DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.COMP1
Journal of Anomalistics 24-1 as PDF (10 MB)
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Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 6–14
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.006
Editorial
Good and Bad Gatekeeping in Anomalistics
Gutes und schlechtes Gatekeeping in der Anomalistik
PDF full text (English, pp. 6–10)
PDF full text (German, pp. 11–14)
Main Articles
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 15–54
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.015
Complementarity of Subjective and Objective Realities An Experimental Investigation of Variations of
Subjective Self-reported Intelligence Data when Objective Data are Erased or Not-erased
Markus A. Maier, Chantale Geissler, Emilia C. DeMattia, Anastasia Vogel, Moritz C. Dechamps
Abstract
The Complementarity Principle (CP), introduced by Nils Bohr, described the wave-particle duality of quantum phenomena and its dependence on the measurement setup exploring the quantum states. In general, this principle summarized the fact that two mutually exclusive and contradictory states of quantum events can be reconciled as a measurement-dependent occurrence of these states. Originally, the CP was postulated only for the realm of quantum mechanics, but recently the Generalized Quantum Theory (GQT) extended its area of applicability to the macroscopic domain. According to GQT complementarity relations are also hypothesized to exist between macroscopic objective and subjective measurements of the same concept. This implies objective measurement-dependent variations of subjective experience. To test this hypothesis, seven studies were conducted in which individual variations in subjective intelligence ratings were tested in relation to the availability or non-availability of corresponding objective individual intelligence data. Only one pre-registered study (Study 2) showed strong Bayesian evidence for H1 (BF10 > 10), indicating, as predicted, higher subjective intelligence ratings when objective data were erased compared to a condition in which objective data were available within a male sample. This effect could not be replicated in direct replication attempts, nor did a moderator search in subsequent studies find any robust systematic variation in the data. The results seem to question the validity of the macroscopic complementarity conjecture derived from the GQT. On the other hand, they could also be interpreted as the “effect and decline” data pattern that the Model of Pragmatic Information would predict when conducting empirical confirmations of macroscopic complementarity relations. Possible future research strategies to clarify these different interpretations are discussed.
Keywords
complementarity principle – Generalized Quantum Theory – erasure manipulations – subjectivity-objectivity duality – psi
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 55–79
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.055
Mediumship and Stylometry. Exploring a New Way of Attributing Authorship to Mediumistic Writings
Adrian Weibel
Abstract
Stylometry is still largely unexplored for applications in attributing authorship to mediumistic writings, as outlined in the subsequent literature review. Stylometry is a statistical method for analyzing authorship with a history to detect anonymous authors, e. g., J. K. Rowling as the real author of The Cuckoo’s Calling. Modern stylometry transcends literature analysis, applying to forensic inquiries, such as plagiarism detection, online security, and group identity characteristics. Historically, stylometric research unfolds in three phases: focusing on single numerical functions, statistical methods based on word frequencies, and contemporary use of machine learning. Authorship analysis includes three primary objectives: authorship attribution, verification, and characterization. It uses mathematical linguistics, information theory, and linguistic features like vocabulary richness, word frequency, and syntactic structures. Stylometric methods reliably detect authorship in imitation scenarios (pastiche) and have now also led to adversarial stylometry, which facilitates and identifies attempts at anonymization. Distribution patterns of features such as function words or punctuation can only be detected with high computing power and appear to contain too little content or emotion to be recognized by psi abilities of mediums. Imitation on a stylometric level has not yet been achieved by professional writers and does not appear to be one of the abilities of savants either, whose left hemisphere, including speech and language, is the least developed, which is why such genuine talent cannot be assumed in mediums either. Due to its undeniable successes, its quantitative and computational approach, and its potential to investigate a wide range of research questions, stylometry therefore appears to be a desirable auxiliary science for mediumship research.
Keywords
introduction to stylometry – mediumship research – living-agent psi – survival psi – savant syndrome
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 80–119
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.080
Unreliability of the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) Device and the Bio-Well for Biofield Science: Kirlian Photography Revisited and Investigated. Part I
Federico E. Miraglia
Abstract
This is the first part of a research work to study the reliability of the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) device and the Bio-Well, two biofield machines based on the Kirlian effect and electrophotonic imaging. Their working, accuracy, and usefulness were analyzed in a Pranic Healing experiment, which is reported in the second part of this study. Here the scientific literature concerning Pranic Healing and Kirlian photography, as well as the functioning of these biofield machines, are reviewed. Pranic Healing has been practiced in Ayurveda for millennia, in order to restore and promote health, by manipulating the flow of subtle energy Prana throughout the human organism. Kirlian photography has been used for decades to measure the human energy field, in order to assess its bioenergetic condition and potential, as well as validate a variety of therapeutic modalities. In the second part of this work, previous reliability studies on Kirlian photography devices will be reviewed, drawing negative conclusions about the utility of these machines in biofield science. An original experiment will also be presented, where the GDV device and the Bio-Well were utilized to evaluate the effect of Pranic Healing on human and water energy fields, with controls. Results were inconsistent, showing the limitations of these technologies, highlighting their incapacity to return meaningful bioenergetic information, and thus suggesting that their use in biofield science should be revisited.
Keywords
Kirlian photography – GDV device – Bio-Well – Pranic Healing – Prana – subtle energy – biofield – biofield devices – electrophysiology – bioelectromagnetism
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 120–150
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.120
Unreliability of the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) Device and the Bio-Well for Biofield Science: Kirlian Photography Revisited and Investigated. Part II
Federico E. Miraglia
Abstract
This is the second part of a research work to study the reliability of the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) device and the Bio-Well: These biofield machines, which are based on the Kirlian effect, were put to test in a Pranic Healing experiment. In the first part, the literature on Pranic Healing and Kirlian photography, as well as the functioning of the devices, were reviewed. In this second part, previous reliability studies on Kirlian photography devices are reported, explaining their negative results, and an original experiment is presented. The measurement variability and working of these technologies were investigated, evaluating their capacity to assess the energetic status of human beings and water. The experiment involved 40 participants: 20 Pranic healers and 20 non-healers. Healers performed a treatment on water, while non-healers simulated it; both groups were measured repeatedly before and after their real or sham performance; their water was measured as well and compared with controls. In the analysis, it was evaluated whether these Kirlian photography devices could return accurate, repeatable, and consistent information about the participants’ and water energy fields, allowing to detect potential subtle energy changes in the healer group compared to the non-healer one. The GDV-device and Bio-Well parameters showed large measurement variability and/or poor informative value, resulting inconsistent at detecting possible subtle energy variations in human beings and water. The findings of this research indicate that the GDV device and the Bio-Well may not be reliable tools for biofield science, and suggest that the literature related to these technologies should be revised and questioned.
Keywords
Kirlian photography – GDV device – Bio-Well – Pranic Healing – Prana – subtle energy – biofield – biofield devices – electrophysiology – bioelectromagnetism
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 151–188
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.151
Deutsches Ghosthunting – Historischer Überblick und Einblicke einer Insiderin
Sonja Nowara, Gerhard Mayer
Abstract
Ghost hunting is a leisure activity for amateur researchers. The fascination with the supernatural is a driving force behind them using technical equipment to visit allegedly haunted buildings or ruins at weekends and carry out so-called “paranormal investigations”. The data collected with various measuring devices is examined for anomalies that are not compatible with conventional explanations and compared with subjective perceptions. This article consists of two parts. The first part provides a brief overview of the history of haunting investigations. Furthermore, some social and cultural studies on the current form of ghost hunting as it appears in the 21st century in the USA, Great Britain and Germany are presented. In the second part, co-author Sonja Nowara, an active ghosthunter, offers an insight into the activities of ghosthunters as well as observations of the scene from the perspective of a well-informed insider, taking into account more recent developments such as the increasing commercialization of some parts of the scene.
Keywords
ghosthunting – ghosthunting groups – case studies – poltergeist phenomena – lost places – paranormal investigation
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 198–220
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.189
Leibhaftige Gestalten. Berichte über Begegnungen mit Verstorbenen und außerkörperliche Erfahrungen in leibphänomenologischer Perspektive
Felix Gietenbruch
Abstract
Reports of encounters with the deceased are characterized by a distinctly corporal phenomenology. The deceased are not only seen visually, but also smelled, heard, felt and localized in space. This leaves the impression of a real, corporal encounter. – St Augustine already denied the real character of such encounters and negated the possibility of a subtle body of the soul. This continues right up to today’s near-death research, which, against the background of a Cartesian body-soul dualism, marginalizes all corporal-sensory experience and replaces it with abstract concepts of consciousness. With a body phenomenological approach, which refers in particular to the philosopher and psychiatrist Thomas Fuchs, the article not only questions these concepts of consciousness, but also shows that both reports of encounters with the deceased and the experience of the subject in out-of-body experiences can be better and more deeply understood against a body phenomenological background. The distinction between being a lived or subjective body (Leib) and having an objective body (Körper) is particularly important here. This shows that the subject always remains a bodily entity, even in extraordinary experiences. Against this background, a possible life after death is understood as an embodiment in a more subtle form.
Keywords
out-of-body experience (OBE) – encounters with the deceased – body phenomenology – experiences at the end of life (ELE) – near-death experience (NDE) – body-soul dualism
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 221–253
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.221
C. S. Lewis' Roman That Hideous Strength und die Gefahren des Transhumanismus
Gabriele Lademann-Priemer
Abstract
C. S. Lewis has published the novel That Hideous Strength, being called a fairy-tale for grown-ups in 1945. The novel relates the story of the fictitious town of Edgestow and its unimportant college. On the one end of the town an institution is established being abbreviated as N.I.C.E. (National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments). Its stated aim is to improve the condition of the world, but it is dependent on evil spirits. On the other side of the town is the hill of St. Anne’s with a community under its director Dr. Ransom and guided by the friendly spirits of planet Perelandra (Venus). A young married couple is nearly torn apart between these poles, belonging to the different sides. In the end the friendly powers gain victory by using the magician Merlin as their tool. Lewis is dealing with the older type of transhumanism, whose dangers are associated with the N.I.C.E. After WW II the transhumanism has gained a new potential by the development of Artificial Intelligence. Dataism seems to be the new religion, whereas Lewis is convinced of a cosmic order, which by no means shall be broken, otherwise mankind as such will be dissolved.
Keywords
eugenics – initiation – obedience – order – transhumanism – overpopulation
Obituaries
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 254–258
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.254
Friederike Schriever – Zum Gedenken
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 259–260
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.259
Friederike Schriever – ein Nachruf
Monika Huesmann
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 261–262
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.261
My Friend Friederike
Cedar S. Leverett
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 263–264
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.263
Last Half of Two of a Kind Left Us
Hans Michels
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, p. 265
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.265
A Personal Memoir
Mario Varvoglis
Rezensionen
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 266–270
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.266
Owen Davies (2023). Art of the Grimoire: An Illustrated History of Magic Books and Spells
Rezensiert von: Meret Fehlmann
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 271–274
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.271
Maurizio Verga (2023). Flying Saucers from Naziland. Volume 1
Rezensiert von: Ulrich Magin
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 275–277
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.275
Gerhard Ammerer, Nicole Bauer, Carlos Watzka (2024). Dämonen. Besessenheit und Exorzismus in der Geschichte Österreichs
Rezensiert von: Hannes Leuschner
Journal of Anomalistics 24 (2024), No. 1, pp. 278–283
DOI: 10.23793/zfa.2024.278
Abstract Service
Frauke Schmitz-Gropengießer, Gerhard Mayer
