Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 12:06:35 -0800
To: ewar-l@sonic.net, mindcontrol-l@sonic.net
From: Wes Thomas Subject: [MC] Persinger responds to mind-control
allegations
Cc: hambone@io.com
Following is a response from Dr. Michael Persinger to
a message I sent him. I asked him: "Some have stated on the lists
that your research has been used for non-consensual mind-control experimentation
and that calls into question your integrity. I'd like to offer you
an opportunity to respond to that and perhaps clarify your role, if
any, in mind control research." I sent this
message in response to Gordon Tibbles' post 27 Dec 1998: "I find it
rather offensive that anyone of integrity would quote Persinger on
anything, unless using his research to point out the inconsistencies
in the man's ethics." I also copied a thread on Earth frequencies
and asked Persinger to comment on their possible bioactive effects.
His response: Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1999 17:54:00 -0500 (EST) From: F1200002@NICKEL.LAURENTIAN.CA
Subject: answer to your email 6 January,
1999 Mr. Wes Thomas West@sonic.net Dear Mr. Thomas: Thank you
for the e-mail of 29 December, 1998 regarding the evolving technology
of electromagnetic field effects upon cognition. My students and I
wonder why the myths and irresponsible speculations (e.g, Doc Hambone)
[http://www.io.com/~hambone/web/persinger.html - WT] about me and
our research appear to propagate so easily and without challenge.
I would be happy to answer your inquiries. You may also wish to access
our WEB page (Behavioral Neuroscience Research Group, Laurentian University).
The address is www.laurentian.ca/www/neurosci/lindex.html. 1.
I am not involved nor have I ever been involved in any "mind control"
studies. All of our research involves protocols that have been approved
by Ethics Committees and requires the signed consent of the participant.
Our research indicates that although experiences can be affected by
applied complex magnetic fields, there is no evidence that specific
thoughts can be "controlled". From a quantitative context, the
most powerful form of "mind control" is the limited access to data
and information. The range of ideas that a person is allowed to express
and the types of data that a person is allowed to view are limited
significantly by the constraints of the communication media and what
is considered acceptable or not acceptable by the powerful groups
within the persons' culture. 2. My research has not been "funded
by U.S. interests". All of the money for our human research for the
last 30 years has been from my personal income as a professor. The
only funding ($10,000) we ever obtained from the U.S. was from the
U.S. Navy, thanks to Eldon Byrd, to evaluate the effects of 0.5 Hz
rotating magnetic fields upon the degranulation of mast cells in the
rat brain. The effect was small but statistically significant.
Traditional sources of funding, especially the Canadian Research Agencies
such as NSERC, have ignored or trivialized our requests to study these
important problems. My laboratories have been graciously supplied
by Laurentian University and the work has been completed by dedicated
and interested graduate and undergraduate students. 3. In order
to minimize the potential inappropriate application of our discoveries
we publish our work within the public domain, i.e., scientific journals.
The history of science has shown that protection of the public requires
free access to data. 4. In principle and from the perspective
of our empirical observations, derived from about 1000 subjects tested
during the last 15 years, there is evidence that complex, weak magnetic
fields can evoke specific experiences. The type of experience is related
in general to the temporal pattern or "time signatures" of the field
and the cerebral hemisphere to which it is applied. When the
fields are applied to the right hemisphere (particularly the parietal/temporal
regions) the most typical experience is that of a sensed presence,
or entity. We hypothesize that this presence, which is extremely common
historically and cross-culturally, is the awareness of the right hemispheric
equivalent of the left hemispheric (linguistic) sense of self. We
also suspect that the presence is the prototype to religious/mystical
experiences. The details of the experience are strongly determined
by the person's beliefs which are supplied by the culture. We hypothesize
that UFO or extraterrestrial visitation experiences--and the many
variants of these themes, are the contemporary more secular equivalents
of the historical experiences attributed to "visitations". Although
the intensity of our experimental fields range between 0.1 T and 2
T (1 milligauss or 1000 nT to 20 milligauss), we suspect that significant
bioeffects can be evoked with even smaller intensities if they are
applied for longer periods of time. For example, we found that odd
vestibular experiences increase within our experimental setting if
there has been a global geomagnetic disturbance of more than 25 nT
the night before and the global geomagnetic activity is still above
25 nT. Our experimental work with rats who display enhanced electrical
lability within the limbic system have shown that only one hour exposure
to 7 Hz sine waves whose amplitudes incrementally increase and decrease
in successive 30 sec increments between 10 and 50 nT (much like the
earth's magnetic field) can evoke significantly neuroelectrical discharges.
Modern neuroscience indicates that any experience is due to specific
electromagnetic patterns within the brain. There are also likely to
be many different stimuli that can evoke the same or similar electromagnetic
pattern and hence experience. Our experimental procedure is one method.
However there are very likely to be many stimulus sources that evoke
similar experiences. 5. The focus upon finding "the frequency"
that affects all aspects of the human brain is counterproductive.
It is similar to trying to find "the drug" to treat all ailments.
There is no "frequency", unless the intensities are so high they induce
significant neural electric current, that evokes experiences. What
is important is the temporal signature of the applied fields. The
situation is analogous to the temporal shape of a sound wave with
a pure frequency of 1000 Hz. Until it achieves magnitudes of about
90 db you may or may not respond. On the other hand the complex
sound wave for the words "help me" which would involve several hundreds
of successive pixels with different amplitudes, can be very informative
and effective at magnitudes a million times less intense. Consequently
if there are "bioactive" magnetic fields in the environment, classical
spectral analysis and other techniques that extract simple redundancy,
would never discern their presence. However that does not mean
that these complex stimuli could not be detected. Once the temporal
sequence or class of sequences is isolated experimentally, much like
isolating a long base-pair sequence of DNA, then the consequences
of the sequence can be inferred by programming the sensor to extract
that temporal sequence. Appreciation of the complexity of the
temporal pattern of the applied electromagnetic field and the (neural)
information contained within that complexity is critical to understand
the potential influence of applied sources (natural or contrived).
Our data with a newer device that produces counterclockwise rotations
of pulsed signals around the (major axis of) cerebrum indicates that
consciousness may be affected by energies much less intense then suspected.
Consciousness is not a continuous process but appears to be recreated
transcerebrally every approximately 20 msec to 25 msec (the 40 Hz
binding factor). We suspect that interfering with the end of one phase
and the beginning of another phase once every 20 to 25 msec may allow
the brain access to external information that typically it would never
obtain. 6. We have also learned that some people are more sensitive
to weak complex magnetic fields than the majority of the population.
These individuals are usually the more creative people such as artists,
writers, and musicians. The sensitivity appears to be markedly increased
during nocturnal periods between midnight and about 0400 hrs. The
sensitivity is analogous to the allergic responses that some people
display when they eat certain foods. Whereas the normal population
may eat peanuts without consequence, people with allergies to the
chemicals in the this food can become ill following consumption of
very small quantities. We have been attempting to define the characteristics
of the people who are sensitive to weak, complex magnetic fields.
7. Our experimental fields are generated by translating lines
of code to voltage which is then converted to the magnetic field equivalent.
Each line contains a number between 0 and 255. There may be up to
10,000 lines of these numbers. Consequently the complexity of the
temporal sequence can approach that produced by the brain itself.
The most brain effective durations of each point or number (pixel)
is about 1 msec to 3 msec. Thus if the duration of each voltage is
set at 3 msec, the duration of the complex signature 10,000 lines
in length is 30 sec. 8. Our field data indicate that the ubiquitous
and unprecedented amounts of "electromagnetic noise", from cell phone
systems to satellite communications, may be producing an entire secondary
matrix of "beats" and complex patterns within which all human brains
are emersed. When a critical number of these signals intermix, they
begin to generate pixel durations in the order of milliseconds rather
an microseconds or shorter, i.e., they begin to exist within time
frames that can generate information into the brain. 9. The Tectonic
Strain Theory regarding odd luminosities and UFO reports is not related
to our work with weak, complex electromagnetic field effects. The
relationship between the increments of time and increments of space
to perceive a phenomenon is relatively predictable. To measure picometer
space one requires picosecond time; to measure meter space one requires
time in seconds. For example if one measures luminosity of the lunar
surface every 1 sec for one year then the data are to excessive to
perceive the phenomenon of lunar phase. If the luminosity is measured
in increments of 1 month, then the changes over the days would be
averaged to a constant. When the optimal increment, e.g., 1 day, is
employed, the concept of a phase, or luminosity changing sinusoidally
over time can be appreciated. John Derr and I have been systematically
evaluating the relationship between odd luminosities (that constitute
about 90% of all valid UFO reports) and geophysical variables. Our
data clearly show that most of these luminous phenomena are very likely
to be natural events that primarily precede earthquakes within the
geological region. With the exception of the most strange reports
from the Hynek-Saunder's data base and those that are spurious observations,
the classic UFO reports (odd lights, with unusual movements and rotational-like
feature with colourful subsets) have been strongly correlated for
decades with the amount of seismic energy release within the region.
When we applied the multiple regression equation (composed of weightings
of earthquake parameters), to the years before 1945, the predicted
peak years for "UFOs" were the same ones in which the "airship invasions",
"mysterious planes", and "serpentine luminosities" were reported.
These results suggest that the phenomena have remained but the labels
employed by the culture to explain them have changed. The optimal
increment of analysis, which is about 3 months to 6 months (that is
the temporal window to view the data to perceive the phenomenon),
is consistent with the hypothesis that the phenomena are transient
manifestations of forces that are distributed over much larger areas
of space. As strain increases slowly over these large areas, extremely
localized and transient concentrations of these forces result in luminous
displays. One analogue might be the occasional spikes of sound (cracks)
that occur in large mines as the stress, always present, slowly increases
over months. The practical application of this relationship is to
help predict stress/ strain within an area. You may wish to consult
our WEB site for a summary of the TST. I hope this letter
has answered some of your questions. I do not wish to engage in a
debate concerning these issues. However if you ever require my advice
with respect to the feasibility and probability of the effects of
electromagnetic fields upon cognitive processes and neurobiological
functions or if you suspect that there are areas or groups of people
that are being influenced by such fields, natural or artificial, please
email me. In my opinion the WEB (the INTERNET), despite its heterogeneity
of expertise, is probably the last mode of expression for free thinkers.
Sincerely, Dr. M. A. Persinger Professor