Colin Ross, MD - has he applied?

[ObscureReferenceMan]

Yesterday on reddit, I came across an interesting story on Market Watch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dallas-psychiatrists-paranormal-abilities-tested/story.aspx?guid={23087684-4B13-41B5-8B3C-16A915682834}&dist=hppr).

Colin Ross, MD claims he "can make a tone sound out of a speaker using nothing but an energy beam he sends out through his eyes."

Apparently "Dr. Ross' application to the $1 Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge has been received by the James Randi Educational Foundation". No details as to whether it has been accepted.

Does anybody know any more about this? I checked Swift, but didn't find anything. And a quick search of the forums revealed nothing.

[William Smith]

Yesterday on reddit, I came across an interesting story on Market Watch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dallas-psychiatrists-paranormal-abilities-tested/story.aspx?guid={23087684-4B13-41B5-8B3C-16A915682834}&dist=hppr).

Colin Ross, MD claims he "can make a tone sound out of a speaker using nothing but an energy beam he sends out through his eyes."

Apparently "Dr. Ross' application to the $1 Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge has been received by the James Randi Educational Foundation". No details as to whether it has been accepted.

Does anybody know any more about this? I checked Swift, but didn't find anything. And a quick search of the forums revealed nothing.

:eye-poppi

[paximperium]

Weird.

Here is his website http://www.rossinst.com/treatment.html where he deals mostly with psych trauma.

He's pretty well published with a mixture of papers in good journals and some in so-so journals. Not a shred of woo in his site at all although it does not say what is taught in his seminars.

Don't know what to make of it. Does he have weird beliefs or is he trying to prove some sort of point?

[paximperium]

It's getting weirder.

Here are some books he has published:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?_encoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Colin%20A.%20Ross

It looks like he has published some pretty scientific books. However:

Spirit Power Drawings: The Foundation of a New Science (Paperback)
by Colin A. Ross (Author)
Book Description
Spirit Power Drawings lays the foundation of a new science. According to Colin A. Ross, M.D. this new science is a marriage of science, religion and psychiatry. It is an ancient way of knowing that has been lost by modern industrial man. Industrial man has "lost touch" with nature, the senses have been closed up and two profound dissociations or disconnections have emerged.

According to his philosophy, spirit is a general property of matter. He calls this energy, Spirit Power. His new science is based on a form of knowledge that is deeper, more ancient, more sensual, intuitive, and more rooted in the natural world.

The experiential foundation of the new science is communicated through text and drawings. The drawings communicate a vision of human life and the natural world that Dr. Ross has explored in poetry, fiction and essays. Out of this vision comes an understanding of mind, body, the natural world, and the human spirit.
http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Power-Drawings-Foundation-Science/dp/0970452586/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217535724&sr=1-10

Looks like he is into this spirit energy belief.

[RemieV]

We have received incomplete application information from Colin Ross and are awaiting the rest.

[Jackalgirl]

Hmmm. He's already deciding on how he'll spend the $1 million. Where have I see this before? ; )

[UnrepentantSinner]

We have received incomplete application information from Colin Ross and are awaiting the rest.

I heard him on Coast to Coast tonight and George raised the question of whether an appearance by a applicant on that show would count as media presence.

Say what you will about the content, but an article in the East Podunk Picayune will not reach the audience that a C2C appearance will.

[William Smith]

At least, the JREF would have a prominent applicant. And his claim seems testable fairly easy.

[Kuko 4000]

Colin Ross, MD claims he "can make a tone sound out of a speaker using nothing but an energy beam he sends out through his eyes."

:eye-poppi

I hope Colin comes to visit the boards!

[Moochie]

Yesterday on reddit, I came across an interesting story on Market Watch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dallas-psychiatrists-paranormal-abilities-tested/story.aspx?guid=%7B23087684-4B13-41B5-8B3C-16A915682834%7D&dist=hppr).

Colin Ross, MD claims he "can make a tone sound out of a speaker using nothing but an energy beam he sends out through his eyes."

Apparently "Dr. Ross' application to the $1 Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge has been received by the James Randi Educational Foundation". No details as to whether it has been accepted.

Does anybody know any more about this? I checked Swift, but didn't find anything. And a quick search of the forums revealed nothing.

Looking over his website, I get the impression he is another "legend in his own lunchtime," a la Arthur Janov.

However, I could be wrong.


M.

[ObscureReferenceMan]

I wonder how the original story on Market Watch was put together. Did Ross approach them? Maybe this was his required "media presence"?

[UnrepentantSinner]

Looking over his website, I get the impression he is another "legend in his own lunchtime," a la Arthur Janov.

Listening to him on C2C I learned how he came to realize he was emitting energy from his eyes. Back when he was in his late teens he noticed he'd get the sensation he was being stared at, turned around and immediately made eye contact with the person staring at him.

He also mentioned that sniper schools teach that you shouldn't stare at a target too long otherwise they might sense they're being watched. :rolleyes:

[dbw]

Does the speaker have to be hooked up to something? How big a speaker does it have to be? How loud is the sound? How close does he have to be? Is he humming? Something tells me these eye beams aren't going to go through glass.

[UnrepentantSinner]

Something tells me these eye beams aren't going to go through glass.

Especially since they don't exist. :D

[UnrepentantSinner]

Listening to him on C2C I learned how he came to realize he was emitting energy from his eyes. Back when he was in his late teens he noticed he'd get the sensation he was being stared at, turned around and immediately made eye contact with the person staring at him.

He also mentioned that sniper schools teach that you shouldn't stare at a target too long otherwise they might sense they're being watched. :rolleyes:

Just remembered something else he mentioned which ties into an argument I've made about evolution. He claimed that he things we evolved the ability to sense this energy emitted from the eyes because prey that could sense it would be more likely to escape being eaten and be able to reproduce. I can't recall if he claimed that we evolved the ability to emit the energy or if it's a natural aspect of having eyes.

If he is also claiming that we evolved the ability to emit energy that we can't even see he's so far off base it's not even funny when it comes to evolution. Blind cave fish didn't evolve the ability to see in infrared and an organ to light their environs with it - they lost their eyes because there was no selective pressure to keep them. Similarly moles didn't develop ground penetrating radar organs, they lost their eyes and developed a variety of scent or tactile methods for making their way around their environs.

[Kuko 4000]

Listening to him on C2C I learned how he came to realize he was emitting energy from his eyes. Back when he was in his late teens he noticed he'd get the sensation he was being stared at, turned around and immediately made eye contact with the person staring at him.

He also mentioned that sniper schools teach that you shouldn't stare at a target too long otherwise they might sense they're being watched. :rolleyes:

Fantastic :p

[dpkpr]

The Dallas Observer's blog (blogs dot dallasobserver dot com/unfairpark/2008/08/colin_ross_has_an_eyebeam_of_e.php) has posted a video of Colin Ross explaining and doing a demonstration. Sorry, I don't have enough posts to actually post the link -- maybe someone else can. Disclosure: I helped Dr. Ross with PR to help satisfy the media component of the application.

[rjh01]

Here is the link http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2008/08/colin_ross_has_an_eyebeam_of_e.php

Tin foil is mentioned. Need I say more?

Edit. After watching the video I say it is nothing more than a party trick.

Edit2. One sound sequence roughly every 7 seconds. One pulse was missed, then he ended the demonstration.

[William Smith]

The Dallas Observer's blog (blogs dot dallasobserver dot com/unfairpark/2008/08/colin_ross_has_an_eyebeam_of_e.php) has posted a video of Colin Ross explaining and doing a demonstration. Sorry, I don't have enough posts to actually post the link -- maybe someone else can. Disclosure: I helped Dr. Ross with PR to help satisfy the media component of the application.

Thanks dpkpr and rjh01 for posting the link.

As I said earlier, this claim should be easily testable. Plus, Dr. Ross seems to have all the necessary qualifications to have his application accepted - and then some.

After the modification to the Challenge Rules, the JREF wanted to go for more prominent figures. This would present an excellent possibility to do so, would it not?

[Kuko 4000]

Thanks for the vid dpkpr and rjh01.

:o

I hope he's serious and not just trying to pull a stupid stunt, whatever it is, I hope he can make it up to the preliminary test. Would be great to watch a live-stream of that.

[dbw]

Ridiculous... absolutely nothing paranormal about it. There are a thousand ways he could be signaling the computer, ranging from pseudo-paranormal (a la e-meter) to cheating (the hardware has a camera, the software makes the noise when he closes his eye) to REALLY cheating (it just makes the noise every few seconds).

I think he'll have to do better than "I can make my secret combination of hardware and software react while hooked up to a variety of sensors attached to my skin." I mean, I could do that too.

Plus the tinfoil and the "Danny isn't here" routine with his finger just SCREAM crackpot.

[William Smith]

Ridiculous... absolutely nothing paranormal about it. There are a thousand ways he could be signaling the computer, ranging from pseudo-paranormal (a la e-meter) to cheating (the hardware has a camera, the software makes the noise when he closes his eye) to REALLY cheating (it just makes the noise every few seconds).

I think he'll have to do better than "I can make my secret combination of hardware and software react while hooked up to a variety of sensors attached to my skin." I mean, I could do that too.

Plus the tinfoil and the "Danny isn't here" routine with his finger just SCREAM crackpot.

Let's assume for now cheating via software does not seem the cause for the phenomenon. This would easily get detected on a hardware check during the prelim.

I would like to hear his claim wording. Of course, I will not bug the JREF Staff with inquiries concerning applicants: I'd never do that. ;)

[hopfen]

The first component he picked up appeared to be a computer microphone. He plugged that into a box containing other components and then into a computer running secret software. Apparently, only he could see the computer screen, to determine the timing of the sounds.

Yep, I'm convinced it's for real.

[dbw]

Frankly I'm very disappointed. I suspect he's not going to let anyone look at his hardware or software, which means game over. I was hoping this would be something cool... like he could sit on my couch, stare at my amp in the corner, and make it hum. Now that would be worth investigating, plus he'd be great at parties.

[volatile]

There are innumerable ways that is "mysterious" equipment could be rigged, plus the way he's defining paranormal as "things not allowed by science" is hopelessly wrong.

From the evidence in the video, the guy's either a fraud, a crackpot or both.

[Moochie]

There's a TED session that shows a severely incapacitated man playing a song using technology controlled with his eyes. The tech made it possible for him to write and perform the piece. There were no claims of paranormality involved -- it was the technology that made it possible for him to express his creativity.


M.

[IXP]

The possibilities for cheating here are so obvious, I can only believe that he is attempting to get as much media attention as possible, then come clean and point out how stupid they had all been.

IXP

[ObscureReferenceMan]

Welcome to the forum dpkpr!

[William Smith]

The possibilities for cheating here are so obvious, I can only believe that he is attempting to get as much media attention as possible, then come clean and point out how stupid they had all been.

IXP

I thought the same thing.

But then, wouldn't this likely constitute a net loss for him? He would get some short-term exposure.

Long-term, wouldn't he have some unflattering label attached to him?

I think the "Bad news is good news" only applies when one has something to sell or gain. Now, if he were to sell an appliance (Sniffex comes to mind) which would enable people to achieve the feat... It seems he doesn't.

Thoughts anyone?

[rjh01]

If all he wants is attention then he can spin this device for several years. Example Anyone heard about this dude? (pavelprorok on youtube) (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=82062) 14 months, 666 posts and counting and still no agreed protocol, let alone test.

[ohp]

There's a TED session that shows a severely incapacitated man playing a song using technology controlled with his eyes. The tech made it possible for him to write and perform the piece. There were no claims of paranormality involved -- it was the technology that made it possible for him to express his creativity.
M.

I've seen a number of technologies working with eye control:

1) A camera fixed to the head monitors the eyeball. The head is either fixed, or has a number of position sensors. By working out where the head is, and what orientation the eyeball is in, you can tell what it's looking at by using trigonometry.

2) infra red light is shone into the eye. The retina doesn't pick it up, but it does reflect it back. You can then control things just by blinking, or looking at a photosensor. You can also combine it with an infra red camera, and use it in a similar way to method 1)

3) There's another technology that I saw demonstrated on the gadget show a few weeks back: it works by dividing the screen into flashing squares. Each square flashes at a different frequency. You then attach sensors to the head, and pick up that same frequency within activity in the visual cortex. You then know which square your'e looking at.

of course, there are oodles of non eye related communication methods - jaw clenching, skin resistance, foot pedal, or just a counter on the screen that tells you when the next beep will occur :-)

[Chris Noble]

of course, there are oodles of non eye related communication methods - jaw clenching, skin resistance, foot pedal, or just a counter on the screen that tells you when the next beep will occur :-)

In the video he connects electrodes to both ears, complete with conductive gel.

I would guess when he does his "magic" stuff with his eyes he moves other muscles in his head and changes the resistance between his ears (obviously not a perfect vacuum).

It's a bit like perpetual motion devices. The idea is to make them sufficiently complicated and difficult to understand so as to leave room for self deception.

[Roma]

While I do think that what Dr.Colin Ross is doing is probably a mechanical trick I wonder why he is using his finger to let us know when we are hearing a sound, we're not deaf. A magician would do this to distract us, but a hypnotist would to this as part of a pre-implanted suggestion. Dr.Colin Ross includes on his own web site his decades long studies of CIA mind control experiments. Is he just playing with people's minds in an experiment of mass hypnosis?