Project Stargate

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Project Stargate

• Presented by
• Kristen Smith

2
Overview

• Remote Viewing defined
• What prompted government research
• Timeline of Project Stargate
• Looking back

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Remote Viewing

• The alleged psychic ability to perceive places,
  persons and actions that are not within the range
  of the senses.
• Harold Puthoff first person to use term and one
  of the first researchers for the government in
  1970

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Terms

• Remote Viewing seeing distant objects or
  locations that you do not have any prior
  knowledge about
• Telepathy includes a receiver who reads the
  mind of a sender
• Precognition foreseeing future events
• Psychokinesis ability to create physical
  effects with your mind alone

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History of Remote Viewing

• 1882 Society for Psychical Research created by
  Henry Sidgwick
• Focus on the study of parapsychology
• Search for paranormal phenomena like ESP

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What prompted Government Research?

• Paranoia during the Cold War
• Rumors that the Soviet Union had increased
  funding for psychic research
• Fear of what successes in remote viewing research
  could do

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Components of Project Stargate

• Examine the world competition and assess other
  psychic warfare projects
• Provide remote viewers to any government agency
  that requests them
• Continue research to advance, improve, and
  perfect remote viewing

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Timeline

• 1972 CIA funds 50,000 to Stanford Research
  Institute (SRI)
• 1976 CIA terminates funding
• 1977 Project Grill Flame
• Army intelligence begins funding
• 1983 Project Inscom Center Lane
• SRI combines efforts with Army

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Timeline (cont.)

• 1984 National Research Council gives program poor
  evaluation
• 1985 Project Sunstreak
• Funding from Defense Intelligence Agencys
  Scientific and Technical Intelligence Directorate
• 1991 Project Stargate
• 1995 All funding and research ends

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Problems

• Lack of replication and repetition
• Insufficient testing
• Lenient test conditions
• Sporadic results
• 65 accuracy meant remote viewing potential

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1972 SRI Research

• Led by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff
• Use of remote viewers for psychic warfare
• Latitude/Longitude tests
• Ingo Swann and Pat Price

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1984 NRC Evaluation

• National Research Council gave poor evaluation
• Evidence was inadequate to prove anything about
  remote viewing
• Government did not give up research because hope
  for success still strong

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1991 Project Stargate

• Provide new experiments and find new techniques
  to prove existence of remote viewing
• CIA again questions benefits of program

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American Institutes for Research (AIR)

• Evaluated Project Stargate on
• Research Program
• Operational application in intelligence gathering
• Headed by Dr. Jessica Utts and Dr. Raymond
  Hyman

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Evaluation

• Existed a statistically significant anomaly, but
  evidence does not prove that paranormal ability
  was involved
• No proof that remote viewing would be useful in
  intelligence gathering

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Looking Back

• 25 years of research and 20 million
• ESP and remote viewing should be seen as bogus
  and false
• Funded for the wrong reasons for too long, too
  much money, and poor protocols by people who
  didnt know what they were doing

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Sources

• The American Institues for Research. An
  Evaluation of Remote Viewing Research and
  Applications. Ed. Michael D. Mumford, Andrew M.
  Rose, and David S. Goslin. 29 Sept. 1995.
  Parascope 7 Mar 2006. lthttp//www.parascope.com/en
  /articles/starGateReport.htmgt.
• Hyman, Ray. The Evidence for Psychic
  Functioning Claims vs. Reality. CSICOP
  Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. March/April 1996.
  lthttp//www.csicop.org/si/9603/claims.htmlgt.
• Randi, James. Witchcraft in Washington, Dammit
  Zammit, Dennis Lee Again, Australian Common
  Sense, and Twisting Forks for Fun Profit James
  Randi Educational Foundation 23 Nov 01. 26 Feb
  2006 lthttp//www.randi.org/jr/112301.htmlgt.

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More Sources

• Remote viewing. Skeptics Dictionary. Ed.
  Robert Todd Carroll. 13 Feb 2006. 4 Mar 2006
  lthttp//www.skepdic.com/remotevw.htmlgt.
• Remote Viewing. SRI International. 2006. 4
  Mar 2006 lthttp//www.sri.com/about/remoteview.html
  gt
• Targ, Russell and Harold E. Puthoff. Mind-Reach
  Scientists Look at Psychic Ability. New York
  Delacorte Press, 1977.

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Summary

• Defined Remote Viewing
• Explained why the government funded research
• Timeline of Project Stargate and its goals
• What weve learned

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Questions?