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Nitty-gritty: Learn about GCP
The most beautiful aspect of life is the unique bonding of human beings which connects them to a common consciousness. This unifying consciousness has been praised in various pieces of literature and in historic documents.
Various fields of science, like physics, parapsychology and biology, are helping provide further reasons to delve deeper into the concept. A few examples in this regard are telepathy, distant healing and mind-matter interactions. Some new views are being presented in studies involving group resonance and morphogenetic fields.
Until a few years ago, the possibility of having a real time measurement to assess the collective consciousness objectively was not possible. However, with the development of a consistent measurement technology using Random Event Generators (REGs) has made this possible. The REGs are linked to computers with software and hardware. They perform large and difficult multivariate analyses on desktop machines.
Another factor helping this measurement is the increasing penetration of the internet, which in itself represents a global consciousness network. A new project which is currently under way for evaluating consciousness globally has been dubbed the Global Consciousness Project or GCP.
What is GCP?
It is the most important research project in the field of parapsychology. Formulated at Princeton, New Jersey, the basic premise behind the project is that consciousness created by humans can form an outer field which is inaccessible vis-a-vis the conventional means of detection.
The GCP is based on the theory that the level of human consciousness cannot be measured. However, it claims that the combined human consciousness fields of a group of people can be measured. The GCP works towards combining the consciousness fields of a group of people with similar thoughts and feelings which can be measured.
The GCP insists that such fields exist because the human mind has a wide reach which can be explained with the help of science.
Research on human consciousness defines that every human being has a direct communications link with other people, and their intentions, thoughts and feelings may produce its effects on the world, regardless of the physical and geographical obstacles and divisions. There are various compelling examples to drive home this notion, yet these examples cannot be explained in their complete perspectives. It is believed that consciousness can, at times, generate something that gives meaningful and symbolic information.
GCP accepts this possibility as a beginning for the assumption that the fields created by human consciousness would interrelate, join and would eventually produce a global presence. In our normal lives, there are lesser chances of generating structures in the field, which is why it is random and undetectable.
However, sometimes there are events of global importance that occur and bring the people of this world together to a universal focal point and to an unusual coherence of thoughts and feelings. A great flow of data is circulated over various channels of information and media about an event which induces a worldwide consciousness among people.
Examples of such global level of consciousness can be drawn from peaceful times as well as those of war and conflict. For instance, the few minutes around midnight on any New Year eve, the first hour of Nato bombing in Yugoslavia, the many major earthquakes and other natural calamities in the world, and the famous 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. All such events produce a universal feeling of sadness or happiness among a large number of people simultaneously.
Methodology
The GCP works on a research system for achieving its objectives. This is done by evaluating the results from random number generators that are located throughout the world. The present system of GCP works on the idea that the events which leave an important impression on the human mind affect the randomness of these generators, producing random numbers in a significant statistical manner. The scientists working on the GCP at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab have proved through experiments that random event generators (REGs) are affected for producing a less random sequence of data. This explains why the human wishes and thoughts have the capability of decreasing natural entropy and generating greater coherence within a random flow of events.
The analysis of GCP is canonical and is neutral in terms of selection of events. Before the data evaluation, a hypothesis is designed. The GCP Hypothesis Registry examines the beginning and end of the data carefully and completely, and the entire statistical test is specified by it. The pre-specified data analysis is documented and taken in the composite statistics.
The initial results of data collected shows that there might be a small correlation as larger correlation between the magnitude of events and the number of people involved depends on multiple factors. Generally it is believed that GCP gives a researched and contextual assessment to supplement the formal analysis.
For example, the researchers experimented on the outputs of electronic noise-based, completely random number generators (RNG) before, during, and after significant and coherent group events. The group had psychotherapy sessions, intense theatre presentations, religious rituals, famous sports competitions like football world cup and interesting TV programmes.
The results suggested that there was some unique interlinking between the minds and matter of all the members of the group. This was mainly based on mental awareness and attention among the groups, which is associated with non-random changes in the flow of a completely random data.
Criticism
The notion of global consciousness is being disparaged for various reasons. The basic contention is about the collection, selection and interpretation of data. The variations in random distribution of data are quite predictable most of the times.
Then there is no specified range or limit to be given to an event in order to get a desired correlation. Another objection relates to the absence of a criteria determining the importance of a particular event. There is also no interrelation among the degrees of importance and types of magnitude of any change observed.
As the GCP theory says that the influence of feelings and thoughts of people around the world affect the data fluctuations in their random number generators, this should practically give larger global awareness for highlighting the results proportionately. However, this has not always been the case.
There are many other criticisms on the basic ideology of GCP and the researchers working on it are striving hard to satisfy the detractors. Also, so far the GCP has not been able to present an acceptable response to the criticism.
The global consciousness project embraces a vast area of knowledge and research, but because of its many drawbacks we need to wait before jumping to sweeping conclusions about it.
The writer sabiha_essa@ yahoo.com is a student of the Fatima Jinnah Dental College, Karachi
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