Dean Radin is a researcher in parapsychology. He is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, in Petaluma, California, USA.^[1] Parapsychology is the study of certain types of paranormal phenomena (parapsychology comes from the Greek para, “beside, beyond,” + psychology, derived from the Greek psyche, “soul, mind,” + logos “rational discussion”). The term was coined by Max Dessoir (1889). ... Founded in 1973 by astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the Institute of Noetic Sciences explores the frontiers of consciousness through rigorous scientific research, bridges science and spirit, and seeks to support a fundamental shift in human consciousness to create a world grounded in freedom, wisdom and love. ... Petaluma is a city with a well preserved historic city center [1] in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. ...

Biography

Radin earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and earned both a masters degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^[2] In some educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a Bachelors degree. ... Electrical Engineers design power systems… … and complex electronic circuits. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate course of one or two years in duration. ... Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. ... The University of Illinois is the set of three public universities in Illinois. ...

He worked at AT&T Bell Labs and GTE Labs, mainly on human factors of advanced telecommunications products and services, and then held appointments at Princeton University, Edinburgh University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, SRI International, Interval Research Corporation, and Boundary Institute. At these facilities he was engaged in basic research on alleged exceptional human capacities, principally psi phenomena.^[2][3] This article describes the present AT&T Inc. ... Bell Laboratories (also known as Bell Labs and formerly known as AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Telephone Laboratories) was the main research and development arm of the United States Bell System. ... Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) a Dow 30 company, is an American broadband and telecommunications provider. ... Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... Princeton University is a coeducational private university located in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States of America. ... The University of Edinburgh was founded in 1583 as a renowned centre for teaching in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public, coeducational university located in Las Vegas, Nevada, known for its programs in engineering, English, hotel administration, and management information systems. ... SRI Internationals main campus on Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, California SRI International is one of the worlds largest contract research institutions. ... Interval Research Corporation was founded in 1992 by Paul Allen and David Liddle, computer industry veterans. ... Parapsychology is the study of the evidence involving phenomena where a person seems to affect or gain information about something through a means not currently explainable within the framework of mainstream, conventional science. ...

In 1988, 1993, 1998, and 2005 Radin was the elected President of the Parapsychological Association, an affliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has presented around 100 talks for academic, technical and popular audiences. He has written over 200 articles, and two books for a popular audience, The Conscious Universe (1997, ISBN 0-06-251502-0) and Entangled Minds (2006, ISBN 1-4165-1677-8).^[4] The Parapsychological Association was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by J.B. Rhine. ...

The Conscious Universe (1997, HarperCollins) was awarded Amazon com's 1998 Category Bestseller Award, the Scientific and Medical Network 1997 Book Award, and the Anomalist's 1997 Book Award, and as of 2006 it is in its 16th printing. It has proved to be popular and has been translated into Turkish, Korean and French, with several other translations under way. In January, 1998, Nobel Laureate physicist Brian Josephson wrote in the (British newspaper), the Guardian: "If asked to nominate the most significant scientific event of 1997, I would cite the publication of this book." Radin's latest book, Entangled Minds (2006, Simon & Schuster, Paraview Pocket Books), is now on its 4th printing and is being translated into Portugese and Japanese. Brian David Josephson (born Cardiff, UK, January 4, 1940) is a British physicist whose discovery of the Josephson effect while a 22_year_old graduate student won him a share (with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever) of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physics. ...

Nobel Laureate Kary Mullis has added Entangled Minds to his list of recommended books which include his autobiography, Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, along side other controversial books, such as The Urantia Book and Julian Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind on his website. ^[5] Kary Banks Mullis (b. ... Urantia is the name sometimes given to the spiritual movement whose principal text is The Urantia Book. ... Julian Jaynes Julian Jaynes (February 27, 1920 - November 21, 1997) was an American psychologist, best known for his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976), in which he argues that ancient peoples were not conscious as we consider the term today, and that the... The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976) is a controversial work of popular psychology by Julian Jaynes in which he proposes that consciousness emerged relatively recently in human history. ...

In September 1997, Radin's semi-annual contract with UNLV was not renewed, less than three weeks after the publication of The Conscious Universe. Radin was also initially granted approval to teach one class at UNLV, but shortly after publication of The Conscious Universe the class he had planned to teach, "The History and Scientific Study of Psychic Phenomena" was cancelled without explanation. Radin was surprised by his dismissal, insisting that university pressure to leave had been tied to the attention he had received from the media.^[6]

Despite his own skepticism about claims of psychokinetic metal-bending, in a footnote in Entangled Minds and on his website Radin claims that he recently bent the bowl of a heavy soup spoon using a gentle touch at a spoon bending party, with a half-dozen witnesses present.^[7][8] Spoon bending is the common name for the deformation of objects allegedly by paranormal means, either without physical force, or by a force that would normally be insufficient for that effect. ... Spoon bending is the common name for the deformation of objects allegedly by paranormal means, either without physical force, or by a force that would normally be insufficient for that effect. ...

Controversy and Criticism

On a few web pages one can find skeptics who have criticised Radin's research methods and questioned the accuracy of his data.^{[9] [10]} A more sympathetic review was presented in the June 1999 issue of The Journal of Parapsychology by Richard Broughton, twice past president and long time board member of the Parapsychological Association.^[11].

Radin has conducted research into how significant world events can allegedly affect Random number generators but how RNG's can single out thoughts relating to an O.J. Simpson broadcast, a Super Bowl, the American Academy Awards presentations etc. from all the incidents occurring around the world remains unclear. Perhaps most controversially, one of Radin's books features a chapter presenting Radin's own research and speculation on a possible relationship between lunar cycles and casino winnings. A random number generator is a computational or physical device designed to generate a sequence of elements (usually numbers), such that the sequence can be used as a random one. ... Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947, San Francisco, California), publicly known by his initials as O.J., and nicknamed The Juice, is an American former college and professional football player and film actor. ... The winning Super Bowl team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy. ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... In astronomy, a phase of the Moon is any of the aspects or appearances presented by the Moon as seen from Earth, determined by the portion of the Moon that is visibly illuminated by the Sun. ...

In the introduction of "The Conscious Universe" Carl Sagan is quoted from Page 302 of his book The Demon-haunted World: "At the time of writing there are three claims in the ESP field which in my opinion , deserve serious study: (1) that by thought alone humans can (barely) affect random numbers in generators in computers; (2) that people under mild sensory deprivation can receive thoughts or images "projected" at them; and (3) that young children sometimes report the details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any other way than reincarntion." Radin states this quote is an illustration of the "gradually changing attitudes of prominent skeptics" toward parapsychology. However Radin omitted the rest of the quote: "I pick these claims not because I think they're likely to be valid (I don't), but as examples of contentions that might be true. The last three have at least some, although still dubious, experimental support. Of course I could be wrong." Skeptics have pointed out that the rest of the quote makes it quite clear that Carl Sagan remained highly skeptical about psi. Thus they have charged Radin of quoting Sagan "creatively." Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrobiologist, and highly successful science popularizer. ...

Despite the controversial nature of Radin's research, his work has been given qualified praise by a skeptical reviewer, who wrote "I don’t suffer from the delusion that my scribblings here will make anyone reject the research presented in "The Conscious Universe" – this has never been my intention and in my opinion "The Conscious Universe" is an interesting book, whose subject area deserves closer inspection. What I have tried to do in this article is to show there may be some discrepancies in the book, which I think are worth keeping in mind when evaluating it."^[12]

References

1. ^ IONS homepage, IONS staff directory retrieved on August 14, 2006
2. ^ ^{a b} Biography on Dean Radin's own website retrieved on August 14, 2006
3. ^ Las Vegas Sun, September 16, 1997 "UNLV researcher baffled over his recent dismissal" by Debra Bass [1] retrieved on August 14, 2006
4. ^ Bibliography on Dean Radin's website retrieved August 14, 2006
5. ^ [2]www.karymullis.com recommended reading list
6. ^ Las Vegas Sun, September 16, 1997 "UNLV researcher baffled over his recent dismissal" by Debra Bass [3] retrieved on August 14, 2006
7. ^ Dean Radin's blog, June 5, 2006 [4] retrieved on August 14, 2006
8. ^ Annotated photos of a bent spoon on Dean Radin's own website retrieved on August 23, 2006
9. ^ [5]Skeptic Report A detailed skeptical review of Dean Radin's The Conscious Universe by Morten Monrad Pedersen.
10. ^ [6] An Evening with Dean Radin by Claus Larsen, a critical examination of Radin's research methodology
11. ^ [7]The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena, book review by Richard Broughton The Journal of Parapsychology, June, 1999
12. ^ [8]</rev>

    Trivia

    • Radin resides in California.
    • Radin was a professional classical violinist in his youth.
    • Radin is featured in the 2006 release of What the Bleep!?-Down the Rabbit Hole.<ref>[http://www.whatthebleep.com/scientists/drh-scientists.shtml]Radin's Bio on the film's web site</li></ol></ref>

    External links

    • Dean Radin articles & MP3 audio - from Shift in Action, sponsored by Institute of Noetic Sciences