After commenting on Joe Rogan's interview with physicist and aerospace engineer Harold "Sonny" White, I watched a previous episode of Joe Rogan's show "The Joe Rogan Experience." A couple of weeks ago Rogan hosted Hal Puthoff, a physicist renowned (or maligned) for his work in unconventional scientific areas, including remote viewing and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

The conversation delved into Puthoff’s journey from mainstream physics to exploring phenomena that challenge conventional understanding, offering insights into consciousness, quantum mechanics, and potential extraterrestrial technologies.

Early Career and Entry into Unconventional Science

Dr. Puthoff’s fascination with the unconventional began in his youth as a ham radio operator, leading him to study electrical engineering and physics. While pursuing his PhD at Stanford University, he invented a tunable infrared laser and co-authored a graduate-level textbook, "Fundamentals of Quantum Electronics" (1969).

His curiosity about consciousness, however, sparked a pivotal shift. Puthoff proposed a physics experiment involving algae cultures to test for unknown fields or interactions.

Then psychic Ingo Swann learned of Puthoff’s algae experiment and suggested studying human subjects instead. Initially skeptical, Puthoff invited Swann to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), where he was conducting laser research. Puthoff tested Swann’s abilities using a highly shielded quantum chip experiment designed to detect quarks. Swann not only affected the chip’s oscillations but also accurately described its internal structure, defying the shielding. This unexpected result drew the attention of the CIA, who were concerned about Soviet research into extrasensory perception (ESP) for espionage. Puthoff’s prior naval intelligence background and clearances made him an ideal candidate to investigate, launching a 20-year classified remote viewing program at SRI.

Remote Viewing Program

The SRI remote viewing program aimed to explore whether individuals could perceive distant or hidden information without sensory input. Swann and others demonstrated remarkable capabilities. For instance, a remote viewer accurately described a classified NSA facility and a Soviet R&D site, providing details verified by satellite imagery. The program evolved from simple tests to complex tasks, such as locating a downed Soviet plane in Africa, pinpointed within three miles by remote viewers. These successes convinced high-level officials, who extended the program’s funding after a five-hour briefing.

Puthoff emphasizes the program’s rigorous methodology, developed over years to minimize imagination-driven errors. Remote viewers were trained to focus on visceral impressions - colors, shapes, or textures - rather than mental images, which often led to inaccuracies. The process involved multiple stages, with viewers sketching impressions without interpreting them. Surprisingly, tests revealed that remote viewing ability followed a bell curve, suggesting most people possess some latent capacity, akin to musical or athletic talent. Even skeptics, like a CIA officer who became a skilled remote viewer after participating, were convinced by the results.

The program faced persistent skepticism, which Puthoff welcomed as a scientific necessity. To counter doubts, SRI published findings, prompting replication by institutions like Princeton’s Engineering Anomalies Research Lab. Despite public dismissal, the program’s classified successes included practical applications, such as detecting drug shipments, highlighting its strategic value.

See Puthoff's book "Mind-Reach" (co-authored with Russell Targ) for more.

Transition to UAP Research

Puthoff’s involvement in UAP research began in the 1990s. In 2004, Puthoff was invited to a Washington meeting to discuss the societal impacts of disclosing extraterrestrial craft and non-human bodies allegedly recovered by the U.S., Russia, and China.

In 2008, Puthoff joined a formal UAP study funded by U.S. Senators through Bigelow Aerospace. Tasked with exploring the physics behind UAP, Puthoff commissioned 38 papers from experts projecting technological advancements by 2050, covering topics like warp drives, dark energy, and spacetime metric engineering. These papers, initially classified, were later released.

Puthoff considers the possibility that the 1947 Roswell crash involved a non-human craft, supported by interviews with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base officials. Perhaps the U.S. possesses other recovered crafts of alien origin. He speculates that UAP may originate from extraterrestrial bases on Earth, possibly underwater, given frequent ocean sightings. Remote viewing could explore these areas, though he’s unaware of current efforts. His current work with quantum communications, leveraging quantum entanglement, aims to enable barrier-penetrating signals, potentially relevant to UAP and consciousness studies.

Puthoff’s analysis suggests UAP operate within physics but beyond current engineering capabilities. "If it's real it's physics," he says, "can't be beyond our beyond our understanding but it's beyond our engineering."

He draws parallels between observed UAP effects - such as rapid acceleration or size distortions - and predictions from Einstein’s general relativity, if engineered.

"We have Einstein's equations in general relativity and we use them to talk about black hole mergers or neutron star mergers or whatever," explains Puthoff. "Suppose I could engineer Einstein's equations the way we engineer Maxwell's equations for electromagnetic effects."

Zero-point physics

But, Puthoff continues, "the energy density required to engineer those equations is just way beyond our ability to do so." Unless, that is, there are ways to tap into energy sources like vacuum fluctuations. It turns out, he explains, "that what we call empty space is not really empty. It's full of quantum fluctuations."

This is an important connection between this interview and Rogan's interview with Sonny White. Puthoff has significantly contributed to the study of quantum fluctuations, also known as zero-point field (ZPF) research, exploring implications for energy, inertia, gravity, and propulsion.

In the afterword to his science fiction novel "3001: The Final Odissey," Arthur Clarke said that a 1994 paper by Puthoff, Bernard Haisch, and Alfonso Rueda, "may one day be regarded as a landmark paper." In the novel, Clarke imagines a space drive known as the SHARP drive (Sakharov, Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff). Puthoff and his co-authors built on a concept first advanced by Andrei Sakharov.

"If I were a NASA administrator," Clarke also said, "I'd get my best, brightest, and youngest (no one over twenty-five need apply) to take a long, hard look at the Puthoff equations."

"I have found a way to extract a small amount of energy from the electromagnetic fluctuations of the vacuum," noted Robert Forward. "It is a vacuum fluctuation 'battery' and it is based on the Casimir effect." This is the same effect upon which Sonny White is trying to build nano devices to extract energy from the quantum vacuum.

Puthoff's collaborator Bernard Haisch as well has co-founded a company that wants to extract energy from quantum vacuum fluctuations.

Summing up

Zero-point physics research is "almost" respectable, but many close-minded scientists (those who like to use terms like "pseudoscience" for open-minded science) find UAP research hard to swallow, not to mention paranormal (aka psi or ESP) phenomena like remote viewing.

But I agree with Ben Goertzel. Like Ben, I "find it hard to dismiss the available data regarding mediumistic seances, apparent 'reincarnation,' and the various psi phenomena like ESP (extra-sensory perception) and precognition." Ben edited a book titled "The Evidence for Psi" (2014) with the late lamented Damien Broderick.

Bernard Haisch also wrote books that link the physics of zero-point vacuum fluctuations to fundamental physics, consciousness, and even a concept of God. The last of his books is titled "The Miracle of Our Universe" (2023).

Putting all these things together casts a powerful light that attracts and brilliant young scientists and younger boys and girls. Perhaps they won't find a way to extract energy from the quantum vacuum or a place for consciousness in science. Or perhaps they will? But even if not, they'll be motivated and do other great things.

I praise Joe Rogan for bringing the work of Puthoff, White, and other great minds working at the frontiers of highly imaginative science and technology, to the attention of the public.