tigation of psi phenomena, and those who take the time to look
closely at the results of these investigations are frequently impressed
by the extent and quality of the data. The most robust of these phe-
nomena often occur under extreme emotional circumstances—such
as trauma, death, or near-death—making controlled laboratory-style
investigation difficult at best. (Recall the experience of Hans Berger
and his sister, described in Chapter 17.) Nonetheless, projects are
underway investigating, for example, precognition, near-death expe-
riences, veridical out-of-body experiences, and young children who
speak as if they have lived other previous lives and provide detailed
and sometimes verifiable information consistent with this. Rather
than being heedlessly dismissed, these kinds of studies should con-
tinue and the rigor of investigation strengthened in any and all ways
possible.
- The next big scientific revolution may involve deep connections between
physics and consciousness. If we are attempting to understand mind
in terms of physical science, then it is likely that fundamental aspects
of physics will be involved. How so? The unsolved quantum mea-
surement problem, mentioned earlier, leads to a variety of different
perspectives, called interpretations, of quantum mechanics. What
is suggested by many of these interpretations is that in some still
mysterious way, mind and matter are deeply connected. We should
continue to explore this trajectory, in terms of both theory and
experiment.
Just as we look to experiments with the Large Hadron Collider or
to observational cosmology and astrophysics to trigger new ideas in
fundamental physics, so might it also be that more deeply investigat-
ing the nature of mind and life will lead to unexpected new ideas in
physics. This was the speculation of Niels Bohr (as well as Max Del-