Does telekinesis exist?

Answer

Dear Thibaut,

Your question is quite right. By this I mean that it is good not to just take for granted everything that is written or claimed somewhere. Telekinesis is usually understood to mean: making objects move with the help of “the mind” and therefore without muscle power or other physical energy. The example of the drop in the freezer that you give is an extension of that. The example with the random numbers falls into a different category, but actually it is basically about what you could call “paranormal phenomena”.

That is a collective name for inexplicable phenomena that are very grateful and fun to make a film about. In scientific reality, however, the situation is somewhat different. In science, we would like to see evidence for a theory that would explain certain phenomena. That is, if you see a drop turn into beautiful crystals and you form the theory that this is caused by your positive intentions, then we “believe” it only when we see evidence of it. And there are a number of scientific rules for this. For example, it is logical that in the example with the drop we would like to see that you succeed time and again in forming beautiful or less beautiful crystals, at the request of a third party. In this way we try to exclude that the results are obtained on the basis of pure chance. We would also like to rule out the possibility that there is another (more logical) explanation for what we are observing. To stay with telekinesis: “beginning” telekineticists are sometimes advised to start with a very light object, for example a piece of paper on a toothpick. It is then recommended to concentrate hard on its movement close to the object. It is quite possible that you can do that. But is that telekinesis? Or is the object simply light enough to be moved by your breath?

The problem is that many people do not use a scientific method to support their theory (telekinesis, telepathy, predicting the future, …). Often only the results that confirm the theory are considered and not the results that disprove the theory. People who want to “prove” their psychic theory usually also avoid any situation that could invalidate the theory. And that’s just wrong. In science we look for those situations that make it as difficult as possible for the theory, and if we determine that we still get the results that the theory predicts, then we gradually begin to believe in the theory.

An example of the careless handling of results is the example of a man who discovered a geometric pattern by connecting all kinds of historic buildings in Britain. Drawn on a map, a beautiful symmetrical figure was created that could not possibly have arisen by chance. It seemed as if the ancient British had deliberately built in the pattern for certain navigational purposes. But because at that time there were actually no means available to position structures that are so far apart so exactly opposite each other, it has been suggested that this may have been done with extraterrestrial assistance. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the “discoverer” of this was simply only using a selection of historic buildings that fit his theory, and that there were many more historic buildings that he simply ignored. By the way, a mathematician showed that you can find the same kind of pattern with the locations of the supermarket chain Woolworth’s, as long as you only use those stores that fit the pattern, and ignore the others. You can read this story via the attached link.

In summary, the bottom line is that there has never been scientific evidence for theories such as telekinesis, telepathy and similarities in history. As scientists we assume that this is not possible. We are equally open to observing idiosyncrasies and seeking explanations for them. There are associations of scientists and laymen worldwide who are engaged in critically examining what we call pseudoscience. In Belgium this is the association SKEPP (see link on the right).

Best regards,

Tim Vanhoomissen

Education Applied Psychology

Thomas More Antwerp