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Remote Viewing
The ability to perceive distant or hidden targets using mental faculties alone. Operationally used by the CIA/DIA Stargate program for 20+ years. Evaluated as 'statistically robust' by statistician Jessica Utts.
Key Statistic
CIA Stargate Program: 20+ years operational use, Utts evaluation: 'statistically robust' (effect size r=0.2)
The CIA spent millions training psychic spies for two decades - were they onto something or chasing shadows?
Honesty Dashboard
The instrument, not the argument
✔Strongest Evidence
Meta-analyses of laboratory studies show statistical significance with odds against chance of millions to one, suggesting a genuine anomaly
The CIA's Stargate program produced some documented operational successes, including locating a downed Soviet aircraft
Controlled experiments with strict protocols have replicated positive results across multiple laboratories and decades
Brain imaging studies show distinct neural patterns in remote viewers during successful sessions compared to control conditions
Some remote viewing sessions have produced verifiable details that were unknown to experimenters at the time
5 points
⚠Strongest Criticism
Effect sizes are consistently small and may be explained by subtle methodological flaws or statistical artifacts
Independent replication attempts often fail to reproduce significant results, suggesting publication bias
Many claimed successes involve subjective interpretation of vague descriptions that could match multiple targets
The lack of a plausible physical mechanism makes the phenomenon inconsistent with established physics
Operational military use was ultimately deemed unreliable and the program was discontinued for lack of actionable intelligence
5 points
?Open Questions
What neural mechanisms might underlie reported remote viewing abilities, if they exist?
Why do effect sizes remain small and inconsistent across different experimental conditions?
How can we design better protocols to minimize experimenter bias and sensory leakage?
What role does the psychological state and belief system of participants play in outcomes?
4 points
Scientific Consensus
Supportive70.1%
Possibly Supportive3.6%
Mixed / Inconclusive26.3%
Related Studies (47)
A Quantum View of Shared and Collective Consciousness(2025)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryOur brains sense the future through a new quantum-like implicit learning mechanism(2024)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryFollow‐up on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) remote viewing experiments<sup>☆</sup>(2023)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryResources on Escolà-Gascón et al.'s (2023) remote viewing research per the original CIA experiments(2023)
Tier 3 — BronzeWhat Is Swept Under the Rug?(2022)
Tier 4 — Preliminary'Feeling' or 'sensing' the future? Testing for anomalous cognitions in clinical versus healthy populations(2022)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryApparent Past-Life Memories in a Recurring Dream of the 1934 Los Angeles New Year’s Flood(2022)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryEffects of Background Context for Objects in Photographic Targets on Remote Viewing Performance(2022)
Tier 3 — BronzeAnomalous Cognition in the Context of Time:
Does the Viewer Describe a Probabilistic Future?(2021)
Tier 3 — BronzeAnomalous Cognition(2021)
Tier 2 — SilverOpen Peer Comment to “Anomalous Cognition: An Umbrella Review of the Meta-Analytic Evidence”(2021)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryIntroducing the Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition (JAEX)(2021)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryDoes Latent Inhibition Underpin Creativity, Positive Schizotypy, and Anomalous Cognition?(2020)
Tier 3 — BronzeInner Experience – Direct Access to Reality: A Complementarist Ontology and Dual Aspect Monism Support a Broader Epistemology(2020)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryPredictors of Hearing Electronic Voice Phenomena in Random Noise: Schizotypy, Fantasy Proneness, and Paranormal Beliefs(2020)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryNon-Ordinary Mental Expressions (NOMEs): clues on the nature of the human mind(2020)
Tier 4 — Preliminary80 Years of the Journal of Parapsychology: An Historical Overview(2019)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning(2019)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryEntertaining without endorsing: The case for the scientific investigation of anomalous cognition.(2018)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryTraining Anomalous Cognition in a Motor Task with Subliminal Auditory Feedback(2018)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryCross-Domain Events (UAP Timeline)
Also on UAP TimelineStar Gate: CIA/DIA-Funded Remote Viewing Program at Stanford Research Institute1972-01-01