The Mind Can Control and Change Matter! — Biohacker’s Base

When it comes to thoughts and desires, you have to be extremely careful, as your mind has an astonishing power: it can control, and even change external, remote matter.

The power of the chicks

There are two sets of experiments led by René Peoc’h, in 1986 and 1994, that make a strong point regarding the power of the mind to influence matter. Let’s first see what he did:

The First set of Experiments

Chickens, like many other birds, have an instinctive mechanism to attach themselves to the first moving thing they see after hatching. This is called imprinting. So if they hatch near a human being, they will believe it’s their parent and will follow him/her around. René Peoc’h, a French researcher, used this fact to conduct a very interesting experiment in 1985–1986.

He used a small robot that would move around randomly. It was called Tychoscope 1 and used a random number generator to calculate the distance to advance and then the degrees to rotate with. Left alone in a room, the robot covered the entire area in random patterns. He then conditioned the chicks to adopt the Tychoscope as their mother. Once imprinted, the chicks were put in a transparent cage, from where they could see the robot. The result was amazing: “the Tychoscope spent two and a half times longer on the half of the surface closer to the chicks, compared to its motion when the cage was empty (p < 0.00 1 )”. When repeating the experiment with chicks that were not imprinted, the robot moved all over the room, just as it did without chicks. The conclusion of the experiment was that the chicks were able to influence the random number generator so that the robot would remain closed to them.

The Second set of Experiments

The group of researchers led by Peoc’h, in collaboration with Foundation Odier de Psycho-physique, conducted a second set of experiments, in 1994. They used a new robot, named Tychoscope 2. This new robot was controlled remotely by a computer through radio waves. With this setup, the test results were much easier to track and interpret, as the computer was recording the data.

They also used a random number generator, invented by M. P. Janin(1986). This was a separate device and was connected to the computer. As it was small (10x7x3 cm), it was easily shielded in a Farraday cage, protecting it from electromagnetic interference.

No imprinting was done for these experiments. The concept was different: the room was darkened, and the only source of light was a candle placed on top of the Tychoscope. The chicks were placed at such a height that they would see the candle. Each chich is exposed to this environment for 20 minutes, once a day, for three consecutive days. At the end of the experiment, the computer calculates the average of the X coordinates. If the average is positive, it means that the robot spent more time in the half of the testing space closer to the chicks, as in the below figure.

The team conducted 100 control experiments (without chicks), and 80 tests with groups of 15 chicks. In 71% of the runs done with chicks (57 out of 80), the robot spent more time in the half closer to the chicks. During the control experiments, the average X value was 50 times greater than 0 and 50 times lower than 0 (so the robot had no “preference” for any of the sides).

These are the graphs indicating the average X values for the two sets of experiments:

They also conducted a set of tests with the chicks and daylight (without a candle on the robot). There was no significant deviation compared to the control tests. The purpose of this was to verify if the mere presence of the chicks is influencing the robot.

Conclusion

For me, this is solid proof that the mind can control and change matter. If the chicks’ brains, so small and primitive compared to the human brain can do this, ours should be able of much greater feats. The chicks had a powerful reason to try to influence the robot: in the first experiment they believed the robot is their mother, and in the second one it was the only source of light (they were crying when the light was totally off in the middle of the day). This means we need to understand how to motivate our brains and make them want so badly to influence matter.

Like in many other areas, we see that our bodies are capable of unimaginable feats when put in the right circumstances.

Originally published at https://biohackersbase.com on March 22, 2022.