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
homodyne detection with laser light.[11] Later, at Sylvania Electronic Systems, he contributed to the development of frequency modulation and
mode-locking of lasers,[12][13][14][15][16][17] and co-authored a 1969 paper which described the operation of a kilowatt
continuous wave laser.[18][19]
In 1972, Targ joined the Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory at SRI as a senior research physicist in a program founded by
Harold E. Puthoff.[20] 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.[1][21] Targ worked at SRI until 1982.[22]
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".[2] 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.[27][28] The term was coined in the 1970s by Targ and Puthoff, while working as researchers at SRI, to differentiate it from
clairvoyance.[29][30]
A number of scientific reviews of the SRI (and later) experiments on remote viewing found no credible evidence that remote viewing works, and the topic of remote viewing is regarded as
pseudoscience.[2][36][37][38]
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; for example, they were able to successfully identify targets from cues given by the investigators and recorded in the transcripts. They concluded: "Until remote viewing can be confirmed in conditions which prevent sensory cueing the conclusions of Targ and Puthoff remain an unsubstantiated hypothesis."[39] The researchers said that Targ and Puthoff had not provided unpublished transcripts when requested, but that after obtaining them from a judge in the study they were able to find "a wealth of cues".[40]
Simon Hoggart and Mike Hutchinson described Targ as willing to believe and overly credulous.[41] 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."[42]
Remote viewing was popularized in the 1990s upon the
declassification of certain documents related to the
Stargate Project, a US$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."[43]
A variety of scientific studies of remote viewing have been conducted. Some earlier, less sophisticated experiments produced positive results, but they had invalidating flaws.[37] None of the more recent experiments have shown positive results when conducted under
properly controlled conditions.[29][43][44] This lack of successful experiments has led the mainstream scientific community to reject remote viewing, based upon the absence of an evidence base, the lack of a theory which would explain remote viewing, and the lack of experimental techniques which can provide reliably positive results.[38]
Targ and Puthoff both expressed the belief that
Uri Geller, retired police commissioner Pat Price and artist
Ingo Swann all had genuine psychic abilities;[50] however, flaws were found with the controls in the experiments and Geller was caught using
sleight of hand on many other occasions.[51] The SRI tests gave Geller substantial control over the procedures used to test him, with few limits on his behavior during the test.[52]
In 1982, Targ with Keith Harary and Anthony White formed a company, Delphi Associates, to sell psychic consulting services to individuals and businesses.[22][53] In the book Mind Race,[54] Targ and Harary claimed that all nine silver futures predictions made at Delphi in 1982 were correct; however, a later attempt failed.[55] According to
Henry Gordon, "As with most psychic claims, there is little documentation to back them up."[56]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."[53]
Personal life
Russell was married to
Joan Fischer Targ, who died in 1998.[57] Russell and Joan had a daughter,
Elisabeth Targ, who was a
psychiatrist and parapsychologist[8][58][59] and two sons Alexander and Nicholas.[57] In 2003 Targ married artist Patricia Kathleen Phillips.[60]
Joan Fischer Targ was the sister of
World Chess ChampionBobby Fischer.[57] 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.[61] While Fischer was detained in Japan with extradition pending, Targ worked to support a claim of German citizenship for Fischer.[62]
In Pawn Sacrifice, a 2014 biopic of Fischer, Targ appears briefly, portrayed by Marco Verdoni.
Targ, who is
legally blind, is an avid motorcyclist and has published a memoir on his experiences as a "blind biker".[60]
Publications
Books authored
Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness. San Francisco:
New World Library. 2004.
ISBN9781577314134.
—; Katra, J.; Brown, D.; Wiegand, W. (1995). "Viewing the future: A pilot study with an error detecting protocol". Journal of Scientific Exploration. 9: 367–80.
^Kaiser, David (2011). How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 70.
ISBN9780393076363.
^Dewar, Elaine (30 July 1977). "In search of the mind's eye: In the weird world of ESP, seeing is not believing". Winnipeg Free Press Magazine. pp. 8–12.
^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.
ISBN9780080178035.
OCLC790410.
^Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p.
167.
ISBN978-0805805086.
^Puthoff, H.E.; Targ, Russell (22 February 1973).
A Progress Report on Contract Number 1471(S)73 (TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM ed.). Stanford Research Institute. Retrieved 18 October 2023. Approved Forf Rease 2003/03/28 : CIA-RDP79-00999A00300030030-6
^"Remote Viewing". disclosed on 2007-02-23. UK's Ministry of Defence. June 2002. p. 94 (page 50 in second pdf). Archived from
the original on 2012-10-26.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (
link)