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Targ was born in ].<ref name="Gale"/> He is the son of publisher ], who worked at ] from 1964 to 1978 and became editor in chief.<ref name= "Gardner SI 2001"/> Targ was born in ].<ref name="Gale"/> He is the son of publisher ], who worked at ] from 1964 to 1978 and became editor in chief.<ref name= "Gardner SI 2001"/>


Targ was introduced to the ] by his father whose Chicago bookstore carried a variety of paranormal works and whose later published works at Putnam included a biography of ], founder of the ], and ]'s '']''.<ref name= "Gardner SI 2001">{{cite news |url= http://www.csicop.org/si/show/notes_of_a_fringe-watcher_distant_healing_and_elisabeth_targ |title= Notes of a fringe-watcher: Distant healing and Elisabeth Targ |last= Gardner |first= Martin |authorlink= Martin Gardner |magazine= ] |date=March–April 2001 |volume= 25 |issue= 2 |accessdate= 2011-01-07 }}</ref> Targ was introduced to the ] by his father whose Chicago bookstore carried a variety of paranormal works and whose later published works at Putnam included ], a biography of ], founder of the ], and ]'s '']''.<ref name= "Gardner SI 2001">{{cite news |url= http://www.csicop.org/si/show/notes_of_a_fringe-watcher_distant_healing_and_elisabeth_targ |title= Notes of a fringe-watcher: Distant healing and Elisabeth Targ |last= Gardner |first= Martin |authorlink= Martin Gardner |magazine= ] |date=March–April 2001 |volume= 25 |issue= 2 |accessdate= 2011-01-07 }}</ref>


Targ received a ] in ] from ] in 1954 and did graduate work in physics at ].<ref name="Gale"/> Targ received a ] in ] from ] in 1954 and did graduate work in physics at ].<ref name="Gale"/>

Revision as of 00:18, 3 June 2014

Russell Targ
Russell Targ
Born (1934-04-11) April 11, 1934 (age 90)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)physicist, parapsychologist and author
Known forRemote viewing

Russell Targ (born April 11, 1934) is an American physicist, parapsychologist and author who is best known for his work on remote viewing.

Targ originally became known for early work in lasers and laser applications. He joined Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) in 1972 where he and Harold Puthoff coined the term "remote viewing" for the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using parapsychological means. Targ's work on remote viewing has been characterized as pseudoscience and has also been criticized for lack of rigor.

Early life

Targ was born in Chicago. He is the son of publisher William Targ, who worked at G. P. Putnam's Sons from 1964 to 1978 and became editor in chief.

Targ was introduced to the paranormal by his father whose Chicago bookstore carried a variety of paranormal works and whose later published works at Putnam included The Godfather, a biography of Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, and Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods.

Targ received a Bachelor of Science in physics from Queens College in 1954 and did graduate work in physics at Columbia University.

Laser and electro-optical research

Russell Targ was involved in early laser research at Technical Research Group where he co-authored, with Gordon Gould among others, a 1962 paper describing the use of coherent detection with lasers. Later, at Sylvania Electronic Systems, he contributed to the development of frequency modulation and mode-locking of lasers, and co-authored a 1969 paper which described the operation of a kilowatt continuous wave laser.

After his work at SRI, Targ worked in electro-optics as a senior staff scientist at the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company from 1986 to 1998 , where he contributed to aviation windshear sensing applications of Doppler heterodyne lidar technology.

Parapsychology

In 1972 Targ joined the Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory at Stanford Research Institute (SRI, now SRI International) as a senior research physicist in a program founded by Harold E. Puthoff. The two conducted research into psychic abilities and their operational use for the U.S. intelligence community, including NASA, the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and Army Intelligence. Targ worked at SRI until 1982.

Remote viewing

Main article: Remote viewing

Remote viewing (or RV) is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using subjective means, in particular, extra-sensory perception (ESP) or "sensing with mind". Typically a remote viewer is expected to give information about an object, event, person or location that is hidden from physical view and separated at some distance. The term was coined in the 1970s by Targ and Puthoff, while working as researchers at Stanford Research Institute, to distance it from clairvoyance.

There is no credible scientific evidence that remote viewing works, and the topic of remote viewing is regarded as pseudoscience.

In 1972 Puthoff and Targ tested remote viewer Ingo Swann at SRI, and the experiment led to a visit from two employees of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology. The result was a $50,000 CIA-sponsored project. The SRI team published papers in Nature, in Proceedings of the IEEE and in the proceedings of a symposium on consciousness for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Among some of the ideas that Targ and Puthoff supported regarding remote viewing, was the claim in the book Occult Chemistry that two followers of Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, were able to remote-view the inner structure of atoms.

Reception

The psychologists David Marks and Richard Kammann attempted to replicate Targ and Puthoff’s remote viewing experiments and disputed the claims that the experiments were successful. They concluded that "Until remote viewing can be confirmed in conditions which prevent sensory cueing the conclusions of Targ and Puthoff remain an unsubstantiated hypothesis."

Simon Hoggart and Mike Hutchinson described Targ as willing to believe and his research "for the most part, a sorry study in the range of human credulity." A 1988 report by the United States National Research Council (NRC) concluded, "there should remain little doubt that the Targ-Puthoff studies are fatally flawed".

Remote viewing was popularized in the 1990s upon the declassification of certain documents related to the Stargate Project, a $20 million research program that had started in 1975 and was sponsored by the U.S. government, in an attempt to determine any potential military application of psychic phenomena. The program was terminated in 1995 after it failed to produce any useful intelligence information. David Goslin, of the American Institutes for Research said, "There's no documented evidence it had any value to the intelligence community".

Further work on parapsychology

The SRI remote viewing project also encompassed the work of such consulting "consciousness researchers" as the artist/writer Ingo Swann and Military Intelligence Corps chief warrant officer Joseph McMoneagle.

Targ and Puthoff both expressed the belief that Uri Geller, retired police commissioner Pat Price and artist Ingo Swann all had genuine psychic abilities, though flaws were found with the controls in the experiments and Geller was caught using sleight of hand on many other occasions.

In 1982, Targ with Keith Harary and Anthony White formed a company known as Delphi Associates to sell consulting services to individuals and businesses.

In his book Mind Race, Targ wrote that with Harary he had predicted prices on the silver market. Targ claimed to have correctly predicted all nine forecasts that they made in 1982, however, a later attempt failed. According to Henry Gordon "As with most psychic claims, there is little documentation to back them up".

Ray Hyman has written "Targ and Harary's much-publicized case for the reality of psi and the validity of remote viewing is filled with exaggerated and unsupported conclusions. Their careless scholarship leads to new deceptions."

Personal life

Russell was married to Joan Fischer Targ, who died in 1998. Russell and Joan had a daughter, Elisabeth Targ, who was a psychiatrist and parapsychologist and two sons Alexander and Nicholas.

Joan Fischer Targ was the sister of former world chess champion Bobby Fischer. In 2004 Targ assisted Fischer, who had been a fugitive in the United States since violating a trade embargo with his 1992 victory over Boris Spassky. Russell Targ came up with the idea that Fischer, whose passport had been revoked by U.S. authorities and was facing immediate deportation to the U.S., could claim German citizenship through his father Hans Gerhardt Fischer. Targ acquired five different documents from Hans Fischer's relatives and hospitals in Germany.

Targ, who is legally blind, is an avid motorcyclist and has published a memoir on his experiences as a "blind biker".

Parapsychology works

Books authored

  • Targ, Russell (2004). Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness. San Francisco: New World Library. ISBN 9781577314134. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
  • Targ, Russell (2010). Do You See What I See: Memoirs of a Blind Biker. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads. ISBN 9781571746306. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Targ, Russell (2012). The Reality of ESP: A Physicist's Proof of Psychic Abilities. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books. ISBN 9780835608848. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)

Books co-authored

Journal articles

On remote viewing

On precognition

Publications on lasers

Notes

  1. Terence Hines (2003), Pseudoscience and the Paranormal p. 136: "The remote-viewing controversy lasted more than a decade. It is a sobering example of how sloppy experiments and the conclusions based on them can be accepted as evidence of parapsychology. It further demonstrates the great amount of hard work it takes to put such erroneous conclusion to rest."
  2. Marks & Kammann (1986), "Remote viewing exposed": "Examination of the few actual transcripts published by Targ and Puthoff show that just such clues were present. To find out if the unpublished transcripts contained cues, Marks and Kammann wrote to Targ and Puthoff requesting copies. It is almost unheard of for a scientist to refuse to provide his data for independent examination when asked, but Targ and Puthoff consistently refused to allow Marks and Kammann to see copies of the transcripts. Marks and Kammann were, however, able to obtain copies of the transcripts from the judge who used them. The transcripts were found to contain a wealth of cues."
  3. Mumford, Rose & Goslin (1995), An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications: "remote viewings have never provided an adequate basis for ‘actionable’ intelligence operations-that is, information sufficiently valuable or compelling so that action was taken as a result a large amount of irrelevant, erroneous information is provided and little agreement is observed among viewers' reports. remote viewers and project managers reported that remote viewing reports were changed to make them consistent with know background cues Also, it raises some doubts about some well-publicized cases of dramatic hits, which, if taken at face value, could not easily be attributed to background cues. In at least some of these cases, there is reason to suspect, based on both subsequent investigations and the viewers' statement that reports had been "changed" by previous program managers, that substantially more background information was available than one might at first assume."
  4. Mumford, Rose & Goslin (1995): "The foregoing observations provide a compelling argument against continuation of the program within the intelligence community. Even though a statistically significant effect has been observed in the laboratory, it remains unclear whether the existence of a paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, has been demonstrated. The laboratory studies do not provide evidence regarding the origins or nature of the phenomenon, assuming it exists, nor do they address an important methodological issue of inter-judge reliability. Further, even if it could be demonstrated unequivocally that a paranormal phenomenon occurs under the conditions present in the laboratory paradigm, these conditions have limited applicability and utility for intelligence gathering operations. For example, the nature of the remote viewing targets are vastly dissimilar, as are the specific tasks required of the remote viewers. Most importantly, the information provided by remote viewing is vague and ambiguous, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the technique to yield information of sufficient quality and accuracy of information for actionable intelligence. Thus, we conclude that continued use of remote viewing in intelligence gathering operations is not warranted."
  5. Terence Hines (2003), p. 126: "Geller turned out to be nothing more than a magician using sleight of hand and considerable personal charm to fool his admirers. The tests at SRI turned out to have been run under conditions that can best be described as chaotic. Few limits were placed on Geller’s behavior, and he was more or less in control of the procedures used to test him. Further, the results of the tests were incorrectly reported in Targ and Puthoff’s Nature paper."

References

  1. ^ "Russell Targ". Gale Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Gale. Retrieved 2014-04-15 – via answers.com.
  2. ^ Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus. pp. 133–6. ISBN 9781615920853.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  3. Gardner, Martin (2001). Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking Pseudoscience. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 60–7. ISBN 0393322386.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  4. Hines 2003, pp. 135-6.
  5. Gilovich, Thomas (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life. Free Press. pp. 166–73. ISBN 9780029117064.
  6. ^ Gardner, Martin (March–April 2001). "Notes of a fringe-watcher: Distant healing and Elisabeth Targ". Skeptical Inquirer. Vol. 25, no. 2. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  7. Rabinowitz et al. 1962.
  8. Harris, S.; McDuff, O. (September 1965). "Theory of FM laser oscillation" (PDF). IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. 1 (6): 245–62. doi:10.1109/JQE.1965.1072231 – via stanford.edu.
  9. Harris, S.E. (October 1966). "Stabilization and modulation of laser oscillators by internal time-varying perturbation" (PDF). Proceedings of the IEEE. 54 (10): 1401–13. doi:10.1109/PROC.1966.5126 – via stanford.edu.
  10. Smith, P.W. (September 1970). "Mode-locking of lasers" (PDF). Proceedings of the IEEE. 58 (9): 1342–55 – via optics.rochester.edu.
  11. Caddes, Osternink & Targ 1968.
  12. Harris & Targ 1964.
  13. Massey, Oshman & Targ 1965.
  14. Willett, Colin S. (1974). Introduction To Gas Lasers: Population Inversion Mechanisms: With Emphasis on Selective Excitation Processes. International Series of Monographs in Natural Philosophy. Vol. 67. Pergamon Press. p. 5. ISBN 9780080178035. OCLC 790410.
  15. Tiffany, Targ & Foster 1969.
  16. Marks, David; Kammann, Richard (1980). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd ed.). Prometheus. p. 67. ISBN 9781573927987.
  17. Frehlich, R. (October 2001). "Estimation of velocity error for Doppler lidar measurements" (PDF). Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. 18 (10): 1628–39. doi:10.1175/1520-0426(2001)018<1628:EOVEFD>2.0.CO;2 – via ucar.edu.
  18. Targ et al. 1991.
  19. Targ et al. 1996.
  20. Kripal, Jeffrey J. (2010). Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred. University of Chicago Press. p. 176. ISBN 9780226453866.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  21. ^ Anderson, Ian (22 November 1984). "Strange case of the psychic spy". New Scientist. Vol. 104, no. 1431. pp. 3–4 – via Google Books.
  22. Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 167. ISBN 0805805087.
  23. Milbourne, Christopher (1979). Search for the Soul. Crowell. ISBN 9780690017601.
  24. Nickell, Joe (March 2001). "Remotely viewed? The Charlie Jordan case". Skeptical Inquirer. Vol. 11, no. 1.
  25. "Dr. Harold Puthoff". arlingtoninstitute.org. The Arlington Institute. 2008.
  26. Alcock, James (1981). Parapsychology-Science Or Magic?: A Psychological Perspective. Pergamon Press. pp. 164–79. ISBN 9780080257730.
  27. Marks & Kammann 1980, 2000 ed. ISBN 1573927988.
  28. Wiseman, R.; Milton, J. (1999). "Experiment one of the SAIC remote viewing program: A critical reevaluation" (PDF). Journal of Parapsychology. 62 (4): 297–308. Retrieved 2008-06-26 – via richardwiseman.com.
  29. ^ Puthoff, Harold (1966). "CIA-initiated remote viewing program at Stanford Research Institute" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration. 10 (1): 63–76.
  30. Targ & Puthoff 1974.
  31. Puthoff & Targ 1976.
  32. Puthoff, Harold E.; Targ, Russell; May, Edwin C. (3–8 January 1979). "Experimental psi research: Implications for physics" (PDF). In Jahn, Robert G. (ed.). The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World. 145th National Meeting American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): Session: The role of consciousness in the physical world. AAAS Selected Symposia. Vol. 57. Houston, TX: Westview Press. ISBN 9780891589556 – via remoteviewed.com. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editorlink= ignored (|editor-link= suggested) (help)
  33. Gardner 2001, p. 62. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFGardner2001 (help)
  34. ^ Marks, D.; Scott, C. (6 February 1986). "Remote viewing exposed". Correspondence. Nature. 319 (6053): 444. doi:10.1038/319444a0. PMID 3945330.
  35. Hansel, Charles Edward Mark (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation. Science and the Paranormal. Prometheus. p. 293. ISBN 9780879751197.
  36. Hoggart, Simon; Hutchinson, Mike (1995). Bizarre Beliefs. Richard Cohen Books. p. 151. ISBN 9781573921565.
  37. Alcock, James E.; Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance: Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences Education: National Research Council (NRC) (1988). "Part VI. Parapsychological Techniques". Enhancing Human Performance: Issues, Theories, and Techniques, Background Papers (Complete Set). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. p. 57 . {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= and |title= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ Mumford, Michael D.; Rose, Andrew M.; Goslin, David A. (29 September 1995). An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications (PDF). American Institutes for Research – via lfr.org (Laboratories for Fundamental Research).
  39. ^ Waller, Douglas (11 December 1995). "The vision thing: Ten years and $20 million later, The Pentagon discovers that psychics are unreliable spies". Time. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  40. Scott, C. (29 July 1982). "No 'remote viewing'". Correspondence. Nature. 298 (5873): 414. doi:10.1038/298414c0.
  41. Targ & Puthoff 1977.
  42. Randi, James (1982). The Truth About Uri Geller. Prometheus. ISBN 9780879751999.
  43. Hines 2003, p. 126.
  44. ^ Hyman, Ray (1986). "Outracing the Evidence: The Muddled 'Mind Race'". In Frazier, Kendrik (ed.). Science Confronts the Paranormal. Prometheus. pp. 91–108. ISBN 0879753145. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editorlink= ignored (|editor-link= suggested) (help)
  45. Hyman, Ray (1989). The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research. Prometheus. p. 387. ISBN 9780879755041.
  46. Gordon, Henry (1988). Extrasensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirley MacLaine, Ghosts, UFOs. Macmillan (Canada). p. 147. ISBN 0771595395.
  47. ^ "Joan Fischer Targ, computer literacy activist". Palo Alto Weekly. 17 June 1998.
  48. Katra, Jane (1 December 2002). "Elisabeth F. Targ: 1961-2002". Journal of Parapsychology – via HighBeam Research. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  49. Sands, David R. (31 August 2004). "Kin boosts Fischer's bid to gain German passport". The Washington Times – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  50. ^ Wallace, Bruce (30 July 2004). "Fischer tries citizenship maneuver". Los Angeles Times.
  51. Targ 2010.
  52. "Do You See What I See?". Internet Bookwatch. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 2014-05-03 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

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