The Global Consciousness Project
A GLOBAL NETWORK of random sources shows deviations linked with
events that affect millions of people. The results challenge common ideas about
the world, but independent analyses confirm the unexpected behavior, and also
indicate that it cannot be attributed to ordinary physical forces or
electromagnetic fields.
The Global Consciousness Project (GCP) is an international collaboration
created in 1998 to study the subtle reach of human consciousness in the
physical world. We maintain a network of random event generators (REGs) with
nodes in more than 50 locations, from Alaska to Fiji, on all continents, and in
nearly every time zone. The world map on the right has a bright spot for each of
the host sites.
HOW IT WORKS
The REGs generate a sequence of bits of
information. They take samples from
quantum-level electronic noise like static hiss,
and convert it to an unpredictable sequence
of ones and zeroes.
A program on each host computer reads data
from the REG, stores it locally, and at 5minute intervals sends new data over the
Internet for archiving on a server in Princeton.
48 REGs, 15-min blocks, Raw
GATHERING DATA Every second, each REG produces
a "trial" that is the sum of 200 bits, essentially equivalent
to flipping 200 coins and counting the heads.
The figures below show plots of the raw data:
1) The per-second trial values, with expected mean of 100
2) All data for 48 eggs during a full day, 15-min averages
3) A cumulative deviation trace of the data for each egg
48 REGs, 15-min blocks, Cumulative
Measuring Outcomes
PLOTTING RESULTS The continuous datastreams from these instruments tend to depart from expectation when major "Global Events" stimulate a widespread coherence of thoughts and emotions. Three samples below show the composite or average of the individual cumulative deviation traces from data
collected during such events. Random data generally wanders around the horizontal line at zero, while a consistent deviation resulting in a sloping trend
indicates that something changed the output of our instruments.
THE BOTTOM LINE The table on the right shows a
sampling of results from the database of 122 events for
which formal predictions were made over the past four
years. The overall odds are about one in a million that
we are seeing just chance fluctuations.
Event Description, Date
1. Embassy Bombings, 7 August 1998
........
This figure shows the history of results over four years
N of REGs
80. Terrorist Attacks, 11 Sept. 2001
........
3
........
37
........
Resolution
Chisquare
15-min
........
1-sec
........
DF
69.5
........
36
........
667.587
........
Probability
0.00066
........
600
........
0.028
........
120. EarthDance 2002, 12 October 2002
50
1-sec
592.809
600
0.575
121. Wellstone Crash, 25 October 2002
51
1-sec
625.338
600
0.229
122. Chechen Hostages, 26 Oct.r 2002
51
1-sec
604.693
600
0.439
The trend (red line) should be horizontal for random data, but the positive slope indicates that something
has affected the EGG network. The effect is small but reliable, so the outcome is highly significant.
We don't yet know how to explain the subtle correlations between events of importance to humans and
the GCP data, but they are quite clear.
The results are evidence that the physical world and our mental world of information and meaning are
linked in ways that we don't yet understand.