Global Consciousness?

[adc069975]

http://noosphere.princeton.edu/

A composite across all the individual cases can be visualized in a chronological graph (below right) that shows the steady accumulation of differences of the formal data from expectation. If there were no effect, the jagged line representing the results would wander up and down randomly around the horizontal zero line. As we see in the figure, the actual data show a steady trend away from random expectation. The overall statistics, after six years of data accumulation, indicate a probability on the order of one in a million that the correlation of our data with global events is merely a chance fluctuation. This can't be taken as proof of an awakening global consciousness, but it is suggestive, and we are able to exclude alternative explanations such as electromagnetic radiation, stress on the power grid, or excessive use of mobile phones.

We don't yet know how to explain the correlations between events of importance to humans and the GCP data, but they are quite clear. They suggest something akin to the image held in almost all cultures, of a unity or oneness, an interconnection that is fundamental to life. Our efforts to understand these complex and interesting data may contribute insight into the role of mind as a creative force in the physical world.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

mad as hell....

The methodology of the Global Consciousness Project has been questioned. Most of this criticism centers on how the data are selected and interpreted. Spikes and fluctuations are to be expected in any random distribution of data, and there is no set time frame for how close a spike has to be to a given event for the GCP to find a correlation. For example, on September 11, 2001, it was alleged that spikes that occurred hours before the attacks were themselves caused by the attacks, implying backwards causality or subconscious mass precognition.

Another criticism is that there is no objective criterion for determining whether an event is significant. Events are seemingly arbitrarily selected post-hoc, and only the data from that time period are observed. Data from other time periods are ignored, whether or not they may display similar fluctuations. This allows opportunity for selection bias.

Also, there is no correlation between degree of significance and type or magnitude of fluctuations observed. Since the GCP has posited that individual emotions are too weak to be measured, but that confluence of emotion and mental state in the world cause data deviation in their random number generators, one would expect a greater global awareness to magnify the results proportionately, but this has not been observed—the GCP tends to find their correlation whether the global event under consideration affected a few hundred or a few hundred million individuals.

Finally, it has never been satisfactorally explained through what mechanism random number generators would respond to human thoughts, even theoretically. There are two distinct claims: The claim that some sort of global consciousness field exists is being tested by assuming a different, independent claim that such a global consciousness field affects random number generators. Random number generators function by applying algorithms to white noise. No analysis of white noise itself has ever found a correlation or pattern corresponding to meaningful world events.

 

[axon]

A huge exercise in seeing how many work hours can be placed into the toilet by drawing graphs of random number fluctuations. Makes me proud to be human.