Jan 7, 2008

The Ghosts in our Machines


As we know, our increasingly ubiquitous media and technology has some drawbacks. If we don't resist, we can become overwhelmed by trivial exchanges and mediocre infotainment. It sometimes seems as if our devices have a life of their own.
Luckily, we still have the option to turn them off when we choose, ignoring their imploring beeps and round-the-clock news updates. We can take a break from our virtual worlds to exchange information through more tangible channels. But what if our technology could be used for a different form of communion altogether? What if we could hijack our gadgets for a profound purpose never intended, not even imagined, by their inventors?

Since the early days of the phonograph, telephone and camera, there have been reports of unexplained phenomena associated with our communications devices. German physics professor Ernst Senkowski coined the term "instrumental transcommunication" (ITC), to refer to the use of modern technical devices such as audio recorders, radios, and televisions to communicate with realms outside of our known physical realm. Unknown to most, a huge body of experimentation and scientific study has taken place in this area.
ITC is best known in its most basic form, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) - when voices of unknown origin, generally uttering short, faint phrases, speak on audio recordings.

EVP appeared occasionally on early phonograph recordings but became more widely known after showing up on personal tape recorders in the 50s and 60s. In the 60s and 70s, it became popular in Europe to capture EVP voices on home tape recorders. Samples can be found all over the web, and EVP is often employed for a plot twist on ghost-hunting TV shows.
The levels which ITC has reached, far beyond EVP, are, surprisingly, little known. There is a large body of clear, well documented, scientifically observed audio, video and text transmissions from beyond that have been received through telephones, radios, televisions, computers, fax machines, and a custom-built device called the Spiricom. I will briefly touch on a few key developments in the field, from documentation at worlditc.org, and offer some of my own results.

by www.thesupernaturalworld.co.uk

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