Response to May and Spottiswoode on Experimenter Effect as the Explanation for GCP Results

Abstract

I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the article by May and Spottiswoode (hereafter M&S) in which they attempt to identify the source of the anomalous correlations reported by the Global Consciousness Project (GCP). Their aim is to show that the GCP data, like laboratory micro-PK data,  can be explained in terms of Decision Augmentation Theory (DAT), and in particular as an experimenter effect. The experimenter they have in mind is Roger Nelson, and while I suppose it is some sort of honor to be perceived as a powerful psi source, I consider it unlikely that the highly significant composite findings in the GCP experiment are attributable to me. In this paper, I will discuss why, and in the process show logical and factual errors that undermine and largely if not completely destroy the case for DAT and the experimenter effect. Before proceeding, however, I want to say that I appreciate the civility of expression and argument M&S bring to bear. I hope the discussion in their paper and mine will be helpful to readers who are interested in the GCP experiment, in the important questions of interpretation it raises, and in the substantial implications it may have for psi research.