Voices from the Edge: Extended Minds

Rupert Sheldrake in a Voices from the Edge presentation in London on the extended mind. Our minds seem to extend far beyond our brains. Many experiments have now shown that people can influence others at a distance just by looking at them, even when all normal sensory clues are eliminated. The sense of being stared at also occurs among non-human animals and may have evolved in the context of predator-prey relationships: if a prey animal knew when a hungry predator was watching it, it might have had a better chance of escaping than if it didn’t know. Intentions can have effects at a distance, and can be detected telepathically, as shown in experiments with dogs that know when their owners are coming home, and in people’s ability to anticipate who is about to call on the telephone, or send them an email or a text message. Minds are also extended in time. Just as memories connect us with our pasts, precognitions and presentiments sometimes connect us with our futures.