An Ethnographical Assessment of Project Firefly:A Yearlong Endeavor to Create Wealth by Predicting FOREX Currency Moves with Associative Remote Viewing
Title: An Ethnographical Assessment of Project Firefly: A Yearlong Endeavor to Create Wealth by Predicting FOREX Currency Moves with Associative Remote Viewing
Researchers: Debra Lynne Katz, PhD., Igor Grgic’, T.W. Fendley
Published: March 31, 2018 by the Journal of Scientii c Exploration, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 21–54, 2018
Abstract
More than 60 remote viewers contributed 177 intuitive-based
associative remote viewing (ARV) predictions over a 14-month period.
These viewers comprised pre-established, self-organized groups cooperating
under the rubric of “Project Firefly” (PFF), and were supervised by experienced
ARV group managers operating under the umbrella of the Applied
Precognition Project (APP), a for-profit organization exploring precognition
and leveraging ARV methodology as an investment enhancement tool.
Based on predictions from the ARV sessions, PFF used the Kelly wagering
strategy to guide trading on the Foreign Exchange (FOREX) currency
market. Viewers performed under typical scientific protocols, including
double-blind conditions, appropriate randomization, etc., using a variety of
ARV application methodologies. Investors, many of whom were also participants
(viewers and judges), pooled investment funds totaling $56,300
with the stated goal of “creating wealth aggressively.” Rather than meeting
that goal, however, most of the funds were lost over the course of the project.
Beyond merely reporting on an extensive remote viewing experiment,
the present study is an examination of what went wrong, providing lessons
learned for further ARV research whether involving for-profit activities or
basic research, as the principles are relevant to both. Associative remote
viewing is a research paradigm that harkens back to early days in science
where competent non-academic researchers can provide datapoints and
breakthroughs in a field typically peopled solely by professional researchers.
Adapting a form of ethnographic study, we refer not only to the statistical
results produced by the PFF effort, but also employ a mixed-methods
qualitative approach to exploit the information and insights contributed
by numerous participants about what happened, what worked, and what
didn’t. This creates a reference we believe will be useful for those conducting
future applied precognition projects involving multiple participants or
groups. We feel that the insights gleaned from this study will improve both
ARV experimental design and execution of research protocol, benefitting
professional and amateur researchers alike in their future ARV experimentation.
Keywords: associative remote viewing—remote viewing—precognition—
Kelly wagering—FOREX—Applied Precognition Project—intuitive wagering—
controlled remote viewing—parapsychology—predicting the future—
sociology of science—ethnography of parapsychology research—
non-academic contributions to science.
