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Precognition is the ability to perceive information about future places or events before they happen (as opposed to merely predicting them based on deductive reasoning and current knowledge). Precognitionis a form of extra-sensory perception. A related term, presentiment refers to information about future events which is percieved in 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.

History

Throughout history people have claimed to have precognitive abilities, and prophecy is a feature of most 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 turn out to be events that actually occured. While anecdotal accounts do not provide scientific proof of precognition, such common experiences motivate continued research.

The most popular theory holds that precognition is a glimpse of a possible future that is based upon present conditions, but which may be altered depending upon acts of free will. This belief implies the future can cause the past, a phenomenon called "backward causality" or "retro-causality."

By a ratio of four-to-one, most instances of precognitioin concern unhappy events, such as death and dying, illness, accidents, and natural disasters. Psychical researchers estimate that one-third to one-half of all precognitive experiences may provide useful information to avert disasters. Intimacy is also a major factor; 80 to 85 percent of such experiences involve a spouse, family member, or friend with whom the individual has close emotional ties.

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 personal 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.

The British Premonitions Bureau

London psychiatrist J. A. Barker established the British Premonitions Bureau in 1967, which collected precognitive data in order to avert 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 Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University

J. B. 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.

The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR)

Precognitive experiments have since been done in a variety of formats by various parapsychologists, for example by the remote viewing researchers, and at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR) which was established in 1979.

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. It is often featured in the stories by Philip K. Dick, such as Minority Report.
• 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.
• 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.
• Johnny Smith of The Dead Zone has been gifted (or cursed) with precognition.
• 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. 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.
• In Final Destination 2, Kimberly has the ability to predict deaths, with numerous recurring visions.
• In Final Destination 3, Wendy has a premonition of a roller coaster accident, pictures she takes of the predestined to die also show how they die.
• 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.
• In Heroes, Isaac Mendez has the ability to see and paint pictures from the future.
• 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

References

• Evidence for an anomalous anticipatory effect in the autonomic nervous system (PDF), Dean Radin, Boundary Institute, 1999.
• Evidence for a retrocausal effect in the human nervous system (PDF), Dean Radin & Edwin May, Boundary Institute, 1999.
• Time-reversed human experience: Experimental evidence and implications (PDF), Dean Radin, Boundary Institute, 2000.
• Web Bot Technology
• Web Bots Accurately Predict Northeast Power Blackout
• Is There Life After Death, by Anthony Peake, Chartwell, 2006 ISBN 0-7858-2162-7 & Arcturus Foulsham ISBN 0-572-03227-7
• The Conscious Universe, by Dean Radin, Harper Collins, 1997, ISBN 0-06-251502-0.
• Future Memory, by PMH Atwater, Hampton Roads, 1999, ISBN 1-57174-135-6.

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

External links

• The Best Case for ESP?
• Failed Psychic Predictions for 1998
• Anthony Peake's website (see 'references' above).

• The nature of 'psychic relativity' - i.e., mind transcending

experiences, as verified at Princeton University, PEAR group. http://www.webspawner.com/users/cosmic/

• Parapsychology
• Prophecy
• Spirituality