https://wiki.fusiongirl.app:443/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Edwin_C_MayEdwin C May - Revision history2026-05-12T11:39:14ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.41.0https://wiki.fusiongirl.app:443/index.php?title=Edwin_C_May&diff=7002&oldid=prevJonoThora: Psionics expansion (01a + 01b): content authored / LaTeX-restored per local submodule; lint-clean.2026-05-11T20:48:18Z<p>Psionics expansion (01a + 01b): content authored / LaTeX-restored per local submodule; lint-clean.</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Audience_Sidebar<br />
| difficulty = Intermediate<br />
| reading_time = 4 minutes<br />
| prerequisites = [[Psionics_Primer]]; basic experimental methodology.<br />
| if_too_advanced_see = [[Remote_Viewing]]<br />
| if_you_want_the_math_see = [[Remote_Viewing]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
{{Person_Vital_Stats<br />
| name = Edwin C. May<br />
| birth = 1940<br />
| death = (living)<br />
| nationality = American<br />
| field = Nuclear physics; parapsychology<br />
| affiliation = Stanford Research Institute (SRI) / SAIC (Star Gate program lead, 1985-1995); Laboratories for Fundamental Research<br />
| key_works = ''Anomalous Cognition: Remote Viewing Research and Theory'' (2014, with Marwaha)<br />
| era = Late 20th to early 21st century<br />
}}<br />
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== Summary ==<br />
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'''Edwin C. May''' is an American nuclear physicist who served as '''Director of Research and then Program Director''' for the US government remote-viewing programme ([[Star_Gate_Program]]) from 1985 through its declassification in 1995 — succeeding [[Hal_Puthoff]] in that role. He oversaw the largest body of remote-viewing research data ever produced and has continued analytical and theoretical work on the data since.<br />
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== Life ==<br />
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May completed his PhD in low-energy experimental nuclear physics at the University of Pittsburgh (1968). He worked in nuclear physics research before joining the SRI remote-viewing programme in 1976. From 1985 he was the principal investigator on the SRI / SAIC contracts that constituted the operational research arm of [[Star_Gate_Program|Star Gate]].<br />
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After the 1995 declassification and programme termination, May founded the '''Laboratories for Fundamental Research''' (Palo Alto) to continue private analysis of the Star Gate data.<br />
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== Key Contributions ==<br />
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=== Decision Augmentation Theory (DAT) ===<br />
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May, with Jessica Utts and others, developed '''Decision Augmentation Theory''' — a statistical-physics framework treating apparent psi effects in random-event-generator and remote-viewing experiments as the result of '''psi-mediated selection of decision moments''' rather than psi-mediated influence on physical outcomes. The framework:<br />
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* Reinterprets PK / REG effects as informational, not force-mediated.<br />
* Provides specific quantitative predictions distinguishing influence-based vs. selection-based effects.<br />
* Has been partially tested against the Star Gate data.<br />
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=== Operational remote-viewing research ===<br />
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Under May's direction the Star Gate research arm refined remote-viewing methodology and produced careful statistical analyses of the cumulative database. The 1995 AIR report (Mumford, Rose, Goslin) reviewing the programme acknowledged statistically significant effects in the laboratory database (Utts review) while reaching mixed conclusions about operational utility (Hyman review).<br />
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=== Database curation and continuing analysis ===<br />
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May's Laboratories for Fundamental Research has been the principal locus for continuing post-1995 analysis of the Star Gate data. Multiple subsequent peer-reviewed publications have come from this analysis, refining understanding of methodological factors influencing remote-viewing effect sizes.<br />
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== Reception ==<br />
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May is recognised as the most methodologically rigorous of the operational-era parapsychology researchers. The Utts review of his programme's data (1995, ''Statistical Science'') concluded that the statistical evidence for anomalous cognition was robust and replicable; the Hyman review reached the opposite conclusion on the basis of methodological concerns. Mainstream parapsychology takes May's work seriously regardless of position on the broader phenomenon.<br />
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In the [[Psionics|psionic framework]], May's '''Decision Augmentation Theory''' is structurally compatible with the framework's account of ψ-field coupling as primarily informational rather than force-mediated. His careful statistical analyses provide some of the best-quality data on the phenomena the framework attempts to explain.<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
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* May, E. C., Utts, J. M., Spottiswoode, S. J. P. (1995). "Decision augmentation theory: towards a model of anomalous mental phenomena." ''Journal of Parapsychology'' 59: 195-220.<br />
* May, E. C., Marwaha, S. B., eds. (2014). ''Anomalous Cognition: Remote Viewing Research and Theory.'' McFarland.<br />
* May, E. C., Marwaha, S. B., eds. (2018). ''The Star Gate Archives'' (4 volumes). McFarland.<br />
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== See Also ==<br />
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* [[Russell_Targ]]<br />
* [[Hal_Puthoff]]<br />
* [[Star_Gate_Program]]<br />
* [[Remote_Viewing]]<br />
* [[Anomalous_Cognition]]<br />
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== External Links ==<br />
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* Wikipedia: Edwin C. May<br />
* Laboratories for Fundamental Research.<br />
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== References ==<br />
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* As above.<br />
* Mumford, M. D., Rose, A. M., Goslin, D. A. (1995). ''An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.'' American Institutes for Research.<br />
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[[Category:Psionics]]<br />
[[Category:Biographies]]<br />
[[Category:Parapsychology]]<br />
[[Category:Remote Viewing]]</div>JonoThora