Recently, while reading foreign materials, I came across a brief preface and two letters about extra sensory perception written by Einstein in the 1930s and 40s. They are said to be evidence that Einstein believed in the work of super psychologist Ryan and his successor. However, from their overall and spiritual essence, Einstein not only disapproved and believed in telepathy and spiritualism, but also doubted them. In view of the fact that the full texts of these documents have not been published in China, I might as well translate them in the following discussion for readers. 1930, upton sinclair published a book called Psychological Broadcasting in Germany. Einstein was invited to write a short preface for his friend. The preface to the American translation of this book goes like this:
I have read upton sinclair's books with great interest, and I am sure that the same thing is worthy of the most serious consideration not only by laymen but also by professional psychologists. The experimental results of telepathy presented cautiously and frankly in this book are really far from the results that natural researchers think can be considered. On the other hand, in the case of Bird Ordinary Sinclair, a sincere observer and writer, it seems unfounded to suspect that he consciously deceived the reading world. His firm belief and reliability are beyond doubt. Therefore, if the facts presented here do not depend on telepathy to some extent, but on the influence of one person on another's unconscious hypnosis, then there will also be a high degree of psychological interest. Psychologically interesting, I will never take this book lightly.
In this brief preface, Einstein did not support his friend's sincerity, faith and reliability, nor did he deceive readers on the basis of fully doubting his friend. But his two attitudes are obvious: the experimental results of telepathy are far beyond the thinking scope of natural researchers; The so-called telepathic fact is probably the influence of some unconscious hypnosis. As for the neutral words such as "don't treat it lightly", "worth it" and "consider it most seriously", we can have different understandings. Therefore, it is obviously wishful thinking to assert that Einstein believes in telepathy only by this preface.
1May 946,1June 3 and1July 8, Einstein wrote two letters about Dr. Ellenwald's publications. Allen Wald was a British psychologist who later lived in new york and was a psychiatrist at Roosevelt Hospital. He spent 30 years studying the phenomenon of superpsychology, trying to find out its neurological basis. Allen Wald sent Einstein his newly published book Telepathy and Medical Psychology (1946) in London. After reading it, Einstein wrote:
Dear Dr. Allen Wald,
I read Dr. Laing's book a few years ago, and I couldn't find the explanation of the facts he listed. I find it strange that the spatial distance between the subjects has nothing to do with the success of the statistical experiment. This reminds me of a very obvious sign that unknown sources of system errors may be included.
I wrote the preface for upton sinclair because of my personal friendship with the author. I didn't reveal my lack of faith, but it's not dishonest. I frankly admit my doubts about this belief and theory. This doubt is not the result of correctly obtaining relevant experimental facts, but the result of my lifelong work in physics. Moreover, I am happy to add that because the public tends to pay more attention to any statement from me than the defense it deserves, and because I know nothing about many fields of knowledge, I feel I must be the most cautious and limited in the field under discussion. Anyway, I will be glad to receive one of your publications.
In this letter, Einstein questioned telepathy on the grounds that "the distance between subjects has nothing to do with the success of statistical experiments", and he suspected that there must be "unrecognized systematic errors". In particular, when he confessed his motivation and attitude to write a preface for his friends, he made it clear that his skepticism did not come from "experimental facts" but from "lifelong work." In other words, Einstein's suspicion of telepathy is not based on pure empiricism, but on his lifelong scientific rationalism-a single so-called "empirical fact" cannot shake the rigorous scientific theoretical system.
Soon, Dr. Ellenwald received another letter from Einstein. Einstein made further comments on parapsychology in his letter and explained why he refused to write an introduction to telepathy and medical psychology:
telepathy
Dear Mr. Allen Wood,
I read your book with great interest. There is no doubt that this is a good way to put your theme in the contemporary context, and I have no doubt that it will have a wide readership. I can only judge as a layman, and I can't come to a positive or negative conclusion. Anyway, in my opinion, from the standpoint of physics, we have no right to deny the transcendental possibility of telepathy. As far as that kind of negation is concerned, our scientific foundation is too unreliable and incomplete.
My impression of quantitative exploration such as cards is as follows. On the one hand, I have no objection to the reliability of this method. But I think it is suspicious that "superman's vision" (experiment) produces the same probability as telepathy, and the distance between the subject and the card or the "sender" has no effect on the result. This is impossible a priori at the highest level, so the result is suspicious.
The experiment made by a nine-year-old girl with psychological delay and Gilbert Murray are the most interesting. In fact, I also find it very interesting. In my opinion, these results are more weighty than large-scale statistical experiments, in which the discovery of small method errors can overturn everything.
I find it important to observe that in psychoanalytic therapy, the appearance of patients is obviously influenced by the "training" of analysts. This is the only part of your book that deserves careful attention. I can't help but notice that some of the experiences you mentioned have aroused readers' doubts: it may be the unconscious influence along the sensory channels, not the telepathic influence.
Anyway, your book made me very excited, and to some extent "softened" my original attitude of completely denying the complexity of the problem. People shouldn't travel around the world wearing blindfolds.
I can't write an introduction, because I can't at all. It should be provided by experienced psychologists. You can show this letter to others in private.
Einstein's comments in this letter are very subtle. On the surface, his negative attitude towards parapsychology seems to be "softened" (please note that Einstein put the word "softened" in quotation marks, which means inspector), and he still feels "suspicious" about the experiments and experiments of "Superman's vision" (and others), even because the distance between the subject and the card or sender has an impact on the results, it is "at the highest level". ), and pointed out that "the discovery of minor methodological errors can overthrow everything." In particular, he tactfully warned Ellen Wald that unconscious but completely normal sensory channels, rather than extrasensory perception, may cause so-called telepathic effects between analysts and patients. Perhaps Einstein's "softening" attitude is to leave room for further thinking about the following questions: Who wears an eye mask to go through the game? What blindfold are you wearing? How to wear an eye patch? Why are you wearing an eye patch? Is it okay not to wear an eye patch?
In any case, there is no doubt that patriotic Stein questioned telepathy and parapsychology. In connection with a passage he wrote against spiritualism in 192 1, it is clear: "The mysticism tendency of our time is manifested in the so-called arrogance of general theology and spiritualism, and in my opinion, this tendency is only a symptom of weakness and confusion. Our inner experience is the reconstruction and synthesis of various feelings and impressions, so the concept of a soul that exists alone without the body seems stupid and meaningless to me. " It is said that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the Pentagon will invest $4 million in the budget for the next fiscal year to launch a program called "Silent Talk". Its purpose is "to make soldiers communicate silently on the battlefield through the analysis of human neural signals." The University of California will be responsible for the development of this project. Before speaking, the human brain will first convert linguistic information into neural signals. DARPA hopes to achieve silent communication by analyzing these neural signals. They plan to use an EEG scanner to read brain waves. According to DARPA, this plan will be implemented in three steps. First, match each person's different EEG with what he/she wants to say. Then see if these EEG have some * * * characteristics. If each participant's EEG has some similarities, then the last step is to try to make a prototype of EEG decoding device, which can transmit signals in a limited range on the battlefield. At present, the military is developing several other similar projects and has successfully controlled the body movements of monkeys through telepathy. As we have experienced in the game, telepathy is more useful in the battlefield. Last year, a report by the National Research Council and the National Defense Intelligence Agency suggested using neuroscience technology to control the enemy's brain waves.