"What
are ESP, PK and psi?"
'Extrasensory
perception' (ESP) is a term coined by Dr. J. B.
Rhine of Duke University. It covers any instance of
the apparent acquisition of non-inferential
knowledge of matters of fact without the use of the
known sense organs. ESP is usually said to have
three varieties: 'telepathy,' in which the
knowledge is of events in another person's mind,
'clairvoyance,' in which the knowledge is of
physical objects or states of affairs; and
'precognition' (telepathic or clairvoyant), where
the knowledge relates to happenings still in the
future. The word 'knowledge' is, however, not
entirely appropriate, for there may be telepathic
or clairvoyant 'interaction,' in which a person's
mental state or actions may be influenced by an
external state of affairs, though he does not
'know' or 'cognize' it.
Another American term is 'psychokinesis' (PK), the
direct influence of mental events on physical
events external to the agent's body. 'Psi' (from
the Greek letter) is 'a general term to identify
personal factors or processes in nature which
transcend accepted laws' [Gay74]. It is
sometimes used to cover both ESP and PK.
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