Psychokinesis or telekinesis, is an alleged psychic
ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical
interaction.
Psychokinesis experiments have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no convincing evidence that psychokinesis is a real phenomenon.
Psychokinesis and telekinesis have commonly been used as superpowers in movies, television, computer games, literature, and other forms of popular culture.
Notable portrayals of psychokinetic and/or telekinetic characters include the Teleks in the 1952 novella Telek, Sissy Spacek as the title character in the 1976 film Carrie, Ellen Burstyn in the 1980 healer-themed film Resurrection, the Jedi and Sith in the Star Wars franchise, the Scanners in the 1981 film Scanners, and three high school seniors in the 2012 film Chronicle.
There is a broad scientific consensus that PK research, and parapsychology more generally, have not produced a reliable, repeatable demonstration.
A panel commissioned in 1988 by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or ‘mind over matter’ exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist."
In 1984, the United States National Academy of Sciences, at the request of the US Army Research Institute, formed a scientific panel to assess the best evidence for psychokinesis. Part of its purpose was to investigate military applications of PK, for example to remotely jam or disrupt enemy weaponry. The panel heard from a variety of military staff who believed in PK and made visits to the PEAR laboratory and two other laboratories that had claimed positive results from micro-PK experiments. The panel criticized macro-PK experiments for being open to deception by conjurors, and said that virtually all micro-PK experiments "depart from good scientific practice in a variety of ways". Their conclusion, published in a 1987 report, was that there was no scientific evidence for the existence of psychokinesis.
Carl Sagan included telekinesis in a long list of "offerings of pseudoscience and superstition" which "it would be foolish to accept (...) without solid scientific data". Nobel Prize laureate Richard Feynman advocated a similar position.
Psychokinesis experiments have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no convincing evidence that psychokinesis is a real phenomenon.
Belief
In September
2006, a survey about belief in various religious and paranormal topics
conducted by phone and mail-in questionnaire polled 1,721 Americans on their
belief in telekinesis. Of these participants, 28% of male participants and 31%
of female participants selected "agree" or "strongly agree"
with the statement, "It is possible to influence the world through the
mind alone.”
In Popular Culture
Psychokinesis and telekinesis have commonly been used as superpowers in movies, television, computer games, literature, and other forms of popular culture.
Notable portrayals of psychokinetic and/or telekinetic characters include the Teleks in the 1952 novella Telek, Sissy Spacek as the title character in the 1976 film Carrie, Ellen Burstyn in the 1980 healer-themed film Resurrection, the Jedi and Sith in the Star Wars franchise, the Scanners in the 1981 film Scanners, and three high school seniors in the 2012 film Chronicle.
Evaluation
There is a broad scientific consensus that PK research, and parapsychology more generally, have not produced a reliable, repeatable demonstration.
A panel commissioned in 1988 by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or ‘mind over matter’ exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist."
In 1984, the United States National Academy of Sciences, at the request of the US Army Research Institute, formed a scientific panel to assess the best evidence for psychokinesis. Part of its purpose was to investigate military applications of PK, for example to remotely jam or disrupt enemy weaponry. The panel heard from a variety of military staff who believed in PK and made visits to the PEAR laboratory and two other laboratories that had claimed positive results from micro-PK experiments. The panel criticized macro-PK experiments for being open to deception by conjurors, and said that virtually all micro-PK experiments "depart from good scientific practice in a variety of ways". Their conclusion, published in a 1987 report, was that there was no scientific evidence for the existence of psychokinesis.
Carl Sagan included telekinesis in a long list of "offerings of pseudoscience and superstition" which "it would be foolish to accept (...) without solid scientific data". Nobel Prize laureate Richard Feynman advocated a similar position.
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