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Carr:istherespaceforpsiinPhysics?

AbstractoftalkgivenatEuroPAconference,November2003

ISTHERESPACEFORPSIINMODERNPHYSICS?
BernardCarr
SchoolofMathematicalSciences,QueenMary,UniversityofLondon
Although parapsychology has already acquired a degree of respectability among psychologists, it is
stillnottakenseriouslybymostphysicistsandIbelievethesubjectwillnotgaingeneralacceptance
solongasthissituationprevails.Thereforeacrucialissueiswhetherphysics,ineitheritspresentor
somefutureform,willeverbeabletoaccommodatepsychicphenomena.Myclaimisthatitwillbut
thatthiswillrequiremorethanmerelytinkeringwiththecurrentparadigmofphysics(i.e.morethan
justinvokingelectromagneticwaves,tachyons,wormholes,standardquantumtheoryetc.)Although
some phenomena currently labelled "paranormal" may turn out to be explicable within the current
paradigm,Ibelievemostwillnotbe.
Invoking a new paradigm is not too radical since since the prevailing model of physical reality has
regularly undergone paradigm shifts and this has always involved moving ever further from our
commonsense notion of reality. The standard dichotomy between matter and mind arose at a time
whenonecouldadoptthesimplisticviewthatthearenaofrealityis3dimensionalspace.However,
sincethenthephysicist'sworldviewhaschangedprofoundlyanditisclearthatourphysicalsensory
systemsrevealonlyaverylimitedaspectofreality.Inparticular,GeneralRelativityexplainsgravity
byproposingthattheworldis4dimensionalandKaluzaKleintheoryexplainselectromagnetismby
adding a fifth dimension this is wrapped up so small that it cannot be observed directly but its
existenceneatlyexplainsMaxwell'sequations.
Modernextensionsofthisideaproposethattheotherphysicalinteractionscanbeaccountedforby
invokingfurtherwrappedupdimensions.In"Mtheory",forexample,thetotalnumberofdimension
is11,whileinthe"superstring"theoryitis10.Onethushasan4dimensional"external"spaceanda
6or7dimensional"internal"space.Inthemostrecentvariantofthisidea,proposedbyRandalland
Sundrum,theextradimensionsmaynotevenbecompactifiedandthephysicalUniverseisregarded
as 4dimensional "brane" in a higher dimensional "bulk". This is very far removed from the naive
viewofrealityadoptedbythesortofreductionistmaterialistswhorejectpsychicphenomenaoutof
hand.
Whatsortofparadigmwouldberequiredtoaccommmodatepsi?Anessentialfeatureisthatitmust
involve consciousness, since this underlies all psychic experiences. This already places it at
loggerheads with those physicists (the majority) who claim that we are close to a "Theory Of
Everything", since such theories make no reference to consciousness. Another feature of the new
paradigm is that it must involve some kind of higher dimensional reality structure.This is because
many psychic phenomena (eg. OBEs, NDEs, apparitions) seem to involve some form of communal
space,whichisnotthesameasphysicalspacebutsubtlyinteractswithit.Theexistenceoftelepathy
also suggests that our minds are part of a communal space rather than being wholly private. This
"UniversalStructure",asItermit,canberegardedasahigherdimensionalinformationspacewhich
reconcilesallourdifferentexperiencesoftheworld.Itnecessarilyincorporatesphysicalspacebutit
alsoincludesnonphysicalrealmswhichcanonlybeaccessedbymind.
Iproposethatthehigherdimensionalrealitystructurerequiredtoaccommodatepsychicexperiences
is intimately connected with the higher dimensional space invoked by modern physics. For if our
physicalsensorsonlyprovideuswitha3dimensionalaspectofaUniversewhichinrealityhasmany
moredimensions,andifphysicalobjectsoccupyonlyalimitedpartofthathigherdimensionalspace,
what else can exist in this space? Since the only nonphysical entities in the Universe of which we
haveanyexperiencearementalones,andsincetheexistenceofparanormalphenomenasuggeststhat
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Carr:istherespaceforpsiinPhysics?

mental entities have to exist in some sort of space, it seems natural to relate this to KaluzaKlein
space. More precisely, I identify the Universal Structure with the higher dimensional "bulk" of
RandallSundrum theory. This has profound consequences for physics, psychology, parapsychology
andphilosophy.

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