The Global Consciousness Project (GCP), also known as the EGG Project, is a scientific experiment started in 1998. It aims to study whether global consciousness might influence physical systems. The project uses a network of random number generators placed in different locations around the world. These devices produce random numbers, and scientists look for unusual patterns in the numbers that might be linked to major global events or times when many people are focused on the same thing. The GCP is funded by the Institute of Noetic Sciences and involves about 100 scientists and engineers from different countries.

Some scientists, including Robert T. Carroll and Claus Larsen, have raised concerns about the GCP’s methods. They argue that the way data is chosen and analyzed might lead to misleading results, such as finding patterns that are not real. They suggest that the unusual results reported by the GCP could be due to "pattern matching" and selection bias, which do not prove the existence of psi or global consciousness. Other researchers, like May and colleagues, noted that the GCP’s data is publicly available, showing transparency. However, they found that the statistically significant results reported for the 2001 event called 9/11 were likely due to chance. When using a different method to analyze the same data, no meaningful deviations were found.

Background

Roger D. Nelson created the project by building on research from the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR), which studied unusual phenomena for 20 years. Nelson used technology called random event generators (REGs) in real-world settings to examine how group mental states might influence random events.

In a follow-up to lab experiments, researchers used REGs in the FieldREG project to study their outputs before, during, and after events where groups were highly focused or unified. These events included therapy sessions, plays, religious ceremonies, sports events like the Football World Cup, and TV shows like the Academy Awards.

FieldREG was expanded to a global scale when scientists analyzed data from 12 REGs in the United States and Europe during two major events: a worldwide online meditation called "Gaiamind Meditation" in January 1997, and again in September 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The project suggested that creating a permanent network of REGs that operate continuously could be valuable. This led to the EGG project, also known as the Global Consciousness Project.

When comparing the GCP to PEAR, Nelson noted that the GCP used the same methods as PEAR’s field studies with REGs but applied them on a much larger scale.

Methodology

The Global Consciousness Project (GCP) uses a method based on the idea that events causing strong emotions or capturing the attention of many people at the same time might influence the output of hardware random number generators in a way that can be measured statistically. The GCP operates a network of hardware random number generators connected to computers at 70 locations worldwide. Special software collects data from these generators, recording a trial (a total of 200 bits) every second. This data is sent to a server in Princeton, creating a database of synchronized random number sequences. The GCP functions as a replication experiment, combining results from many separate tests of the same idea. To test the idea, researchers calculate how much data changes during specific events. The process follows a three-step protocol. First, the duration of the event and the calculation method are decided in advance and recorded in an official registry. Second, data from the event is retrieved from the database, and a Z score, which shows how much the results differ from what would be expected by chance, is calculated using the pre-determined method. Third, the Z score from the event is combined with Z scores from previous events to produce an overall result for the experiment.

The remote devices are called "Princeton Eggs," named after the term "electrogaiagram" (EGG), a combination of "electroencephalogram" and "Gaia." Supporters and critics have compared the GCP's goal to detecting "a great disturbance in the Force."

Claims and criticism of effects from the September 11 terrorist attacks

The GCP suggested that changes in randomness might have happened during the September 11, 2001 attacks when the planes first hit the buildings, as well as in the two days after the attacks.

Independent scientists Edwin May and James Spottiswoode studied the data around the September 11 attacks and found no important change in the randomness of the GCP data during the attacks. They noted that the apparent significant deviation reported by Nelson and Radin occurred only within a specific time frame they selected. Spikes and changes in data are normal in any random set of numbers, and the GCP does not have a fixed time frame for how close a spike must be to an event to claim a connection. Wolcotte Smith said, "A few more statistical changes would need to be made to determine if the numbers truly spiked," referring to the data related to September 11, 2001. Similarly, Jeffrey D. Scargle believes that unless both Bayesian and classical p-value analysis agree and show the same unusual effects, the results the GCP proposes will not be widely accepted.

In 2003, a New York Times article stated, "Considering all the information so far, the stock market seems a more reliable measure of the national—if not the global—emotional response."

In 2007, The Age reported that "[Nelson] admits the data, so far, is not strong enough to prove global consciousness exists. For example, it is not possible to look at the data and accurately predict what (if anything) the eggs may be responding to."

Robert Matthews said that while it was "the most advanced attempt yet" to prove psychokinesis exists, the lack of reliable significant events causing clear spikes in data meant that "the only conclusion from the Global Consciousness Project so far is that data without a theory is as meaningless as words without a story."

Peter Bancel reviewed the data in a 2017 article and "found that the data do not support the global consciousness idea" and instead "All of the tests support the idea of a goal-oriented effect."

Roger D. Nelson

Roger D. Nelson is an American scientist who studies the mind's effects on the physical world. He is the director of the Global Consciousness Project (GCP). From 1980 to 2002, he worked as the Coordinator of Research at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory at Princeton University. His work focuses on understanding how consciousness and intention influence the physical world. He combines scientific research with spiritual studies, including investigations into shared spiritual experiences.

Roger D. Nelson holds degrees in experimental cognitive psychology. Before retiring in 2002, he managed experimental research at the PEAR laboratory, which was led by Robert Jahn in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science.