Can Science Accommodate Psychic Experience?
If psychic phenomena are real, it is natural to assume that they conform to natural laws rather than being supernatural, in which case they should be part of the domain of science. In particular, since many psychic phenomena seem to involve a direct interaction between mind and the physical world, this suggests that any theoretical framework for the subject requires some sort of extension of physics. This talk discusses whether physics, in either its present or some future form, will ever be able to accommodate psi or indeed any other type of mental experience. Although some phenomena which are labelled “psychic” may turn out to be explicable in terms of current physics, Bernard Carr will argue that most are not and that these will require a different physical paradigm from the ones that currently prevail. This is not too implausible since physics regularly undergoes paradigm shifts. The new paradigm must assign a central role to consciousness and there are already indications that thi
