Precognition

In parapsychology, precognition (from the Latin præ-, “prior to,” + cognitio, “a getting to know”) is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person perceives information about future places or events before they happen (as distinct from merely predicting them based on deductive reasoning and current knowledge).

A related term, presentiment, refers to information about future events which is perceived the form of emotions or feelings at the autonomic level. These terms are considered by some to be special cases of the more general term clairvoyance.

Introduction

Throughout history people have claimed to have precognitive abilities, and prophecy is a feature of many religions.

Just as prevalent are anecdotal accounts of precognitions from the general public, such as someone "knowing" who is on the other end of a ringing telephone before they answer it, or having a dream of unusual clarity with elements of content that later occur. While anecdotal accounts do not provide scientific proof of precognition, such common experiences motivate continued research.

Skeptic and magician James Randi, in his book An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, wrote "Knowledge of a future event or circumstance not obtained through inference or deduction, but by paranormal means."

History

J. W. Dunne, a British aeronautics engineer, undertook the first systematic study of precognition in the early twentieth century. In 1927, he published the classic An Experiment with Time, which contained his findings and theories. Dunne's study was based on his own precognitive dreams, which involved both trivial incidents in his own life and major news events appearing in the press the day after the dream. When first realizing that he was seeing the future in his dreams, Dunne worried that he was "a freak." His worries soon eased when he discovered that precognitive dreams are common; he concluded that many people have them without realizing it, perhaps because they do not recall the details or fail to properly interpret the dream symbols.

Joseph Banks Rhine and Louisa Rhine began the next significant systematic research of precognition in the 1930s at the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University. Rhine used card-guessing experiments in which the participant was asked to record his guess of the order of a card deck before the deck was shuffled.

London psychiatrist J. A. Barker established the British Premonitions Bureau in 1967, which collected precognitive data in order to provide an early warning system of impending disasters. Barker succeeded in finding a number of "human seismographs" who tuned in regularly to disasters, but were unable to accurately pinpoint the times.

The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab began in 1979 with precognitive experiments have since been done in a variety of formats by various parapsychologists, for example by the remote viewing researchers. This facility is now closed.

Precognition in fiction

• A precog is a shorthand for a fictional precognitive, who has an ability to foresee future happenings, or it may refer to the precognitive vision itself. The nickname is often featured in the stories by Philip K. Dick, such as Minority Report.
• Dream Girl of the Legion of Super-Heroes is from Naltor, an entire planet of precogs.
• Jedi Knights, depending on their knowledge of the "force", often have precognition talents which lead to them to demonstrate adroit-reactions and dexterity, as they see physical changes in their environment before they happen and can anticipate them. Luke Skywalker sees his friends suffering, and Yoda tells him 'It is the future you see.' Precognition is also used in battle when Jedi use their lightsabers to deflect blaster bolts, often back to the person who fired them.
• In the television series Lost, Desmond seems to obtain a form of precognition after using the fail safe key, in the research station "The Swan"
• Spider-Man's "spider-sense" is a limited precognitive sense.
• Destiny of the X-Men comics series has a precognitive sense.
• Lilith of the Teen Titans comics series had a precognitive sense.
• It appears briefly in White Palace, but is not a major plot element.
• In the anime Weiss Kreuz (Knight Hunters), Brad Crawford, the leader of opposing group Schwarz, has the gift of precognition. Accordingly, his little-used (or perhaps fan created) codename is "Oracle."
• Rei Hino of Sailor Moon had precognitve sense due to her miko powers.
• Maia Skouris, a child featured in The 4400. was sent back from the future with precognitive abilities, and is commonly referred to as a precog by other characters.
• Precognition, and the implications of wielding a power like it, plays a significant role in Frank Herbert's Dune series.
• Radar O'Reilly of the TV show M*A*S*H could always anticipate his commanding officer's requests, often walking in just before called, with the documents required already in hand. He was always aware of when the choppers were approaching.
• Milo, a character in Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghost series, had similar abilities to predict incoming artillery barrages and superior officer's requests
• Joanna Star, a magically transgendered cheerleader from The Wotch and The Wotch: Cheer!, seems to have psychic/precognitive abilities.
• Stephen King uses precognition in some of his novels, most notably The Shining and The Dead Zone.
• In The Dark Tower, possibly written by C. S. Lewis, the author explores the concepts of precognition and interdimensional travel.
• In Stargate SG-1, the DNA Resequencer gave Jonas Quinn precognition.
• In The Matrix, the Oracle and later Neo both appear to have precognitive abilities within the simulated reality. The exact nature of these abilities is questioned multiple times, but never fully explained.
• In Supernatural, the television series, Sam Winchester has visions in the episode 'Nightmare.' At first he dreams of future events, which are followed by his having visions whilst still awake. Towards the end of the episode he also discovers he has telekinesis, and after seeing a vision of his brother being killed, he instinctively moves a large dresser out the way when trapped in a closet, and promptly goes off to save his brother's life.
• In The Power of Five by Anthony Horowitz, the first of the five, Matt, could see into the future, but all his visions were of disasters.
• In Final Destination, the character Alex has the ability to see disastrous events before they happen, particularly dealing with death of himself and people he knows. Firstly through visions, and later through signs, which girlfriend Clear Rivers is eventually able to do. This was the base of the next two films, with Kimberly Corman and Wendy Christenson also having precognitive sense. Additionally, Wendy's pictures from her cameras reflected the subject's forecoming deaths.
• In Clamp's short-lived manga series Legal Drug, Kakei, the owner of Green Drugstore, has the ability to see visions. Whether or not he can control these is unknown. His lover, Saiga, also refers to him as a precog.
• In Charmed , Phoebe one of the witch sisters, has the power to see the future and past through premonitions, usually unintentionally brought on by physical contact with an object or person. This power was inherited from her ancestor Melinda Warren and has also been displayed by demons such as The Seers and The Crone.
• In Heroes, Isaac Mendez has the ability to see and paint pictures from the future. Later, both Peter Petrelli and Sylar acquire this ability.
• On Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Mrs Cake is a Medium (verging on small) who has the disconcerting habit of answering questions before they're asked.

See also Category:Fictional characters with precognition

• Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda series has the ability to feel and see things before they happen. An example of this is when in Ocarina of Time she had a dream about some dark clouds which covered Hyrule and a child glowing in green make them to disappear. It is obvious that the clouds symbolize Ganondorf while the child is Link (Legend of Zelda series)
• Raven Baxter from That's So Raven has the ability to see future events, which is a main focus of the show. These occur suddenly and unpredictably to Raven, who then feels compelled to change the future to either avoid or to cause these events to occur.
• Doctor John Vattic from Second Sight eventually finds out his last psychic power is Precognition, which explains why he has been mentally visiting the 'possible future' (previously thought to be the present) and changing it through his actions in the present.
• In the DragonBall Z series, Goku's biological father, Bardock is also "cursed" with precognitive sense by a warrior from the Planet Kannasa.
• In the videogame StarFox, Crystal is said to have psychic powers, but it is not the main focus of the game.

See also

• Premonition
• Prescience
• Anomalous cognition
• Déjà vu
• Time travel
• Pseudoscience
• Global Consciousness Project
• James Randi's $1,000,000 Challenge
• List of spirituality-related topics
• Second sight
• Postcognition

External links

• Precognition, Presentiment & Remote Viewing - Dean Radin
• The Best Case for ESP?
• Failed Psychic Predictions for 1998
• A simple experiment for validating Dream Precognition
• Online Psi Experiments Links to precognition experiments (Parapsych.org affiliate of the AAAS)