Letter: Knew you'd say that?

From Mark Colson

If statistically significant precognition existed, that would be stunning – even at the level of 2.27 per cent that Michael Franklin reports (14 January, p 38).

Presumably this figure is the mean for the test population. But what is the spread of individual performances? In other words, does everyone have this weak ability, or do most of us not have it, while a few special beings are incredibly gifted? This letter will be of little interest to them: they will have already “felt” it.

Michael Franklin responds:

• I am currently working under the assumption that precognition is akin to unconscious perception. Psychologists have come up with clever ways to demonstrate the existence of unconscious information and this is the approach used in my experiment. Despite the weak signal, my results suggest that under the right conditions anyone could demonstrate precognition. However, that precognitive information need not be explicit, or available to them.

Highton, Victoria, Australia