> 00:15:44,535 in a data set this size. 288 00:15:46,679 --> 00:15:51,241 We have more than 340 independent experiments. 289 00:15:51,317 --> 00:15:53,148 When we put all the data together 290 00:15:53,218 --> 00:15:56,016 from 12 years of these experiments, 291 00:15:56,088 --> 00:15:57,555 the bottom-line result 292 00:15:57,623 --> 00:16:00,558 has odds against chance of a billion to one. 293 00:16:06,765 --> 00:16:08,960 Freeman: Roger's data suggests 294 00:16:09,034 --> 00:16:11,969 there is some form of global consciousness. 295 00:16:12,037 --> 00:16:15,097 But how might it actually work? 296 00:16:17,076 --> 00:16:19,306 Biologist Rupert Sheldrake 297 00:16:19,378 --> 00:16:22,870 believes the answer lies in a hidden field 298 00:16:22,948 --> 00:16:25,143 generated by all living things. 299 00:16:25,217 --> 00:16:28,653 He calls it a morphic field. 300 00:16:31,390 --> 00:16:33,358 Fields are regions of influence. 301 00:16:33,425 --> 00:16:37,885 It's easier to see what fields are with magnetic fields. 302 00:16:37,963 --> 00:16:40,864 These balls are little magnets, 303 00:16:40,933 --> 00:16:43,959 and as I drop them onto the plate, 304 00:16:44,036 --> 00:16:47,062 the balls attract each other or repel each other. 305 00:16:47,139 --> 00:16:50,370 They turn around, and so they all join up in patterns. 306 00:16:50,442 --> 00:16:52,433 There's a self-organizing property in fields. 307 00:16:52,511 --> 00:16:55,708 They're inherently integrative. 308 00:16:55,781 --> 00:16:57,214 And what I'm suggesting 309 00:16:57,282 --> 00:16:59,750 is that there's another kind of field called morphic fields, 310 00:16:59,818 --> 00:17:02,787 which organize the bodies of animals and plants 311 00:17:02,855 --> 00:17:06,416 and organize the activities of brains and minds. 312 00:17:06,492 --> 00:17:09,825 Freeman: Rupert believes that morphic fields 313 00:17:09,895 --> 00:17:13,524 are what allow birds to fly in perfect formation, 314 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:17,228 what guide the mass migrations of herd animals, 315 00:17:17,302 --> 00:17:19,736 and he also believes 316 00:17:19,805 --> 00:17:22,706 they are the reason we get that uncanny feeling 317 00:17:22,775 --> 00:17:24,436 when someone stares at us. 318 00:17:27,513 --> 00:17:30,846 He has even run a series of experiments 319 00:17:30,916 --> 00:17:34,443 to try to prove that this sense is real. 320 00:17:35,988 --> 00:17:38,718 Not looking. 321 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:42,259 You either look or you don't look 322 00:17:42,327 --> 00:17:44,921 in a random sequence of trials at somebody else, 323 00:17:44,997 --> 00:17:47,022 and they have to guess in each trial 324 00:17:47,099 --> 00:17:49,067 if they're being stared at or not. 325 00:17:49,134 --> 00:17:52,592 Not looking. 326 00:17:52,671 --> 00:17:54,639 Sheldrake: The starer should concentrate their mind 327 00:17:54,706 --> 00:17:56,901 on the person they're looking at. 328 00:17:56,975 --> 00:17:59,341 When I do it, I also think of the person's name. 329 00:17:59,411 --> 00:18:00,708 Looking. 330 00:18:00,779 --> 00:18:03,145 I concentrate all my attention on them. 331 00:18:03,215 --> 00:18:05,445 When I'm not looking at them, 332 00:18:05,517 --> 00:18:08,714 I look at the floor or I close my eyes, 333 00:18:08,787 --> 00:18:11,347 and I think of something completely different. 334 00:18:11,423 --> 00:18:13,755 Not looking. 335 00:18:13,826 --> 00:18:15,418 Brilliant. 336 00:18:15,494 --> 00:18:18,292 14 right and 6 wrong. 337 00:18:18,363 --> 00:18:21,491 Something's going on, 338 00:18:21,567 --> 00:18:23,899 and although the effect's not big, it's consistent 339 00:18:23,969 --> 00:18:27,097 and it's repeated over large numbers of trials. 340 00:18:27,172 --> 00:18:31,074 Freeman: Rupert has gathered a body of evidence 341 00:18:31,143 --> 00:18:33,043 that shows people really do appear to know 342 00:18:33,112 --> 00:18:34,841 when they are being stared at. 343 00:18:34,913 --> 00:18:37,905 For him, it supports the idea 344 00:18:37,983 --> 00:18:40,508 that our bodies are surrounded by morphic fields, 345 00:18:40,586 --> 00:18:44,784 an invisible extension of ourselves. 346 00:18:44,857 --> 00:18:46,017 What I'm suggesting 347 00:18:46,091 --> 00:18:48,525 is that our minds work through extended fields 348 00:18:48,594 --> 00:18:51,961 that stretch out far beyond our heads into the world around us, 349 00:18:52,030 --> 00:18:56,160 linking us to other people and to our environment. 350 00:18:56,235 --> 00:19:00,365 Freeman: Many scientists dismiss Rupert's ideas, 351 00:19:00,439 --> 00:19:03,840 arguing that if morphic fields exist, 352 00:19:03,909 --> 00:19:06,776 we should have detected them by now. 353 00:19:06,845 --> 00:19:10,440 But in a darkened lab in Sudbury, Ontario, 354 00:19:10,516 --> 00:19:12,609 this researcher believes he has 355 00:19:12,684 --> 00:19:14,777 and that he has evidence 356 00:19:14,853 --> 00:19:19,187 that thoughts can fly from one mind to another. 357 00:19:23,862 --> 00:19:25,921 Every minute of every day, 358 00:19:25,998 --> 00:19:29,297 we are surrounded by an invisible force. 359 00:19:29,368 --> 00:19:34,897 Our world is wrapped in a magnetic field. 360 00:19:34,973 --> 00:19:37,066 For many creatures on Earth, 361 00:19:37,142 --> 00:19:39,975 life would be impossible without it. 362 00:19:40,045 --> 00:19:45,142 Birds, sea turtles, and fish rely on this global magnetism 363 00:19:45,217 --> 00:19:46,445 to navigate. 364 00:19:46,518 --> 00:19:50,318 Could our minds be using it, too? 365 00:19:50,389 --> 00:19:55,349 And is it, perhaps, the root of the sixth sense? 366 00:19:57,329 --> 00:20:01,561 Michael Persinger runs the Neuroscience Research Group 367 00:20:01,633 --> 00:20:05,330 at Laurentian University in Canada. 368 00:20:05,404 --> 00:20:09,272 The powerful effect of Earth's magnetic field on animals 369 00:20:09,341 --> 00:20:11,206 inspired him to investigate 370 00:20:11,276 --> 00:20:14,677 whether it could also influence us. 371 00:20:14,746 --> 00:20:16,976 Animals can use the three-dimensional magnetic field 372 00:20:17,049 --> 00:20:18,073 of the Earth 373 00:20:18,150 --> 00:20:21,847 as a kind of navigation or homing device. 374 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:23,854 There's very good evidence for it. 375 00:20:23,922 --> 00:20:27,119 Freeman: The connection Michael suggests could exist 376 00:20:27,192 --> 00:20:30,127 between Earth's magnetic field and human brains 377 00:20:30,195 --> 00:20:32,163 is much more controversial. 378 00:20:32,231 --> 00:20:33,892 Persinger: The sixth sense is effectively 379 00:20:33,966 --> 00:20:36,799 the ability to detect information at a distance - 380 00:20:36,868 --> 00:20:38,802 that's one of the definitions - 381 00:20:38,870 --> 00:20:40,861 through mechanisms not known to date. 382 00:20:40,939 --> 00:20:43,134 The critical question is, how is it done? 383 00:20:44,943 --> 00:20:46,774 The magnetic field of the Earth 384 00:20:46,845 --> 00:20:50,303 is basically the medium within which we were all exposed, 385 00:20:50,382 --> 00:20:51,849 all seven billion of us. 386 00:20:53,051 --> 00:20:54,541 And that's what allows 387 00:20:54,620 --> 00:20:57,316 the potential exchange of information. 388 00:20:57,389 --> 00:20:59,755 Freeman: According to this theory, 389 00:20:59,825 --> 00:21:03,693 Earth's magnetic field is like an ocean rippling with waves. 390 00:21:03,762 --> 00:21:06,356 Electrical activity from our brains 391 00:21:06,431 --> 00:21:08,365 can surf along on top of it, 392 00:21:08,433 --> 00:21:11,027 passing from one person to another. 393 00:21:11,103 --> 00:21:14,504 It's a radical idea, 394 00:21:14,573 --> 00:21:17,098 but Michael has designed an elaborate experiment 395 00:21:17,175 --> 00:21:20,269 to put it to the test. 396 00:21:20,345 --> 00:21:22,813 And whatever you do, don't drill into his head. 397 00:21:22,881 --> 00:21:24,712 Trephining is outlawed in Canada. 398 00:21:24,783 --> 00:21:30,915 His team placed two subjects, Mandy and Mark, 399 00:21:30,989 --> 00:21:33,389 in rooms 20 feet apart. 400 00:21:33,458 --> 00:21:35,824 The rooms are acoustically and visually isolated 401 00:21:35,894 --> 00:21:37,885 from one another. 402 00:21:37,963 --> 00:21:40,488 They are also completely shielded 403 00:21:40,565 --> 00:21:42,556 from Earth's magnetic field. 404 00:21:42,634 --> 00:21:44,192 Michael replaces that 405 00:21:44,269 --> 00:21:49,468 with a precisely controlled magnetic field of his own design 406 00:21:49,541 --> 00:21:53,068 generated by electrical coils on this headband. 407 00:21:53,145 --> 00:21:55,807 In this way, he can be sure 408 00:21:55,881 --> 00:22:00,784 that Mandy and Mark experience identical magnetic fields. 409 00:22:00,852 --> 00:22:03,582 By producing the same complex configuration 410 00:22:03,655 --> 00:22:06,123 of a magnetic field in two different brains 411 00:22:06,191 --> 00:22:07,385 at a distance, 412 00:22:07,459 --> 00:22:09,927 you're basically imitating what happens in nature 413 00:22:09,995 --> 00:22:11,462 in the Earth's magnetic field. 414 00:22:11,530 --> 00:22:13,361 I'm going to turn off the lights, 415 00:22:13,432 --> 00:22:15,992 and I'll be recording your EEG the entire time. 416 00:22:20,072 --> 00:22:23,303 And we'll be able to see if, indeed, their brain activity 417 00:22:23,375 --> 00:22:27,209 is the same once they share the same magnetic field. 418 00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:31,141 Freeman: Over the course of the next 20 minutes, 419 00:22:31,216 --> 00:22:34,413 a light will flash at Mark several times 420 00:22:34,486 --> 00:22:38,582 while Mandy remains undisturbed in her darkened room. 421 00:22:38,657 --> 00:22:40,249 Michael and his team 422 00:22:40,325 --> 00:22:42,816 monitor both of their brains' activity. 423 00:22:42,894 --> 00:22:47,422 Three minutes in, the light begins to flash 424 00:22:47,499 --> 00:22:49,467 in Mark's room. 425 00:22:49,534 --> 00:22:51,126 You can see a nice spike right there. 426 00:22:51,203 --> 00:22:53,137 About five minutes later, 427 00:22:53,205 --> 00:22:55,765 the light flashes again. 428 00:22:55,841 --> 00:22:58,332 Same intensity. Actually, you can see the spikes even in this one. 429 00:22:58,410 --> 00:23:00,605 Mandy's brain activity 430 00:23:00,679 --> 00:23:04,638 spiked right at the time Mark saw the flashing light. 431 00:23:07,686 --> 00:23:10,712 Now Dr. Persinger's team need to know 432 00:23:10,789 --> 00:23:14,657 what Mandy experienced while she sat in the dark. 433 00:23:14,726 --> 00:23:18,162 Mandy: Well, at about three minutes in, 434 00:23:18,230 --> 00:23:22,496 in my left visual field of my left eye, 435 00:23:22,567 --> 00:23:25,559 I experienced a bright flash. 436 00:23:25,637 --> 00:23:27,468 And it lasted very briefly, 437 00:23:27,539 --> 00:23:31,703 and it felt like it just sort of faded into the darkness again. 438 00:23:31,777 --> 00:23:35,713 Later on at around six to eight minutes in, 439 00:23:35,781 --> 00:23:38,045 I had a flash in my right peripheral field. 440 00:23:38,116 --> 00:23:40,516 Persinger: When the light was flashing to one, 441 00:23:40,585 --> 00:23:41,745 producing all these changes, 442 00:23:41,820 --> 00:23:43,310 the other person's brain activity, 443 00:23:43,388 --> 00:23:44,480 even though they were in the dark, 444 00:23:44,556 --> 00:23:45,580 also changed. 445 00:23:45,657 --> 00:23:49,491 Freeman: The experiment seems to show 446 00:23:49,561 --> 00:23:52,496 that two brains in separate locations 447 00:23:52,564 --> 00:23:54,429 can share a single experience. 448 00:23:54,499 --> 00:23:57,525 Persinger: Human thoughts are not non-physical. 449 00:23:57,602 --> 00:24:00,469 They are physical units of action potentials 450 00:24:00,539 --> 00:24:02,439 from the nerve itself. 451 00:24:02,507 --> 00:24:04,065 Can they be transmitted across space? 452 00:24:04,142 --> 00:24:05,734 Under certain conditions, absolutely, 453 00:24:05,811 --> 00:24:06,903 and there's evidence for it. 454 00:24:06,978 --> 00:24:09,742 If we have seven billion human brains 455 00:24:09,815 --> 00:24:11,908 all immersed in the magnetic field, which they are, 456 00:24:11,983 --> 00:24:13,780 then a change in one, if it's connected - 457 00:24:13,852 --> 00:24:15,911 and we are 'cause the magnetic flux lines 458 00:24:15,987 --> 00:24:18,353 go right through us, right through our brains - 459 00:24:18,423 --> 00:24:20,891 then a change in one could influence everyone. 460 00:24:23,361 --> 00:24:27,161 Michael Persinger believes he has evidence 461 00:24:27,232 --> 00:24:30,224 for a primitive form of sixth sense - 462 00:24:30,302 --> 00:24:33,203 an ability to share simple sensations 463 00:24:33,271 --> 00:24:36,172 with people who are far away from us. 464 00:24:36,241 --> 00:24:40,575 But our senses may not just be able to travel across space. 465 00:24:40,645 --> 00:24:43,808 They may be able to reach out across time 466 00:24:43,882 --> 00:24:46,009 and feel the future. 467 00:24:50,021 --> 00:24:55,926 Science is full of ideas that seem hard to believe. 468 00:24:55,994 --> 00:24:57,928 Take quantum mechanics. 469 00:24:57,996 --> 00:25:01,693 In this strange world of subatomic physics, 470 00:25:01,766 --> 00:25:05,361 a particle can be in two places at once... 471 00:25:05,437 --> 00:25:07,200 Until we look at it. 472 00:25:10,308 --> 00:25:12,435 Most physicists will tell you 473 00:25:12,511 --> 00:25:16,072 where the particle ends up is just a roll of the dice. 474 00:25:16,147 --> 00:25:18,547 But there's another theory. 475 00:25:18,617 --> 00:25:20,244 My conscious mind 476 00:25:20,318 --> 00:25:24,186 could be controlling this subatomic world. 477 00:25:24,256 --> 00:25:26,053 And the sixth sense 478 00:25:26,124 --> 00:25:29,685 could be what makes the Universe tick. 479 00:25:29,761 --> 00:25:34,664 Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist. 480 00:25:34,733 --> 00:25:36,894 As a pioneer of string theory, 481 00:25:36,968 --> 00:25:40,904 which proposes the world is actually nine-dimensional, 482 00:25:40,972 --> 00:25:44,533 he believes scientists need to keep an open mind 483 00:25:44,609 --> 00:25:46,236 about the sixth sense, 484 00:25:46,311 --> 00:25:49,974 no matter how strange it may sound. 485 00:25:50,048 --> 00:25:53,211 We physicists are conservative revolutionaries 486 00:25:53,285 --> 00:25:55,253 in the sense that we have to be open 487 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:57,550 to all sorts of crazy, bizarre phenomenon. 488 00:25:57,622 --> 00:25:58,748 Who would have thought 489 00:25:58,823 --> 00:26:01,155 that there's something called radioactivity? 490 00:26:01,226 --> 00:26:04,024 Who would have thought that we would have quantum forces? 491 00:26:04,095 --> 00:26:07,462 So we have to be open to these things. 492 00:26:07,532 --> 00:26:10,933 The most successful physical theory of all time 493 00:26:11,002 --> 00:26:14,699 is called quantum mechanics, the theory of the atom, 494 00:26:14,773 --> 00:26:17,833 because it's based on the idea of probabilities, 495 00:26:17,909 --> 00:26:20,969 that you don't really know where an electron is. 496 00:26:21,046 --> 00:26:23,640 And electrons can exist, in some sense, 497 00:26:23,715 --> 00:26:26,115 in multiple states at the same time. 498 00:26:26,184 --> 00:26:29,244 Freeman: The fuzzy nature of subatomic particles 499 00:26:29,321 --> 00:26:34,452 might just provide a way to explain the sixth sense. 500 00:26:34,526 --> 00:26:35,788 Erwin Schrodinger, 501 00:26:35,860 --> 00:26:38,693 one of the founders of quantum mechanics, 502 00:26:38,763 --> 00:26:41,698 designed a thought experiment to drive home 503 00:26:41,766 --> 00:26:45,429 the strange rules of his theory. 504 00:26:45,503 --> 00:26:51,135 Let's say we put a cat and a vial of poison in a box. 505 00:26:52,844 --> 00:26:56,803 We add an atom of radioactive uranium 506 00:26:56,881 --> 00:26:59,111 and a Geiger counter. 507 00:26:59,184 --> 00:27:01,982 If the uranium decays, it sets off the Geiger counter, 508 00:27:02,053 --> 00:27:06,683 which then releases the poison and silently kills the cat. 509 00:27:08,093 --> 00:27:09,993 Before we open the box and look, 510 00:27:10,061 --> 00:27:13,758 we can't actually know whether the uranium has decayed or not 511 00:27:13,832 --> 00:27:16,096 since radioactive decay 512 00:27:16,167 --> 00:27:21,469 is a probabilistic quantum event. 513 00:27:21,539 --> 00:27:22,904 Here's the question. 514 00:27:22,974 --> 00:27:24,839 Is the cat dead or alive? 515 00:27:24,909 --> 00:27:27,434 Well, according to quantum mechanics, 516 00:27:27,512 --> 00:27:30,572 the cat is neither dead nor alive 517 00:27:30,649 --> 00:27:33,209 but the sum of the two states. 518 00:27:33,284 --> 00:27:36,185 Well, at that point, you say, "Well, that's nonsense. 519 00:27:36,254 --> 00:27:37,516 That's preposterous. 520 00:27:37,589 --> 00:27:40,387 How can you be both dead and alive simultaneously?" 521 00:27:40,458 --> 00:27:43,916 Freeman: Schrodinger's Cat was supposed to show 522 00:27:43,995 --> 00:27:47,021 that nothing in this Universe is certain 523 00:27:47,098 --> 00:27:49,726 until someone makes a measurement. 524 00:27:49,801 --> 00:27:52,895 But another pioneer of quantum mechanics, 525 00:27:52,971 --> 00:27:55,405 Eugene Wigner, believed it could teach us 526 00:27:55,473 --> 00:27:58,442 something else about the working of the Universe - 527 00:27:58,510 --> 00:28:02,913 that consciousness controls everything. 528 00:28:02,981 --> 00:28:08,510 Kaku: Wigner said, "Let's take it one step farther. 529 00:28:08,586 --> 00:28:10,850 If I, a human being, looks at the cat, 530 00:28:10,922 --> 00:28:12,014 I am conscious. 531 00:28:12,090 --> 00:28:17,289 Therefore, consciousness determines existence." 532 00:28:17,362 --> 00:28:19,455 At that point, Einstein went ballistic 533 00:28:19,531 --> 00:28:20,896 and said, "What? 534 00:28:20,965 --> 00:28:23,331 You're saying that the fact that you are a conscious being 535 00:28:23,401 --> 00:28:26,165 determines the fact that the cat is alive?" 536 00:28:26,237 --> 00:28:29,365 The answer is yes, and Wigner made one more step. 537 00:28:29,441 --> 00:28:32,035 And that is, "How do I know I'm alive?" 538 00:28:32,110 --> 00:28:35,671 You see, the cat and me, we're part of the same universe. 539 00:28:35,747 --> 00:28:38,443 If I don't know the cat is alive or dead, 540 00:28:38,516 --> 00:28:41,007 I could also be dead at the same time 541 00:28:41,086 --> 00:28:42,451 and not even know it. 542 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,318 So, who determines that I'm alive? 543 00:28:45,390 --> 00:28:48,154 Well, Wigner's friend looks at me, 544 00:28:48,226 --> 00:28:49,693 I look at the cat, 545 00:28:49,761 --> 00:28:50,785 and we exist. 546 00:28:50,862 --> 00:28:53,626 But then who looks at Wigner's friend? 547 00:28:53,698 --> 00:28:56,963 And there's an infinite chain of people looking at people 548 00:28:57,035 --> 00:28:58,195 looking at people 549 00:28:58,269 --> 00:29:04,208 until, finally, you hit cosmic consciousness. 550 00:29:04,275 --> 00:29:07,210 Some consciousness that's ethereal, 551 00:29:07,278 --> 00:29:09,371 that envelops the Universe, 552 00:29:09,447 --> 00:29:13,543 which looks at us and says, "Aha, the cat is alive." 553 00:29:13,618 --> 00:29:16,849 Freeman: Wigner believed that consciousness 554 00:29:16,921 --> 00:29:19,651 is an inextricable part of reality, 555 00:29:19,724 --> 00:29:23,319 that nothing really happens in the physical world 556 00:29:23,394 --> 00:29:26,192 unless a conscious mind observes it. 557 00:29:26,264 --> 00:29:29,495 Most physicists regard cosmic consciousness 558 00:29:29,567 --> 00:29:34,197 as an intriguing idea that will never be provable. 559 00:29:34,272 --> 00:29:36,934 But in Princeton, New Jersey, 560 00:29:37,008 --> 00:29:41,001 Roger Nelson may have some solid evidence. 561 00:29:41,079 --> 00:29:42,808 In the vast array of data 562 00:29:42,881 --> 00:29:46,112 collected by his Global Consciousness Project, 563 00:29:46,184 --> 00:29:49,881 one date stands out above all others. 564 00:29:51,422 --> 00:29:54,414 Nelson: We explored the data around 9/11 565 00:29:54,492 --> 00:29:56,460 because there were changes. 566 00:29:56,528 --> 00:29:58,894 This shows a little more than a week around 9/11. 567 00:29:58,963 --> 00:30:03,127 Here, right in the middle, is September 11th, 568 00:30:03,201 --> 00:30:05,761 and this little block respects the time 569 00:30:05,837 --> 00:30:06,929 when the first plane hit 570 00:30:07,005 --> 00:30:09,405 to the time when the last building fell. 571 00:30:09,474 --> 00:30:11,908 Freeman: On that fateful day, 572 00:30:11,976 --> 00:30:16,208 Roger's global network recorded random-number data 573 00:30:16,281 --> 00:30:20,377 second by second. 574 00:30:20,451 --> 00:30:22,282 Nelson: Here, we already have some activity 575 00:30:22,353 --> 00:30:23,786 that doesn't really look normal, 576 00:30:23,855 --> 00:30:27,154 and at this point, which is 4:30 in the morning, 577 00:30:27,225 --> 00:30:30,388 the data really changed and took off in a way 578 00:30:30,461 --> 00:30:32,986 that I think is highly significant. 579 00:30:33,064 --> 00:30:35,794 This is an aberration in the random walk, 580 00:30:35,867 --> 00:30:38,427 and it happens to be centered on 9/11, 581 00:30:38,503 --> 00:30:41,836 and it happens that in order to be centered on 9/11, 582 00:30:41,906 --> 00:30:44,466 it started before the first plane hit. 583 00:30:50,582 --> 00:30:52,777 We don't have an explanation for that. 584 00:30:56,254 --> 00:30:59,451 Freeman: 9/11 was the first and only time 585 00:30:59,524 --> 00:31:03,551 the Global Consciousness Network responded to an event 586 00:31:03,628 --> 00:31:05,528 before it actually began. 587 00:31:05,597 --> 00:31:09,226 Roger believes it shows human consciousness 588 00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:12,428 does not just react to major events - 589 00:31:12,503 --> 00:31:15,631 it is an inextricable part of them. 590 00:31:15,707 --> 00:31:19,268 But the nature of that connection 591 00:31:19,344 --> 00:31:21,107 is still unclear. 592 00:31:23,581 --> 00:31:26,607 One of the really hard questions that we're dealing with 593 00:31:26,684 --> 00:31:28,015 is how it works. 594 00:31:28,086 --> 00:31:32,113 Is it a global consciousness that we can sort of imagine 595 00:31:32,190 --> 00:31:33,953 but we can't perceive directly? 596 00:31:34,025 --> 00:31:37,017 Is it a global consciousness having a premonition? 597 00:31:37,095 --> 00:31:39,962 And we honestly cannot say what of those things 598 00:31:40,031 --> 00:31:41,293 it could be. 599 00:31:44,769 --> 00:31:47,829 Freeman: Is this the first evidence 600 00:31:47,906 --> 00:31:49,897 of cosmic consciousness? 601 00:31:49,974 --> 00:31:53,375 Something that's part of the very fabric 602 00:31:53,444 --> 00:31:54,877 of the Universe? 603 00:31:54,946 --> 00:31:57,244 This man believes it is. 604 00:31:57,315 --> 00:32:00,045 He claims he has evidence that each one of us 605 00:32:00,118 --> 00:32:03,053 has an extraordinary mental power 606 00:32:03,121 --> 00:32:05,817 to predict the future. 607 00:32:13,298 --> 00:32:16,893 The future is always out there... 608 00:32:16,968 --> 00:32:19,129 Just beyond our reach. 609 00:32:19,203 --> 00:32:20,636 The question is, 610 00:32:20,705 --> 00:32:25,199 can we ever perceive it before it becomes the present? 611 00:32:25,276 --> 00:32:27,437 We've all had gut feelings 612 00:32:27,512 --> 00:32:30,538 that something is about to happen. 613 00:32:30,615 --> 00:32:33,709 Now researchers claim to have proof 614 00:32:33,785 --> 00:32:37,744 that those feelings are more than superstition. 615 00:32:37,822 --> 00:32:41,519 They could be coming from your sixth sense. 616 00:32:45,663 --> 00:32:48,791 Dean Radin, a senior scientist 617 00:32:48,866 --> 00:32:52,165 at the Institute for Noetic Science, 618 00:32:52,236 --> 00:32:55,103 is a leading voice in the study of the sixth sense. 619 00:32:55,173 --> 00:32:57,573 Radin: Most people at one time or another 620 00:32:57,642 --> 00:32:59,337 have an experience that they might call 621 00:32:59,410 --> 00:33:00,968 an intuitive hunch or a gut feeling. 622 00:33:03,381 --> 00:33:05,372 A prototypical case is driving down the road 623 00:33:05,450 --> 00:33:06,849 and you're coming to an intersection, 624 00:33:06,918 --> 00:33:10,877 and you just get a bad feeling, so you slow down. 625 00:33:10,955 --> 00:33:12,513 Something feels spooky. 626 00:33:15,727 --> 00:33:17,888 And a truck goes through the red light 627 00:33:17,962 --> 00:33:21,090 and would've hit you broadside if you had not slowed down. 628 00:33:21,165 --> 00:33:22,757 But what is that? 629 00:33:22,834 --> 00:33:25,166 Sometimes it's coincidence. 630 00:33:25,236 --> 00:33:27,864 Sometimes people make up things. 631 00:33:27,939 --> 00:33:29,167 The presentiment experiment 632 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,435 is a way of seeing whether or not, in principle, 633 00:33:31,509 --> 00:33:33,238 that sometimes it's actually because 634 00:33:33,311 --> 00:33:35,745 you're getting your future - your future experience. 635 00:33:35,813 --> 00:33:37,007 You put your arm up. 636 00:33:37,081 --> 00:33:39,743 Freeman: Dean has developed a scientific method 637 00:33:39,817 --> 00:33:42,684 to test whether people can really anticipate events 638 00:33:42,754 --> 00:33:43,721 in the future - 639 00:33:43,788 --> 00:33:48,191 an ability he calls presentiment. 640 00:33:50,128 --> 00:33:53,495 Today, he's working with a volunteer, Janet. 641 00:33:53,564 --> 00:33:55,555 - Okay, have fun. - Thanks. 642 00:33:55,633 --> 00:33:59,694 Freeman: He has asked her to look at a series of images 643 00:33:59,771 --> 00:34:01,398 on a computer monitor 644 00:34:01,472 --> 00:34:06,034 while he records her body's physiological responses. 645 00:34:06,110 --> 00:34:10,706 What she looks at are a randomized series of photos - 646 00:34:10,782 --> 00:34:12,909 some bland, 647 00:34:12,984 --> 00:34:14,849 some emotionally charged. 648 00:34:18,790 --> 00:34:21,884 Dean charts Janet's skin conductors, 649 00:34:21,959 --> 00:34:24,393 a measure of her stress level, 650 00:34:24,462 --> 00:34:26,396 against the types of images she was seeing. 651 00:34:26,464 --> 00:34:31,333 What Dean and any other psychological research 652 00:34:31,402 --> 00:34:33,233 should expect to find 653 00:34:33,304 --> 00:34:35,397 is a sharp change in the response 654 00:34:35,473 --> 00:34:37,998 right after an emotionally jarring image. 655 00:34:39,310 --> 00:34:43,508 But that's not what he finds. 656 00:34:43,581 --> 00:34:46,709 Dean: This line shows where the actual picture shows up. 657 00:34:46,784 --> 00:34:48,877 So if this picture shows up here, 658 00:34:48,953 --> 00:34:51,353 you would think that there shouldn't be 659 00:34:51,422 --> 00:34:53,287 any difference in the overall average 660 00:34:53,357 --> 00:34:54,551 of the emotional pictures 661 00:34:54,625 --> 00:34:56,650 and overall average of the calm pictures. 662 00:34:56,727 --> 00:34:59,423 But when she sees an emotional picture, there's a bump up. 663 00:34:59,497 --> 00:35:02,591 So, now we go backwards in time five seconds before, 664 00:35:02,667 --> 00:35:04,396 and we can see that from that moment 665 00:35:04,469 --> 00:35:06,630 that if it's going to be an emotional picture, 666 00:35:06,704 --> 00:35:10,504 she's already becoming emotional as compared to the calm. 667 00:35:10,575 --> 00:35:14,272 This difference is what I call a presentiment response. 668 00:35:14,345 --> 00:35:17,473 Freeman: According to Dean's research, 669 00:35:17,548 --> 00:35:20,381 Janet's body is responding to the pictures 670 00:35:20,451 --> 00:35:22,715 five seconds before she sees them. 671 00:35:23,988 --> 00:35:28,482 It's the same effect he's found in hundreds of trials 672 00:35:28,559 --> 00:35:29,992 over the past 30 years. 673 00:35:30,061 --> 00:35:33,497 All of his subjects show this presentiment response. 674 00:35:33,564 --> 00:35:36,499 Rabin: It appears as though the information 675 00:35:36,567 --> 00:35:38,228 is leaking backwards in time. 676 00:35:38,302 --> 00:35:40,065 What this experiment suggests 677 00:35:40,138 --> 00:35:42,629 is that there's some kind of anticipatory effect 678 00:35:42,707 --> 00:35:43,833 that's five seconds. 679 00:35:43,908 --> 00:35:45,637 We don't know what the limit is. 680 00:35:45,710 --> 00:35:49,077 Freeman: If our minds really can see 681 00:35:49,147 --> 00:35:50,808 into the future... 682 00:35:50,882 --> 00:35:53,851 How can we explain it scientifically? 683 00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:58,151 Kaku: In the 1860s, 684 00:35:58,222 --> 00:36:00,315 during the time of the American Civil War, 685 00:36:00,391 --> 00:36:02,416 physicist James Clerk Maxwell in England 686 00:36:02,493 --> 00:36:07,123 worked out the entire theory of light and electromagnetism. 687 00:36:07,198 --> 00:36:09,826 What Maxwell showed is that light, 688 00:36:09,901 --> 00:36:13,496 this mysterious thing that pervades our Universe, 689 00:36:13,571 --> 00:36:15,004 is actually a wave. 690 00:36:15,072 --> 00:36:18,530 So we now know that light is nothing but a wave 691 00:36:18,609 --> 00:36:22,272 of electricity and magnetism oscillating together. 692 00:36:23,514 --> 00:36:27,780 Think of a dancer waving this gigantic flag. 693 00:36:27,852 --> 00:36:30,082 The hand motion comes first, 694 00:36:30,154 --> 00:36:33,123 and then the wave starts to unfurl. 695 00:36:33,191 --> 00:36:36,251 But let me let you in on a dirty little secret. 696 00:36:36,327 --> 00:36:41,162 There is a second solution to Maxwell's equation 697 00:36:41,232 --> 00:36:46,067 that has haunted physics for the last 150 years. 698 00:36:46,137 --> 00:36:48,537 There are also these bizarre advanced waves - 699 00:36:48,606 --> 00:36:51,131 solutions that allow you to see the future. 700 00:36:51,209 --> 00:36:54,474 Freeman: In the advanced wave solution, 701 00:36:54,545 --> 00:36:57,912 the flag moves before the dancer's hand. 702 00:36:57,982 --> 00:37:01,315 Information travels from the future to the present. 703 00:37:01,385 --> 00:37:05,116 So, could this alternate solution 704 00:37:05,189 --> 00:37:06,986 to one of the basic laws of physics 705 00:37:07,058 --> 00:37:10,391 explain Dean Radin's results? 706 00:37:10,461 --> 00:37:14,090 In the 1950s, genius physicist Richard Feynman 707 00:37:14,165 --> 00:37:17,191 realized that advanced wave solutions 708 00:37:17,268 --> 00:37:19,668 were actually mathematical clues 709 00:37:19,737 --> 00:37:23,503 that a new form of matter existed - antimatter. 710 00:37:23,574 --> 00:37:24,802 Hmm. 711 00:37:24,875 --> 00:37:30,074 What looks like matter traveling backwards in time 712 00:37:30,147 --> 00:37:35,050 is actually antimatter acting perfectly normal. 713 00:37:35,119 --> 00:37:38,577 Kaku: Matter going backwards in time 714 00:37:38,656 --> 00:37:43,116 is the same as antimatter going forwards in time. 715 00:37:43,194 --> 00:37:45,424 We thought that maybe, just maybe, 716 00:37:45,496 --> 00:37:47,987 it might be possible to see the future, 717 00:37:48,065 --> 00:37:51,432 communicate with our descendents from the present time. 718 00:37:51,502 --> 00:37:53,936 But here comes Feynman, who says, "No." 719 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,102 Freeman: Feynman won a Nobel Prize for this work. 720 00:37:59,176 --> 00:38:02,634 But Dean Radin isn't convinced that advanced waves 721 00:38:02,713 --> 00:38:05,682 rippling backwards in time from the future 722 00:38:05,750 --> 00:38:09,550 can be written off entirely. 723 00:38:09,620 --> 00:38:10,848 Radin: In modern physics, 724 00:38:10,921 --> 00:38:12,946 now we at least have a plausibility argument, 725 00:38:13,024 --> 00:38:15,458 where we can no longer say that the physical world 726 00:38:15,526 --> 00:38:16,515 makes it impossible. 727 00:38:16,594 --> 00:38:17,925 We know that it is possible. 728 00:38:17,995 --> 00:38:19,462 So the challenge now is to say, 729 00:38:19,530 --> 00:38:21,657 "Well, how do we connect this missing gap?" 730 00:38:21,732 --> 00:38:26,032 Freeman: Advances in theoretical physics are one way. 731 00:38:26,103 --> 00:38:28,128 But there is another - 732 00:38:28,205 --> 00:38:31,641 more evidence. 733 00:38:31,709 --> 00:38:34,337 This researcher could be the man 734 00:38:34,412 --> 00:38:36,812 who finally convinces the world 735 00:38:36,881 --> 00:38:38,473 that the sixth sense 736 00:38:38,549 --> 00:38:40,141 is real. 737 00:38:45,990 --> 00:38:48,220 Scientists have been searching for evidence 738 00:38:48,292 --> 00:38:50,556 of the sixth sense for well over a century. 739 00:38:50,628 --> 00:38:53,392 If it exists, 740 00:38:53,464 --> 00:38:56,433 it can't be as strong as the other five senses. 741 00:38:56,500 --> 00:38:59,560 Otherwise, we wouldn't still be arguing about it. 742 00:38:59,637 --> 00:39:03,630 But if we can prove that the sixth sense is real, 743 00:39:03,708 --> 00:39:06,142 it won't matter how weak it is. 744 00:39:06,210 --> 00:39:09,646 It would turn modern science on its head. 745 00:39:09,714 --> 00:39:13,878 Daryl Bem has had a long and successful career 746 00:39:13,951 --> 00:39:18,513 as a professor of psychology at Cornell University. 747 00:39:18,589 --> 00:39:23,617 Now he, too, has turned his focus to the sixth sense. 748 00:39:23,694 --> 00:39:28,358 I wanted to do work on precognition or premonition 749 00:39:28,432 --> 00:39:30,593 because it just boggles the mind 750 00:39:30,668 --> 00:39:33,899 to think that the future can affect the past. 751 00:39:33,971 --> 00:39:38,499 Freeman: Daryl has spent the last eight years 752 00:39:38,576 --> 00:39:41,238 testing this very question. 753 00:39:41,312 --> 00:39:43,405 A person is shown two curtains 754 00:39:43,481 --> 00:39:46,416 and are told that behind one of the curtains 755 00:39:46,484 --> 00:39:47,451 will be a picture 756 00:39:47,518 --> 00:39:49,645 and behind the other is a blank wall. 757 00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:52,211 And their task is to pick the curtain 758 00:39:52,289 --> 00:39:54,883 that has the picture behind it. 759 00:39:54,959 --> 00:39:57,120 Freeman: Just like Dean Radin, 760 00:39:57,194 --> 00:40:00,652 Daryl is trying to see whether people can anticipate 761 00:40:00,731 --> 00:40:02,426 future events. 762 00:40:02,500 --> 00:40:04,491 Bem: The computer waits until they've made their selection, 763 00:40:04,568 --> 00:40:07,935 and then, without cheating by looking at what they did, 764 00:40:08,005 --> 00:40:10,030 it flips a coin. 765 00:40:10,107 --> 00:40:14,168 Freeman: Most of the time, their success rate is 50/50. 766 00:40:14,245 --> 00:40:17,681 In other words, they're guessing. 767 00:40:17,748 --> 00:40:21,377 But when and only when 768 00:40:21,452 --> 00:40:23,283 the computer shows erotic images, 769 00:40:23,354 --> 00:40:25,788 subjects can predict what's behind the curtain 770 00:40:25,856 --> 00:40:28,791 53% of the time - 771 00:40:28,859 --> 00:40:31,589 a small but statistically significant 772 00:40:31,662 --> 00:40:33,095 beating of the odds. 773 00:40:33,164 --> 00:40:37,123 Daryl believes this ability to sense erotic opportunities 774 00:40:37,201 --> 00:40:38,225 in the future 775 00:40:38,302 --> 00:40:40,998 has developed over millions of years. 776 00:40:41,071 --> 00:40:44,837 It was shaped by evolution to give individuals an edge 777 00:40:44,909 --> 00:40:46,171 in finding mates. 778 00:40:46,243 --> 00:40:49,940 Evolution rides on reproductive advantage - 779 00:40:50,014 --> 00:40:54,451 the ability to seek out and have sexual opportunities. 780 00:40:54,518 --> 00:40:57,385 So it makes sense evolutionarily 781 00:40:57,455 --> 00:41:01,391 to think that precognition or something like it 782 00:41:01,459 --> 00:41:05,156 would certainly serve reproductive advantage 783 00:41:05,229 --> 00:41:07,163 and survival advantage. 784 00:41:07,231 --> 00:41:10,564 Freeman: If he's right, 785 00:41:10,634 --> 00:41:14,400 Daryl has revealed a completely unexpected aspect 786 00:41:14,472 --> 00:41:15,803 of human nature. 787 00:41:15,873 --> 00:41:19,707 Time may not flow neatly in one direction. 788 00:41:19,777 --> 00:41:23,577 And humans, being evolutionary survivors, 789 00:41:23,647 --> 00:41:27,640 have learned to use that to their advantage. 790 00:41:27,718 --> 00:41:31,017 Bem: I call it "feeling the future" 791 00:41:31,088 --> 00:41:32,988 because it tries to get in the fact 792 00:41:33,057 --> 00:41:34,888 that the future is able to affect 793 00:41:34,959 --> 00:41:37,689 both your thoughts - cognition - and your emotions. 794 00:41:37,761 --> 00:41:40,628 Freeman: When it was published 795 00:41:40,698 --> 00:41:45,362 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 796 00:41:45,436 --> 00:41:48,132 Daryl's article caught worldwide attention. 797 00:41:48,205 --> 00:41:52,665 Sixth-sense research, long on the fringes of science, 798 00:41:52,743 --> 00:41:57,180 is moving ever closer to the mainstream. 799 00:41:57,248 --> 00:41:59,375 There's more sixth-sense stuff around 800 00:41:59,450 --> 00:42:01,748 than we are maybe willing to acknowledge 801 00:42:01,819 --> 00:42:04,788 because we are processing much more information 802 00:42:04,855 --> 00:42:07,255 on a continuous basis than we are aware of. 803 00:42:07,324 --> 00:42:09,258 Persinger: It's clearly physical, 804 00:42:09,326 --> 00:42:11,419 it's tied to small amounts of energy, 805 00:42:11,495 --> 00:42:13,793 and it tells us that there's a connection 806 00:42:13,864 --> 00:42:15,832 between us and our world around us 807 00:42:15,900 --> 00:42:17,492 that we haven't previously fathomed. 808 00:42:17,568 --> 00:42:20,366 Bem: We're at the point where we can show 809 00:42:20,437 --> 00:42:22,462 that we have anomalous findings. 810 00:42:22,540 --> 00:42:24,167 And what do we mean by anomalous? 811 00:42:24,241 --> 00:42:26,641 It means it doesn't fit into the current structure 812 00:42:26,710 --> 00:42:30,806 of how we conceptualize physical reality. 813 00:42:30,881 --> 00:42:32,473 We're looking at the edge of what's known. 814 00:42:32,550 --> 00:42:34,950 Radin: I think we can say with high confidence 815 00:42:35,019 --> 00:42:37,351 that in the realm of psychic phenomena, 816 00:42:37,421 --> 00:42:39,252 something interesting is happening. 817 00:42:39,323 --> 00:42:43,225 Freeman: Is there a sixth sense? 818 00:42:43,294 --> 00:42:46,923 That's not even the right question to ask anymore. 819 00:42:46,997 --> 00:42:50,433 Mainstream brain research has already uncovered 820 00:42:50,501 --> 00:42:53,231 previously unknown sensory pathways. 821 00:42:53,304 --> 00:42:57,035 But whether our thoughts can join a global mind 822 00:42:57,107 --> 00:43:00,042 or whether we can sense the future, 823 00:43:00,110 --> 00:43:03,511 we only have fragments of evidence so far. 824 00:43:03,581 --> 00:43:06,573 In the end, we will find the answers 825 00:43:06,650 --> 00:43:08,914 because they're all... 826 00:43:08,986 --> 00:43:10,078 Right here.