Back to overview
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
Supportive78.8%
Possibly Supportive14%
Mixed / Inconclusive7.2%
Related Studies (64)
A Quantum View of Shared and Collective Consciousness(2025)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryIntuitive Innovation: Unconventional Modeling and Systems Neurology(2024)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryChildhood Trauma and the Emergence of Precognitive Abilities: A Correlational Study(2024)
Tier 3 — BronzeOur brains sense the future through a new quantum-like implicit learning mechanism(2024)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryWhy a Retroactive Analyzer Influence Should be Considered in Remote Viewing Research(2023)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryPrecognition at the Boundaries(2023)
Tier 3 — BronzeRemote Viewing: A 1974-2022 Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis(2023)
Tier 2 — SilverFollow‐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 — BronzeExploring Personal Development Workshops' Effect on Well-Being and Interconnectedness(2022)
Tier 4 — PreliminaryWhat 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 — PreliminaryEssay Review. The Star Gate Archives(2020)
Tier 3 — BronzePerformance at a Precognitive Remote Viewing Task, with and without Ganzfeld Stimulation: Three Experiments(2020)
Tier 2 — SilverCross-Domain Events (UAP Timeline)
Also on UAP TimelineStar Gate: CIA/DIA-Funded Remote Viewing Program at Stanford Research Institute1972-01-01