Latest publication: Biological Observer-Participation and Wheeler's 'Law without Law'

Follow this link for sundry Mind-Matter Unification Project video lectures, including:

• Life, Extended Mind, and Fundamental Physics
• Shifting Assumptions in Science: video extracts from the July 2008 Hokkaido Symposium
• Lecture: Which Way for Physics?
• Andrea Rossi's 'E-cat' nuclear reactor: a video FAQ
  

 Brian Josephson

Welcome to the home page of Professor Brian Josephson, director of the Mind-Matter Unification Project of the Theory of Condensed Matter Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, a project concerned primarily with the attempt to understand, from the viewpoint of the theoretical physicist, what may loosely be characterised as intelligent processes in nature, associated with brain function or with some other natural process. Project members: Brian Josephson, Takeo Oku, Plamen L. Simeonov.

'From the viewpoint of the theoretical physicist' here means that there is a particular concern with general principles and the way these may help to reshape one's perspective on a problem. One of my guiding principles, also, has been the scientist's motto 'Take nobody's word for it' (nullius in verba), a corollary of which is that if scientists as a whole denounce an idea this should not necessarily be taken as proof that the said idea is absurd: rather, one should examine carefully the alleged grounds for such opinions and judge how well these stand up to detailed scrutiny.

• Why misconduct allegations against Rusi Taleyarkhan, highlighted by Nature's correspondent Eugenie Reich, were dismissed. As yet, Reich has failed to respond to a letter drawing her attention to the 'Inconvenient Truths' exposed by the Journal and Courier article.
• The New Energy Times detailed report on the Taleyarkhan affair. The objectivity of this report contrasts strikingly with the agenda-driven character of the reports published in Nature.
  • Regrettably, NET also has a penchant for vindictive attacks on selected organisations and individuals. Here is my response to one such article, created by NET's editor Steven B. Krivit.
•  (video lecture) Can the Physicists' Description of Reality be Considered Complete?
•  Nature is on the attack again, declaring 'being a worthwhile story' sufficient justification for the publication of serious allegations that it cannot substantiate. Details; correspondence with Editor. 
• The propagandising activities of the anti-paranormal organisation CSICOP come to light through a recent TV programme.  Among other things, an experimental outcome whose probability of occurring by chance was less than one in 50 was characterised by the sceptical investigators as "more consistent with chance guessing".  Details
• How we might be able to understand the brain (paper presented at the International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, MA, together with video interview and PowerPoint presentation)
• A Physics World profile explains the background to the project and other things.
• Abstractions and the Brain (talk given at the Complex Systems Conference, Messina, December 2001)
• Cold Fusion politics (revised June 9, 2004). Anyone wondering whether cold fusion is a real phenomenon, or merely erroneous science, should study this talk by Charles Beaudette
• Unusually, the administrators of the physics archive at arXiv.org rapidly deleted a paper successfully deposited in the archive, perhaps as a reflex response to the fact that the paper concerned reviewed research in cold fusion. As a service to the scientific community, this 37-page review by Edmund Storms is being made available on this web site. It is suggested that serious scientific comments on the review, by those registered for depositing papers in the archive, be deposited in the cond-mat section, with crosslinking to nucl-ex and a link to the original review (here). However, there can be no guarantee that such contributions will not be deleted from the archive as was the review itself.
  [Note: it is not the intention to include poor research on these web pages. If anyone feels there are problems with the review concerned which are not cleared up through correspondence with the author, would they please let me know at the email address below (no complaints received so far at Oct. 25th., 2004)]

See the cognitive science page for details of research relating to brain functioning; other topics with which the project is involved include

• relationships between quantum mechanics, observer mechanisms and mind processes
• relationships between quantum mechanics and the paranormal
• the cognitive significance of musical themes
• arguments for there being limits to the universality of quantum mechanics

• Scientists attack suggestion, in an official Royal Mail publication connected with its Nobel centenary stamps, that telepathy might be explicable on the basis of quantum theory
  • the text concerned and its origins
  • theoretical aspects
  • the attacks published in Nature and in the Observer
  • responses by myself and by Royal Mail
  • the matter is debated on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, October 2, 2001 (2MB mp3 audio file)
    • a transcript of the debate plus additional commentary
    • the book review mentioned in the debate
  • have the critics overreached themselves: is this the beginning of the end for a situation where the paranormal is, to all intents and purposes, a forbidden topic of discussion in science?
  • other paranormal links
• "Beyond Quantum Theory" revisited (UK mirror)
• Constructional Tools as the Origin of Cognitive Capacities (paper presented at the ECHO IV conference, Odense, August 2000)
• Comments on the 'cultural bias' against the paranormal (published in Physics World, October 2000)
• The received wisdom is not the whole story" -- Brian Josephson's review of Robert Park's Voodoo Science, published in the Times Higher Educational Supplement
  • Eugene Mallove's review of Robert Park's book Voodoo Science
  • further review of Voodoo Science in the Washington Post
• Diagnosis of Millennium Bridge problem, published on June 14, 2000, confirmed as correct by Ove Arup on 28 June (report no longer available), and by more recent research at Bristol University.
  • commercial secrecy leads to bridge engineers not being aware that people push sideways (as well as downwards) when they walk: a New Scientist report (no longer available for public access)
  • "Load testing of a new design is extremely rare. Bridges are built to the codes developed by the great and the good ..."; article by Andy Beckett
• Dan Drasin explains the Art of Debunking (revised edition)
• Physicists probe the paranormal: report on conference held at Trinity College, Cambridge (note: while the report itself is well balanced, there is a lot more evidence in favour of the reality of the phenomena than was presented at the conference)
• Lectures given by Jacques Benveniste at the Cavendish Laboratory colloquium on his controversial high-dilution experiments, including abstract and a review of the talk, and now a video
  • comment on the controversial aspect of the talk
  • Benveniste's home page
  • new research supports Jacques Benveniste's controversial 1988 paper on biological activity of highly diluted solutions

  See also

  • Is homeopathy nonsense? (and why it may not be)

• An integrated theory of nervous system functioning embracing nativism and constructivism
• A Generative Approach to the Understanding of Cognitive Skills (with N.A. Baas)
• The 1982 Josephson/Blair theory of language acquisition (previously unpublished)
• The Truth of Science (book review)
• some comet pictures including comet Hale-Bopp viewed from Cambridge, April 15th., 1997

In view of the increasing importance of the subject, there is now a separate Parapsychology Page

Major journal's attempts to mislead its readers regarding evidence for parapsychology

• A recent issue of Nature admits (page 564 of the Apr. 9th. 1998 issue) the existence of a minor error that the journal introduced during the process of editing a parapsychology book review. But it remains silent about the more significant fact that when a misunderstanding of the reviewer is corrected the main basis of his criticism of the book in question disappears. Details

(added June 2nd., 1998) Michael Rossman characterises such behaviour as 'undignified and shameful for a journal of [Nature's] stature'

• Update of Aug. 14, 1998: the journal backs down under pressure and, after eight months delay, publishes a correction (page 413 of the 30 July 1998 issue).

You can get many of these pages in book form in Japanese translation

Cultural Area

• Swaledale sheep in Lake District, by Carol Josephson
• music by Brian Josephson
• music from Miranda Josephson at Myspace, YouTube (videos), and efolkmusic.org
• poems by Mimi Josephson (1911-1998)

email contact

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