I was fascinated by the powers of the mind long before my research for ‘Mindbenders.’ But I’ve realized I should be sharing some of the research directly here, because it explains that the outlandish things I have Max Renn, my main character, doing are not really so outlandish—and because the research is so optimistic about the capabilities of human beings, if we only begin to make use of what we’re learning.

Start with this—it’s a very simplistic video overview of some of the things I’m talking about, and will be talking about frequently from now on.

Start with the fact that scientists discovered decades ago that viewing electrons in motion actually changed their trajectory. Our thoughts have a physical component. We can influence matter on a subatomic level. As per this.

Therefore, if the Universe is made of electrons and we can influence the activity of those electrons, we can influence the Universe. Quantum physics has found a consistent (if mystifying) framework to the universe that supports the concept of a universal subconscious, that explains why optimists live longer than pessimists, why prayer and positive thought have a physical effect.

If you want to insert God into this, that’s okay with me but God isn’t built-in here. It’s the simple realization that life is, at its most basic level, truly interactive.

In 2005, a science website called The Edge asked 13 scientists—the most empirically-driven of human beings, “What do you believe that you can’t prove?” They got 11 answers. Here are the only two that jibed:

Donald Hoffman
Cognitive scientist, University of California, Irvine; author, “Visual Intelligence”

don't try this at home

I believe that consciousness and its contents are all that exists. Space-time, matter and fields never were the fundamental denizens of the universe but have always been, from their beginning, among the humbler contents of consciousness, dependent on it for their very being.

The world of our daily experience – the world of tables, chairs, stars and people, with their attendant shapes, smells, feels and sounds – is a species-specific user interface to a realm far more complex, a realm whose essential character is conscious. It is unlikely that the contents of our interface in any way resemble that realm.

Indeed the usefulness of an interface requires, in general, that they do not. For the point of an interface, such as the Windows interface on a computer, is simplification and ease of use. We click icons because this is quicker and less prone to error than editing megabytes of software or toggling voltages in circuits.

Evolutionary pressures dictate that our species-specific interface, this world of our daily experience, should itself be a radical simplification, selected not for the exhaustive depiction of truth but for the mutable pragmatics of survival.

If this is right, if consciousness is fundamental, then we should not be surprised that, despite centuries of effort by the most brilliant of minds, there is as yet no physicalist theory of consciousness, no theory that explains how mindless matter or energy or fields could be, or cause, conscious experience.

Nicholas Humphrey
Psychologist, London School of Economics; author,”The Mind Made Flesh”

I believe that human consciousness is a conjuring trick, designed to fool us into thinking we are in the presence of an inexplicable mystery. Who is the conjuror and why is s/he doing it? The conjuror is natural selection, and the purpose has been to bolster human self-confidence and self-importance – so as to increase the value we each place on our own and others’ lives.

or...

Now, are there lots of charlatans and phonies out there hustling this stuff to make a buck? Of course, there are—no matter what you believe, there’s someone trying to exploit it for money. But there’s a host of real science backing this up

And then there’s this, which isn’t specifically mind power, but somehow I think it’s related. A story about someone who seemed to be lost to the world but who was just out of touch. It takes a few moments but is worth every second it takes. Listen here.