Shadow Matter,Psi-Phenomena and Survival

[Alexander1304]

Hello all,

I've recently read(partially) the book written by G.D.Wasserman "Shadow Matter and Psi-phenomena and possible Survival of Human Personality".

Here is description from Amazon: "A scientist casts new light on psychic phenomena, such as clairvoyance, telepathy, and 'out of body experiences'. He presents an exciting new theory which explains such phenomena, linking the recently discovered 'Shadow Matter' world of physics with parapsychology. It replaces notions of the occult with important new ideas that are figuring in physics (even in recent television programmes). The book contains case histories, showing how this new theory could account for telepathy, clairvoyance, 'out of the body experiences', and apparitions of the living and the dead in terms of Shadow Matter. It also explains how Shadow Matter theory could account for the survival of the human personality after death of the body. The author builds on theories until now discussed only in academic journals. This theory was first published in brief outline in the journal Inquiry in 1988. It develops the concept of the Shadow Matter world introduced in the journal Nature in 1985. Suitable for general readers interested in new developments in science; general readers interested in parapsychology and the occult; specialists and scholars, especially in physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, philosophy and medicine."

 

My consfusion here is,that all parapsychological/survival material usually comes from spiritualists/religionists,but here it comes from the materialist.

Anyway,as far as I know the existence of the 1."shadow matter" is not yet confirmed 2.No "shadow matter" theory(maybe,except Wassermann's) postulates that "shadow matter" obeys the same laws as the ordinary matter.

What do you guys think about it?So far it doesn't seem that this theory got much acceptance in the scientific circles and even in parapsychology I found only a couple of references

The most detailed(and only) review I found made by Douglas Stokes:

 

Shadow Matter and Psychic Phenomena. - Free Online Library

From the review: ""Wassermann contends that every person has a shadow matter brain and body that are exact duplicates of his ordinary brain and body and that are normally in such exact alignment with the ordinary matter body that each particle of the shadow matter body is in sufficiently close proximity to the corresponding particle of the ordinary matter body that it is gravitationally gravitationally bound to it. The shadow matter brain or body is capable of separation from the ordinary body and of serving in the role of an "astral body" during an out-of-body experience.At death, the shadow matter body (SMB) could become permanently projected; thus, the SMB would serve as a "material soul" allowing an indefinite survival of the human personality after the death of the physical body (Wassermann proposes that shadow matter is exempt from the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy increase, and thus would not be subject to decay and deterioration). "

 

What do you guys think? This theory is unique in its attempt to reconcile survival with materialism but so far it doesn't seem that this theory got much acceptance neither in the scientific circles nor in parapsychology.Any thoughts will be appreciated

[Edtharan]

To start with, there has been no discovery of "Shadow Matter". What they might be confused with is "Dark Matter", but this is matter that does not interact with the electromagnetic force (and because light is electromagnetic, we can't see it). In fact, the only way Dark Matter can interact with us is through gravity, but if there was enough of it to effect you in some way, it would be detectable by other instruments (there are detectors so sensitive they can weigh an electron - which is much, much lighter than an atom and you would need the mass of several billion atoms to effect you).

 

So, right from the outset, they have invented something that has nothing to do with science (and has not been discovered at all) and then used it to justify their whole proposition. This leads me to conclude they are just making the whole thing up.

[Alexander1304]

Thanks for the reply,Edtharan

The problem I have discussing Wassermann's ideas,because just few people appear to read/heard about his ideas.

I found his theory on the website dedicating to 19th century spiritualist Gerald Massey:

"Yet recent research into the ‘string theory’ of particle physics suggests that the survival of the human personality after bodily death is, in fact compatible with mechanistic materialism. A development of the theory proposes a form of matter which can interact gravitationally with the matter of atoms, molecules and elementary particles. This matter, termed ‘shadow matter’, consists of free unbound matter of that type extending throughout the universe. When bonded with ordinary matter, it becomes a duplicate of all objects, animate and inanimate. A shadow matter brain could interact with the living brain by means of gravitational quanta of energy, energising nerve impulses. Interaction could take place also through distance, thus explaining telepathy, clairvoyance and out-of-the-body experiences. According to this theory, there is no reason why the shadow matter brain could not exist after death, and psychic phenomena are likely to provide the best means of proving, by modern scientific praxes, the theory of shadow matter, if it exists."

Ironically,this is on of few websites where this theory is mentioned.When I started my own research about this theory,I found only few references,and the only detailed review is done on September 1993 in 'Journal of Parapsychology" by Douglas M.Stokes:

http://findarticles....57/ai_15383549/

 

First person whom I emailed the question about this theory was well-known paranormal researcher/author Alan Gauld.To my luck,he has read this book,and his reply was very brief:

"The problem I had with Wassermann's book was that there was nothing it couldn't in some sense explain so that correspondingly it did not really explain anything"

 

I also asked physicist Brian Josephson,who wrote some preface in Mandrake about this book,he replied: "I think I was sent it, but it hasn't really led anywhere as far as I know."

 

Dean Radin told that "theory is interesting but unless there is a way provided to test it it is destined to remain just another curiosity"

 

Radin's is especially interesting,because it seems that nobody today is interesing in promoting this theory or refuting it.

Bruno Severi,italian paranormal researcher:

 

"Gerhard D.Wassermann has been indeed a valuable scientist and his theory aiming to explain paranormal phenomena with tha dark matter has risen much interest some decades ago. Now, as you agree, almost nobody remembers the existence of this eminent scientist nor his revolutionary theory. Dark matter certainly exists but it does not seem widely spread among us. If dark matter occupies some space in our world, our lives would have some serious troubles.

Concluding, in accordance with the majority of paranormal researchers, I believe that Wassermann has advanced a novel theory for paranormal phenomena which is no longer considered by nobody, mainly because at this moment there is no mean to verify his assumptions. Every theory should simplify the reality, but it does not seem the case for Wassermann's theory."

 

That's what I collected so far.I also asked some physicists about the shadow matter - got some interesting answers

[Moontanman]

The first thing to know about shadow matter is that it does not interact with matter except gravitationaly. Any shadow matter on the earth sinks directly to the core, you could not hold a chunk of mirror matter (shadow matter and mirror matter are the same thing, the term mirror matter is more accurate and was coined before the idea of anti-matter being mirror matter was brought into popular culture) nor could you have parts of your body made of mirror matter. "Mirror matter" or "shadow matter" could not interact with matter chemically.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_matter

 

Any mirror matter on the Earth has long since sunk deep into the Earth.

 

Dr. Foot's book

 

http://books.google.com/books/about/Shadowlands.html?id=3evE2K-ylVIC

 

I have read his book and i have exchanged e-mails with Dr, Foot and he has assured me that mirror matter would be short lived on the surface of the earth, tending to sink deep inside the earth. Mirror matter would be invisible, completely invisible, not just transparent. If the sun was a mirror matter star the earth would still orbit the same but we would receive no heat from a mirror star since it gives off nothing but mirror photons, from our stand point we would appear to orbit around a point in empty space.

 

An interesting thought model of mirror matter and matter would be a planet made up of equal parts of mater and mirror matter, from the stand point of anyone on the surface the planet would appear to have twice the gravitational pull it should have by it's apparent make up, the topography of the matter and shadow matter parts would not necessarily coincide with each other so where the matter part had a mountain the mirror part might have a sea basin. It's really an odd thing to think about. Due to their non interaction except by gravity such a planet would be unlikely, matter and mirror matter would not condense the same way out of a gas and dust nebula and would not be associated with each other or interact with each other the way they interact with themselves.

[Alexander1304]

The first thing to know about shadow matter is that it does not interact with matter except gravitationaly. Any shadow matter on the earth sinks directly to the core, you could not hold a chunk of mirror matter (shadow matter and mirror matter are the same thing, the term mirror matter is more accurate and was coined before the idea of anti-matter being mirror matter was brought into popular culture) nor could you have parts of your body made of mirror matter. "Mirror matter" or "shadow matter" could not interact with matter chemically.

 

http://en.wikipedia....i/Mirror_matter

 

Any mirror matter on the Earth has long since sunk deep into the Earth.

 

Dr. Foot's book

 

http://books.google....id=3evE2K-ylVIC

 

I have read his book and i have exchanged e-mails with Dr, Foot and he has assured me that mirror matter would be short lived on the surface of the earth, tending to sink deep inside the earth. Mirror matter would be invisible, completely invisible, not just transparent. If the sun was a mirror matter star the earth would still orbit the same but we would receive no heat from a mirror star since it gives off nothing but mirror photons, from our stand point we would appear to orbit around a point in empty space.

 

An interesting thought model of mirror matter and matter would be a planet made up of equal parts of mater and mirror matter, from the stand point of anyone on the surface the planet would appear to have twice the gravitational pull it should have by it's apparent make up, the topography of the matter and shadow matter parts would not necessarily coincide with each other so where the matter part had a mountain the mirror part might have a sea basin. It's really an odd thing to think about. Due to their non interaction except by gravity such a planet would be unlikely, matter and mirror matter would not condense the same way out of a gas and dust nebula and would not be associated with each other or interact with each other the way they interact with themselves.

 

This is from review of Wassermann's book,seems like Wassermann had this in his mind:

"Shadow matter consists of dark twins of ordinary matter particles whose mode of interaction with particles of ordinary matter is restricted to gravity. For this reason, shadow matter would normally be expected to sink to the center of a planet such as the Earth. This does not happen in Wassermann's theory, because he postulates a much lighter variety of shadow matter than do Kolb et al. (Wassermann asserts that because Kolb et al.'s assumptions about the masses and modes of interaction of shadow matter particles are arbitrary, he is free to make his own assumptions.) The lowered mass of Wassermann's shadow matter may reduce its ability to account for much of the undetected "dark matter" in the universe, which is one of the main appeals of shadow matter in physics. Of course, even this lighter version of shadow matter should still quickly settle at the center of the Earth. Wassermann resolves this difficulty late in the book by asserting that the entire Earth has a shadow matter twin that prevents the surface-based shadow matter from sinking further."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n3_v57/ai_15383549/

[Moontanman]

This is from review of Wassermann's book,seems like Wassermann had this in his mind:

"Shadow matter consists of dark twins of ordinary matter particles whose mode of interaction with particles of ordinary matter is restricted to gravity. For this reason, shadow matter would normally be expected to sink to the center of a planet such as the Earth. This does not happen in Wassermann's theory, because he postulates a much lighter variety of shadow matter than do Kolb et al. (Wassermann asserts that because Kolb et al.'s assumptions about the masses and modes of interaction of shadow matter particles are arbitrary, he is free to make his own assumptions.) The lowered mass of Wassermann's shadow matter may reduce its ability to account for much of the undetected "dark matter" in the universe, which is one of the main appeals of shadow matter in physics. Of course, even this lighter version of shadow matter should still quickly settle at the center of the Earth. Wassermann resolves this difficulty late in the book by asserting that the entire Earth has a shadow matter twin that prevents the surface-based shadow matter from sinking further."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n3_v57/ai_15383549/

 

 

Well Wassermann can assert anything he likes but shadow matter theory postulates that shadow matter is identical to matter in mass, does he show any reasons he has to assert that somehow shadow matter protons neutrons and electrons are lighter in mass than matter? I can assert there are whale corpses on the moon but that doesn't make it true.

Edited July 12, 2011 by Moontanman

[Alexander1304]

Well Wassermann can assert anything he likes but shadow matter theory postulates that shadow matter is identical to matter in mass, does he show any reasons he has to assert that somehow shadow matter protons neutrons and electrons are lighter in mass than matter? I can assert there are whale corpses on the moon but that doesn't make it true.

 

You know,in much of,if not all of, his variant of "shadow matter" he indeed seems to assert whatever he wants

 

"does he show any reasons he has to assert that somehow shadow matter protons neutrons and electrons are lighter in mass than matter?"

 

As stated above,the reason is: "Wassermann asserts that because Kolb et al.'s assumptions about the masses and modes of interaction of shadow matter particles are arbitrary, he is free to make his own assumptions.".

 

Interesting quote about his theory comes from one writer: "judging from the serious technical faux pas in his book, this materialistic biologist appears to have little professional understanding of particle physics, and his explanations of psychic phenomena in terms of shadow matter and its forces make too many ad hoc assumptions and use too few facts to make his theorising good science, even making allowance for the theoretical study of shadow matter being still in its infancy."

[Moontanman]

There is nothing arbitrary about the values of mirror matter, they mirror matter, in fact they should be identical in every other way, even to having anti-mirror matter. How can the values of the mass of mirror matter particles be arbitrary when they in fact must by definition be the same as matter?

Edited July 12, 2011 by Moontanman

[Alexander1304]

There is nothing arbitrary about the values of mirror matter, they mirror matter, in fact they should be identical in ever other way, even to having anti-mirror matter. How can the values of the mass of mirror matter particles be arbitrary when they in fact must by definition be the same as matter?

That's the good point,Moontanman.I also had some correspondence with Dr.Robert Thomas Foot,he kindly replied me on my questions,and I'm going to ask him this question as well.

Meanwhile ,I asked him ih he has read/heard Wassermann's book - he hasn't

I described Wassermann's theory in abstract,and asked what he think about if - he replied "sounds very speculative"

I asked if he thinks humans have 2 bodies/brains - he replied "I don't think there is any evidence for this...and certainly is not expected if "mirror matter" exists..."

I asked "Even if so - You states that ordinary particles and mirror particles hase the same mass/lifetime?Does that mean that when the ordinary dies - the "mirror" dies too?

His reply:

"You see, the particles i'm talking about are the elementary ones, the electrons, protons and neutrons (or more precisely quarks). I'm not talking about macroscopic

"particles" like you and me.... Particle physics deals with the microscopic....there is no reason that i can see that mirror partticles, if they exist,should assemble into an exact copy of you and me.."

 

 

And my last question was if he thinks that "mirror matter" may be liked to psychic phenomena - he replied "I think it is very unlikely"

 

Good points about the values of mirror matter,Moontanman,I'll ask Dr.Foot directly,hopefully he will reply

 

But what about Wassermann's assertions that entire Earth has a shadow matter copy that prevents the shadow matterr to sink?

Edited July 12, 2011 by Alexander1304

[Moontanman]

 

 

But what about Wassermann's assertions that entire Earth has a shadow matter copy that prevents the shadow matterr to sink?

 

 

The gravitational pull of the Earth falsifies this assertion.

[Alexander1304]

The gravitational pull of the Earth falsifies this assertion.

 

Here we go,Moontanman,I hope You'll see this message.I got kind response from Robert Foot and will glaldy post it here

 

My 1st question: "Wassermann asserts that because Kolb et al.'s assumptions about the masses and modes of interaction of shadow matter particles are arbitrary" - are the assumption os mass/iteractions REALLY arbitrary,or there are good indications that they need to have a certain mass?"

 

Robert Foot: "this is more a matter of taste. I personally find the model with mirror particles of the same mass much more appealing for symmetry reasons."

 

My 2nd question: "Ok,even "lighter version" still should settle at the center of Earth.Wassermann asserts that "entire Earth has a shadow matter twin that prevents the surface-based shadow matter from sinking further" - is his assertion credible?Or it HIS assertion is arbitrary?"

 

Robert Foot: "His assertian isn't credible. There are limits on the amound of exotic matter in the earth...i think around 0.1 percent.."