Explanation of ESP Experiment

I have received various possible explanations for how the ESP web page works. I welcome your own suggestions for how this works.

This ESP Test has recently taken the world by storm. On June 5th, 2002 the popular UK newspaper the Daily Mirror reported on my web site:
"It's got to be one of the weirdest sites we've ever come across but it's definitely worth visiting. Pop into http:// sprott.physics.wisc.edu/ pickover/ esp.html and you'll be baffled for days - even months. We don't know how he does it but Cliff Pickover, the site's creator, claims he's conducting an ESP test. Click on one of three eyes, he asks, and then look at six playing cards. Without moving your cursor, pick a card, shout out its name and then click on one of six more eyes. It then tells you which card you chose. It claims to be correct 98 per cent of the time but won't tell you how. Every one of the 60 times we tried - and we did everything we could to trick them - they got it right. Spooky!" (page 45)

This ESP Test is now used throughout the world in Psychology and other university classes. As one example, note how it was used as an extra-credit problem in a university "Psychology 101" class:
Pickover's ESP website says it's "psychic." Follow the directions given and see if your mind was read correctly or not. What you will give me is a sentence or two stating whether you would conclude this website is psychic and that it could read your mind. Ten points possible. Due November 27, 2002.

Here are some individual explanations of the astounding results....

From Karen G.
I think your ESP experiment works because most people choose a card too quickly and don't give the computer sufficient time to randomly choose other cards. Also, the thought occurred to me that people may tend to mouse-click on the side of the screen where their chosen card is located, so that the computer can eliminate some of the cards as potential choices.

From Angela R.
I tried the esp experiment about 50 times consecutively and it gave the correct answer every time. I intend to repeat the experiment and count properly, but the p-value is already low enough to convince me that this is not change guessing.

I was using the random number generator on my calculator to choose which card to pick, and I clicked the same eyes every time, and I put my cursor over the eye which I was to click before I pressed the random button on my calculator so that I could be sure that the website was not using my cursor movements to predict the card. I put a black sock over my webcam hole, to ensure that the site was not tracking my eye movements, and was careful not to make the sort of noises that might reveal what card I was looking at should my microphone be hijacked.

How does it work? The html code that I read did not inform me of where cards2.gif came from. Do you have any other source code that I can view?

From Elaine V.
I only did the test twice. But how do you do that.

I think it has something to do with the eye square that was installed on my computer against my will and I can't get rid of.

Is it that indeed, does the computer scan our eye movements.

Since I don't have a web cam, how does it do that.

Or is it strictly a mathematical probability and random type of thing?

I am curious.

From Milica H.
Dr. Pickover, regarding the ESP test, in one case you guessed correctly and once you were wrong - and I did the ESP experiment only twice. Does the explanation have something to do with clicking on eyes icons before and after we have chosen the card? I think there is a calculation of probabilities. The choice of eye icon could give you a clue which card we choose. Or at least that is my theory as to how it works. Anyway, quite impressive! Will you announce the results of ESP experiment? Best wishes, Milica, Researcher

From Linda W.
I think the ESP program works because the computer can guess your selection by monitoring which eye and blinking eye you select. There must be a formula that maps eye and tarot card selection to the card you selected.

From Stephanie S.
I really enjoyed the ESP Experiment. I have a theory as to how it works: One card is slightly "darker" and shadowed, and gives the impression of being at a slightly lower level than the others in a 3D sense. I think you are therefore drawn to pick that card. Looking forward to hearing the definitive answer.

From Larry S.
I viewed the source code and could not discover understandable mathematical computations which would aid the web page in making a decision. However, I did note that if the user does not look at the card layout (thus denying the "web site" the opportunity to follow the user's eye movement), and that if the user decides beforehand which card to choose, that the ESP program fails to determine the user's card selection.

Does the technology exist that would: (1) allow interaction between a server/program and a user to the extent that the server/program could scan the user's eye movement; (2) and, precise enough to detect pupil dilation resulting from concentration?

From Tara R.
Quantum mechanics may permit synchronicity of thought and computer software. I suggest that, on the quantum level, you were able to predict the card I selected even before I selected it. It is also possible that my brainwaves may influence your software. Although this seems far-fetched, we know that brainwaves are detectable with SQUID (superconducting quantum interference devices.)

From William:
Yes, you picked the right card. I wonder how you did that. I shall spend many nights wondering this. I thought of 2 cards actually, and your program picked the one that I thought of first. By thinking of more than one card your program's odds of picking the correct one are greatly improved in my case. Maybe your program preys on peoples inability to make up their mind. Anyway I still don't know how you did it. Facinating.

From Doug L:
The ESP experiment "worked", i.e. the web site appeared to correctly determine the playing card I selected. Knowing that you have written a book on time travel, I suspect that the original tarot card selection is a ruse, and that I in fact randomly selected a playing card, a selection that you had 5/6 probability of guessing wrong. In other words, you have discovered a limited (but real) mechanism of modifying past events .

My suspicion is that "originally" the experiment failed, but with each subsequent failure you were able to modify my previous experiences until, after a few iterations, you were successful.

Can you modify "physical" past events, or is your method restricted to thoughts and perceptions?

From Samantha F.:
I believe you are able to determine which card I picked by examining my eye movement (point of reference - eyeball) and card location?

From Kim:
My boyfriend and I found out by trying the experiment together. At first, we thought you could simultaneously detect both our thoughts.
By the way, I am an eighth grade science teacher. I use your Alien IQ Test book on my students. They love it! Any further suggestions?

From David S., Associate Professor of Chemistry:
I enjoyed your esp experiment. Yes, you correctly predicted my selection two times in a row. I think I know how you do it: each day, you ingest a small amount ( several mg.) of Harmine alkaloid which is sometimes called Telepathine. Check this out in the Merck Index. You might want to write a book on pyschactive compounds. Very interesting stuff.

From Clay F.:
One card flickers and subliminally calls your attention to it.

From Marcela S.:
Okay-- that was way too freaky for me!!! I do admit it was awesome but at the same time it scares me because it seems that there is no limit to the power of our minds -- or yours at least -- that could be good or it could be bad. Have you ever considered that we may not be meant to use all the power our brain has because it could lead to our destruction?? Just a thought!! Thank you!!

From Mark M.:
Your ESP experiment was correct. You scare me. I scare myself sometimes. I lucid dream often and have more than dejavue occurrences.

From Guy B.:
I am quite impressed, Mr. Pickover. I am quite sure that the other explanations for why your little ESP program works are totally incorrect, however, I am at a total loss, especially since I did the best I could to generate random numbers. I couldn't find any dice handy, so I used the Time of Day clock on my computer, and found its remander when divided by 3 for the first number; took out the first business card that came to hand and took the first phone number on there modulo 6, and then located a calculator and had it generate a pseudo-random number which I then did modulo 6. I did the little experiment 3 times, and your program "got" it all times. And, no, I did not say the name of the card aloud or stare at it or anything like that; it has nothing to do with what side of the side of the screen I clicked on. As I said before, I am quite impressed. I do not at this point know how to download and disassemble Java code, unfortunately, or maybe I could figure out how you did it. (Assuming you wrote this in Java.)

From Kari H.:
Heh, when I found your esp page there was two other physicists in the office and we were all wondering how can this be true, what's the trick. A collegue look at page source code and tried to mess around with mouse pointer to see if it had any influence. After reading the 'flicker explanation' by Clay F. a card was selected by one of us choosing a number between 1 and 6 without looking at the monitor and the other was on computer an an 'operator' :) It was fun.

From Ryan M.:
This is Ryan, one half of Karen and Ryan who discovered your ESP experiment trick. We're both college students at Sir Sandford Flemming College in Lindsay Ontario, Canada. We spent a good hour or so trying to figure out how that trick worked, some of our theories involved: a program that tracked eye movements, mind reading web pages, artificial intelligence, one of those cool programs that evolves to predict stuff through natural selection, and even a little anti-chaos theroy! I have recently read your collaboration with Piers Anthony "Spider Legs". It was splendiferous! Right up my ally too, as I am an Aquaculture student. You have caused me to become obsessed with Sea Spiders, I am in fact; using them as a subject for a class paper.

Professor Margaret C.
Dear Cliff, I don't know how the ESP works, but I tried clicking on the same eyes before and after each time and then thinking of a different card without saying it out loud. It got it right 4 times out of 4, which statistically is improbable but not impossible. I always thought I had ESP! I am an atomic physicist and professor of IT in Education. When I have more time I would like to experiment further. Well done on a very clever site!

From: Tim G.:
Nice, I'm impressed with the ESP page. I suspect simple statistics is the explanation to how it works. If I click the same "eyes" then your program removes the same card each time (no matter how hard I stare at different cards/out of the window!). This suggests a static mapping between eyes clicked and card removed (or a mapping that changes very slowly). I like the idea of the program learning these mappings. I can only assume that the feedback mechanism is based on people going for another "try" only if the program gets it right first tme round, so if a user has another go the program assumes that it got it right first time. It only remains for me to state my amazement/dismay that we are so predictable!!

From: Bill:

I tried three times and you missed twice. Better luck next time.


From Larisa K:
May I submit that your interesting 98-percent accuracy and impressive Quantum Consistency numbers result from the interaction of two eerily potent universal forces: the formidable Power of Assertion and the unstoppable Human Need for Comfortable Explanations? (If you say those last two words quickly enough with a neurological accent, you get "Confabulations.") How large a factor have you found the Mystical Psychic Atmospherical Impression of Tarot Cards?

From: Ben
I was looking at your website, when I came upon your ESP Experiment. I was quite puzzled by it, and looked over the page of other's explanations, but doubted that there are mind reading web pages. I decided to totally randomize it, and wrote down the cards with corresponding numbers. I rolled a die, and with out even looking at the screen, randomly clicked an eye. It always came out correct. Then, without even looking at the die, it came out correct....

From Ohio: I tried all I could to foil the experiment... But still the card I pick disappeared.

From: Bryan R
Cliff, Do I have any idea how it works? Not a glimmer. Bryan

From: Enrique B,
I am amazed. I entered your page with a little curiosity and got three straight correct responses. I have not really read all about it but I will go through it .

From: Walter from Romania
Dear Dr. Pickover, This is Walther and Christian, two thirds of an ESP experiment. This is outstanding. Unbelievable when you think it is done by a software. We would be very happy if we could receive some explanation. Thank you !!!

From: Carlo D.(Italy):
Ok, I must admit it. I have tested the page, and the precision of the "code" is amazing. Is it a psychological trick? I have look at the code, but I must admit I don't understand what it does... ... it is however a wonderful party trick :-) Best regards. PS: by the way, your books are truly superb. I have some difficulty in getting them here in Italy, but your work is amazing.
Someone suggested implanted microphones.

From: Petri Kotro (Finland)
University of Lapland
Dear Cliff, your program removed several times the card I named, even though I spoke Finnish when naming the card. There are not many people in Anglo-Saxon world who can read an Finno-Ugric mind that easy (or know any Finnish). Or maybe you're Celtic ? In that case, your programming skills would be quite intelligible. with best regards,

From J. Davis:
I dont have any clue as to why it works, but i just know that it does. i tried it at least 17 times, and each time it worked. i would like to talk to you about this, so could you mail me back??? please???

From: "dougv"
Holy Shit!!! Six tries to beat or see you card system failed ! The card selction was correct every time. I'm out of here! GEEEZ!

From James:
Dear Cliff, I'm curious about your ESP test. I was somehow able to guess which card was going to disappear from my screen, but I couldn't correctly guess which ones would remain. No matter what I tried. Where can I find an explanation for this??? Thanks. James.

From Lou D.:
Why does the experiment work? I purposely chose cards that were not my first choice. I chose an eye that was my least likely selection. How does it work?
P.P.S. I did your ESP experiment 8 times consecutively with every permutation I could think of . It removed the correct card every time. Now get out of the lab and lets go to Atlantic City!!!!! br> I think you are using a program that tracks the selections we make an acts accordingly. How's that?

From Steve H.:
I just took the ESP test...and you were right...WOW!

From: "Michael B.
It took me about 10 minutes to figure out what appears some very intellegent people are dazzled over. I admit you got into my head for about 5 minutes. I was even getting chills when my dog started wimpering for no reason. What was really cool however was my thought process that lead to my discovery. The thought of choosing tarrot cards lead to my disbeleif from the get go. My first Impulse after the experiment was total disbleif and that there had to be a logical explaniation. Which would be very easy using some simple Html and scripting tatics that I really know little about. So therefor I began to mentally break down the entire picture,even if it meant a complent reverse engeniering of this site..... Well the results gave me a very mixed oppinion and I began to explore the ideas that were being presented.And Mind you I consider myself a spiritual person, beleiving in both heaven and hell. When my dog, who is very sentive to the "mood"of the room began to wimper, I started to freak. (hahaha, I am sure you are getting a kick out of this.) Anyway, after the demon was rebuked from the room, I decided that if simple logic could not "break it down" then, I was going to be gobbled up by this "demon" where I would rot in eternal hell wandering how on earth did you do that. "Simple Logic did not and will never Fail." It is only a matter of the preception of the "Individual", and what the Individual chooses as the center of the Universe, it will surely be.

From: "Thomas M. T Hey Great. I finally figured it out. I also had a theory that the program was detecting which card I put my cursor over so I would put it over the one and think of and choose another....

From: "Octavio R."
I found your page by chance or by some mathematical coincidence?? Anyway, I loved your ESP experiment even though I cant understand how it works it has always been correct. I just thought that I would let you know that! Ciao

From Scott H.:
OK!!! I want to know how this works. I selected a card out loud & my wife sitting with me selected one & didn't say it's name (I didn't even know she had selected one & both cards disappeared!!!!!! If you know what I or my wife are thinking e"mail me before I can finish sending this to you! If you do I'm logging off forever!@!!

From: KOPACSI A. (Hungary)
Hi, I've tried the game with cards on your website... Wow! It works!!! How did you do that? :-) Well, I've an another question to you... Are your books translated into Hungarian langauge? I'm from Hungary, you know. Well, thanks... bye! -Antal- PS: THAT WAS COOOOOOOL! :-)

From: Michael R.
Cliff, Well, I just did the "card trick" three times in a row, and all three times you (or whom/whatever) picked the correct one. The first time I looked - not stared - at the card of my choice. The second time I only glanced at it. The third time I picked it while simultaneously scanning back & forth over all of them. Three different visual techniques. I did say the name of the card out loud each time. Hmm. Rather interesting. Care to explain?
Aww, come on, Cliff.....Based on my staggering mental capabilities, I'd be guessing for the rest of my life..! Seriously, though -- I was impressd by this experiment. Whether it is literally extra-sensory or the result of something "mechanical" (computer-logic/electronic), I cannot tell. Besides, I only have a relatively "low tech" WebTV Classic, so I wouldn't think the "mechanical" explanation would lie with my equipment(!). Then again, I don't know much about computers, nor the possibility of any interaction between an individual (through his/her home equipment) and something on the Internet. Even if this experiment is only electronic "sleight of hand" (tho I still don't see how it could be), I still think it's fascinating & enjoyable. So, if there is another explanation for it (besides it being genuine ESP), you don't have to tell me (which you probably wouldn't anyway, since I might then contact people & explain it to 'em, ruining it for you ((not that I would do such a thing)); still, at this point I find it difficult to come up with an explanation other than that it's genuine). Note the three different methods of eye contact (& movement) with my TV screen I mentioned that I employed - particularly on my third try (scanning back & forth without pausing for even one second to focus on the card I picked). If this was a "game of chance/odds", it sure was one heck of a coincidence! Sorry for the length of this message. Hope I'm not boring you. Yours is the first site of its kind I've ever found on the 'Net, and it is delightful to be able to actually interact with it and its creator/author (unlike standard on-papaer/in-book or magazine written material). Even @ 49, there's still that child in me, full of wonder & imagination. There seems to be so little to satisfy him anymore. And the "adult" me spends so much time thinking, pondering, etc., anyway (it's automatic, like some analyzer machine in my brain, & it goes constantly -- sometimes I tell it to "shut up", or "shut down", because it can get distracting; but it just keeps on working, searching for "food" ((answers)) to fill itself -- which seems to be its purpose anyway; PLUS the fact that I am currently laid off from my job & am turning into the classic "night owl" insomniac - who, at this point, really needs something to think about besides how the bills are going to get paid!). Now, see what you've started?!?(lol). So, don't complain about me "talking your ear off" here!(more lol, obviously) Anyway, thanks for an enjoyable, stimulating experience! If you'd care to reply, please feel free. Take care, & keep up the fascinating work. Sincerely, Mike R.

From: Ben N. Just another note to tell you how disturbed I am with the pro gram's ability to determine my selection infallibly. I have tried numerous variations for my choices: #1 do not ever move cursor around except to go directly to choice #2 cover selections with hand then change choice from memory #3 repeat same choice up to 5 times #4 rapidly select different cards, decide on one then quickly change choice prior to fast selection #5 ask another person sitting across the room to select card using choices in number form only #6 ask person over cordless telephone to select card from description #7 predetermine choice before entering selection screen Perhaps you have written a program with such random"minute choice capability" that it joins and/or is influenced by the quantum field thereby being just a touch ahead of the current timeline where choices are made. I would like to be able to rule out subliminal flashes or influence due to the long distance phone choices and that as far as I know, subliminal effects are extremely lessened when the subject is aware that these are in operation. Are you able to detect the mysterious "visual rays" that are theorized to exist in the fringe sciences? Oh, I know...it's that little device that has been installed in all computer screens and televisions which detects user thought patterns...beware the nanotech dust mite receiving units......

From Jim:
Interesting result. I tried it twice, both times it removed the proper card. I am not sure why it worked these few times, so I will try more samples. Jim

From: Brian Bard
That is incredible. How do you do that?!
I don't know. I can't believe it even works. How on earth could you, or your program, know which card I'm thinking of? It can't be eye tracking. Please tell me how you do it!

From: Susan B.
You have quite an amazing site here!!! My fiance and I both took this at the same time, trying to outwit you, and you omitted BOTH of our cards! This happened several times until we decided it just wasn't possible to outsmart it! I am adding a link to your site, on my LINKS page..Hope you don't mind. I am also forwarding this site to my friends!

From: Steph
T Hey Cliff. How are you? I am alright! That's awesome how you did that card trick!! =) I live in Philly Pa. You must be very smart!! Love the site!! Mail me sometime!

From: abcdiane
works everytime! it is amazing...how do you explain it?

From Mason:
I have tried this 10 times in a row. You got it right every time.


From: Jade D.
D Ok. I thought once could be a coincidence but I did this 3 times picking random cards and it worked every time. HOW? I know there are many things for which there are no explanation but this was just odd. I am sending this to my two email groups for further experiment. Yours Jade

From: Jeff E. (Australia)
Lloved your experiment - freaky that it worked . i have no idea why - will you publish secret later? love your site - especially just for inspirational browsing

From: "cheizer"
Sir, I wish to thank you for a wonderfully puzzling experiment. While wandering aimlessly about the web, i happily stumbled across your very entertaining webpage. It was a real delight to explore your site and a particular pleasure to partake of your ESP experiment. I hope you do not mind that i share the process i went through as a subject in your that online experiment. Before i took part, i decided to brief myself by reading feedback from those who offered their insights and solutions. I was cautiously excited to try the experiment for myself and i soon clicked back to the ESP page before reading all the written explanations. After the first attempt, i was mildly surprised. Lucky guess, sheer probability, i thought to myself, and repeated the exercise. The second time the answer was correct again. This time my response was different. I doubted my senses. Surely, I must not be seeing clearly, or perhaps my recollection was wrong. I will try again with another subject, i thought to myself. The third time, I asked my wife to try. She was baffled and already knew I would be preoccupied with finding the solution. Me and my pesky curiosity. She went off to bed pleasantly undisturbed by this now momentum gaining puzzle. Before the fourth attempt, I sat bewildered at the content of my thoughts...and paused to explore all the rational, barely rational and completely irrational thought processes that may afford my feeble psyche some semblance of explanation...It was perplexing indeed and my emotions bounced around a good deal while I marvelled at some of the goofy explanations that sprung to the surface of my struggling wetware. Really, i find it hard to believe some of the explanations i was seriously considering, embarassingly so. So, I asked myslef how a computer could do something that i could not possibly do and i was presumptuous enough to think that i had more insightful horsepower than all that was behind that webpage.... Thanks, Craig

From: Allan
If you have a book on esp please tell of it . I am extremely curious of your esp abilities . I tested the card trick 5 times . The probability for success is unreal . Please share . M Sincerely , Allan

From: Kendall E.
THAT EXPERIMENT IS SO COOL!!! I love it. keep the cool stuff up -Kendall E.

From: Damien Martins (France)
Hello, in a first time, you must know i'm French, and sceptic about all things said "paranormals" I test your ESP, it"s wonderfull In clicking on a card, this one MUST be the one which disappeared, in choosing one card, this one will allways be the good one, and retrying with another will have no consequence. When i don't think about any card, one disapear !!!! I've only one mater, when i thought about one card, the good one disapeared !!! It's really wonderfull

From: Leo W.
Selecting the card informs the computer of your selection.

From: Andrew B
Your ESP experiment did a strange thing for me.... I think I have an explanation though. I have a photographic memory, and although I was only thinking of one card, my super memory would have remembered all nine. Because your background colour was black, it would have absorped more aleph/pie waves and given this strange result. Change the background colour to a soothing blue or shocking pink and this effect might be diminished. Glad to be of help, Andrew.

From R Jones:

From John S:
dude, this thing, is so weird, it cool!!!

From Lucille:
it was a ....trick....wasn't it? really cool site, too. seldom do I have the fun of being impressed with one of the links my cyber friends send me...but yours was a breath of fresh air. I book marked it so I can explore it more in lengths later...but, then again, I bet you already knew that, right?

From Mike P.
Not only does it frustrate me that I can't figure out how you do it...It also pisses me off!

From lyquist:
pretty neat. i did it about 7 times and it worked every time. i may go with the guy who theorized that one of the cards blinked and subconsciencely drew my attention to it....but i guess i won't find out for sure.

From Emily C:
How do you do that? Can you hear me? Ha ha.

From orb47:
OK, maybe I'm just to obsessed with the matrix.... but i beleive in that, and I think that this has something to do with that. i mean it makes sense...the matrix that is. but i think that somehow you are really able to moniter what is going on from someone elses comp. i dont know... maybe its brain waves or eye contact type thing.. i duno. its not like the matrix and the same sense, but something playing on that idea....do you beleive in that? well its kool. id like to know how its done.. e mail me back if you have anything to say about the matrix thing. thanks

From Leon R:
dear dr. pickover: may i know what is the deal with the esp experiment. i must be missing something. every time i tried, with numerous and randomly similar and dissimilar combinations, the answer was always correct. amazing page.

From Chuck P:
After 2 tries where you made NO ERRORS, I labled your cards and eyes from 1 to 6. I flipped a coin. H=2, 4, and 6. T=1, 3, and 5. After the first coin toss, I was left with 3 items. Another coin toss gave me 1 item(card) to select. I did the same with the eyes and found an eye to select. Your program correctly selected the card. You are to be praised and commended for your discovery of the mechanics of this process. I feel that this process is predictably exact. I hope you will be the discoverer of the major information breakthrough that will occur in the next ten years. Good luck and thanks for your contributions........

From Jake:
The ESP test is a real puzzler. I'm not willing to accept ESP mediated by my CRT, nor the cessation of causality. I'm guessing that you have some mechanism that influences the selection at play. I seemed to notice a flicker when focussing on objects other than the cards, but that could be merely a symptom of my detached retina. Will you ever reveal the mystery?

From Bob:
I'm still convinced that you're influencing the pick in some way. And you've been tantalizingly discrete about if or when you will reveal all. My hat is off to you, sir. I respect your intellect and insight -- not a statement I make often.

From Joy:
Cliff, I just completed 2 trials of the ESP experiment. 1) I wrote down 10 choices involving 2 cards:Jack-diamonds & Jack-clubs. Result: Perfect score by computer. 2) I wrote down 10 choices involving: King-hearts Queen-diamonds Jack-clubs King-spades Queen-clubs Same pattern for the last 5 choices. Result: Perfect score by computer. Cliff, how does it work?

From Tim:
Yes, I have to admit, it's amazing. Whats's your secret???

From Verderas:
I am a student interested in ESP. I am wondering about the results of your parapsychology experiment. What results do your subjects show? Is their proof that what they choose whould, if chosen by chance, be statisticly rare?

From Tommy:
I knew I wasn't alone in thought. Your ESP experiment, thoughtfully forwarded by a friend, proves that you know a least a little about quantum convergence. I admire your ability to effectively demonstrate it to the collective space. I was wondering if you are familiar with the digital nature of the universe. I'll be reading your books, and it's good to know you exist. What do you think about reverse engineering God?

From Trudy:
Hello Cliff; I really liked your page . I'm still wondering how you got the right answer on the esp test ,I did it about 4 or 5 times. See you soon

From Kristen:
how the heck did you do that?

From Lacey:

From Nikolas:
Dear Dr. Watson. I'm a 23 year old student from Vienna. I don't know how you do it, but your program obviously tracks eye movement. I realized that I always looked last at the card which I chose, so I tried choosing first and then looking at a totally different card - what happened was that the card which I looked at last disappeared, not the one which I had chosen.

From Mary J.:
I have already forwarded the ESP test to everyone and anxiously await their reactions. I'd still like to know how a computer can be programmed to become telepathic...

From Neil M.:
Hello Dr. Pickover, I have just spent a couple of hours exploring your website, and I just wanted to let you know that I think it is one of the most creative sites on the web. I was particularly impressed with your apparent psychic abilities. You (or your computer)somehow managed to guess correctly the files I have on my computer (there is probably a very simple explanation for that one, I just don't know what it is). I also took the ESP experiment twice, and both times the correct card was chosen. Very impressive. Could you give me an explanation on how you did these things? Or maybe just a hint? It's really freaky.

From: Bruno B:
Your ESP test, with the cards. I discoverd part of the trick, not all of it. "You" won on my first try. And I still don't know how you did. Pure chance? A little probability computing? Probably. True enough, the eyes don't make any difference and I'm a little proud for this observation. I'= m usually not good at catching tricks, since I don't have the kind of patienc= e they require. I am more on the intuitive side of it all, with a lot of observation, but I can't remember everything I observe. Lack of brain training, and partly an old, more or less "hippy", choice of mine...

From: Michael G:
OK, awesome. I even tried thinking of one card, while quietly having selected another. Both disappeared! I have been interested in this phenomenon since 1968, when I coresponded with Dr. J.B. Rhine (maker of original Zener cards) at Duke University. This goes against the trend of "slightly significant results", at best, when testing for esp. Also, there is no deterioration effect over time. And emotional excitation does not even seem to interfere, as would be expected, if one looks at the Sufi literature on the subject. All this leads me to believe that there is a logical, non-paranormal quantum effect going on. Either that, or we truly are entering a new age! Either way, I love the way your experiment stimulates thinking.

From: Carl:
Excellent!! I tried it twice. Got me both times...even when I thought I was being deliberately obtuse. Carl

From: Enid
I picked the women with the sword over the other ones because i thought this card was the least mystical - symbolically - to me. Next, I chose the Jack of diamonds because it had no sword and was a man - opposite of the first card. Finally, I randomly chose an eye (i don't think this part mattered). Does the program rely on these types of relationships and combinations?

From: Ramin
This is one amazing trick. I am totally amazed. I thought of one card and then at the last instant changed my mind and consciousely chose another. Still, the program guessed my card correctly. This is the best ever trick I have seen.

From: Kostas P
Dear Mr. Pickover, I was quite impressed with your ESP experiment. Very effective indeed ! Let me get right to the point. I am looking for a way to correct some terrible past events which have been haunting me. These events were out of my control. Can you help?

From: Lodi
Dear Cliff, I am astonished. This thing you do actually works ! But I do not feel a sensation of fear ( the only thing to fear is fear itself ). However if what you claim is true I wonder about one thing this is " mindscan " or it is at least supposed to be one. But is it a thing you can learn, a chemically induced state ( telepathine ; referred to by another visitor of your site ) or is it a property you are born with (or not ) or even a combination of these factors. I would very much like to get into a more indepth discussion. Waiting for your reaction, kindest regards,

From: Sabine & Wolfgang
Hello, my husband and I tried everything to bring your test to a = failure-but even when my husband was out of the room and thought of a card and I clicked, without knowing the card, it was correct. How does this work-we get crazy about it. Anyway, this is GREAT! Greetings from Germany.

From: Matthew H.
Dear Enlightened Sir, For 20 straight attempts (and still going) your test has proven successful against my weak mind. I attempted all conceivable combinations of thought pattern maneuvers to outwit the system and still have not. I enacted preconceived combinations, completely random combinations, and even blindfolded tests, all were correctly predicted. I find it very unlikely that this is some psychological game, and as well that you have a link to my electro-chemical wave impulses in my brain. The idea of the computer (one sitting in front of me) taking part in the phenomenon is ludicrous. The fact that no large program was downloaded to track minute finger movements (through the mouse) eliminates pretty much all possibilities that I can find realistic. The one thought that seems plausible (although insanely so) is that we establish an emotional (using Orson Scott Card terminology:philotic connection), almost quantum link to your program, allowing it to communicate with us without ourselves knowing, thus "predicting", but in actuality knowing our card of choice. Of course, the incorrect answers probably come from us lying to ourselves in disbelievement. It comes to mind though that you are playing a game with us, perhaps of insight. It is yet another connection I see to the elimination of the subject-object relationship, and establishment of the oneness of the world. A bit metaphysical it would seem, for a software program on the web, but what better way to convince people? I believe that everyone would benefit if the test was left unexplained, for it is from the question and not the answer that we gain true insight.

From: Amy H.
I tried the ESP experiment three times and each time you guessed my card!! Wierd!! I think the program figures it out by mathematical probabilities depending on what card you choose in the beginning. Impressive!

From: Roberta
Cliff, You have picked the correct card three times in a row. I'll never figure it out.

From: Chris F.
I find your ESP experiment interesting although I don't believe it to be the result of any clairvoyance or the result of a convoluted program capable broadcasting information through entangled quantum pair or eyetracking. It is much likelier that the information is simply the result of a loaded mathematical system, that offers less choices than would appear. Also your ESP experiment isn't what it appears to be either. Instead of testing a system that predicts a person's card choice with out fail, you are gauging the responses of experimenters' interpretation of the event. Amusingly a majority of the feedback leans toward a mystical or scientific with near mystical complexity. To me it is a loaded system, but as it has been said before by others the proof is in the pudding. Alas my knowledge of probability theory and patience(or lack thereof) won't allow me discover the recipe of this pudding. Thank you allowing me to participate in an intriguing experiment.

From: Lynx
I tried it 3x & on the 3rd try I picked the same card as the first time & tried a different eye & it still worked. I have no idea how it works, but feel it is safe to say that it is NOT any kind of eye tracking & am surprised at the number of people supposing that. Thanks.

From: Jason
Dr. Pickover: I just discovered your website and I am ecstatic. I am going to be spending a lot of time there. The subjects of quantum mechanics, parallel universes, Einstein, Hawking, Dyson etc., make my brain tingle. I found it by looking up mathematical constants and was blown away by what you wrote about Chaitan's constant, especially because it is transcendental and incomputable. That amazes me. I am going to start reading all of your books. I took the ESP test four times and it was completely accurate every time. It really scared my girlfriend even though I explained that it was all based on statistics. Great site!

From: Starfire3
Interesting experiment. Based on some mathematical formula no doubt, unfortunately I'm not a mathematician.

From: Allen M.
Have you look into remote sensing and if so what's your position on remote sensing training for the average individual? Are there credible trainers or programs? Remote Sensing training appeared to be exclusive for the gov't and now it seems this training is going public.

From: Melissa Jo.
Cliff: Melissa Jo from Indiana here just to say YES, your experiment worked! I don't know how, I don't know why, but I do know that in life SOME THINGS ARE JUST UNEXPLAINABLE (to some) and this is one of those things! Human kind is always looking for an explanation, and rest assured you've found it! I can honestly say your pages inspire me, and stimulate my mind-I wouldn't expect you to share your secret-but Cliff, I would like to thank you. Thankyou very much!

From: Mary
I think I liked this experiment!!! Don't know how you did it but you are right on the money!!! You did not get into my puter????? Hmmmmmm!!! Toooo Kewl if you did not!! An amazing feat... on the one hand, I would suspect a program that bases card selection on overall past selections... but impressive, none the less. Thank you for your time!!

From: Scott A.
Fascinating. I did it six times -- I even chose the same Tarot and the same eye and a different card, and it still guessed right. I'm supposedly a fairly bright guy, but I don't have a clue. Every theory I come up with is straight out of science fiction. Absolutely fascinating. I may never sleep again. Could you email me my schedule for the day? I haven't decided when I'm going to shower and when I'm going to work out, and if you could send me my schedule in advance it'd really be a huge help. :)

From: Laura S.
This is my first visit to your site. I did the ESP test several times and you have been correct every time. I even tried variations. You were absolutely correct! Amazing. You also guessed accurately the files on my drive.

From: Edina R..
Amazing. I'm sure there is some statistical explanation for it, but I three different people here in the office do it, and it got us all seven times. Fascinating!

From: Mark P.
HI u did it but i cudnt understand how can u give me a reasonable explanation plz as its very interesting how u picked out the card i selected with my gaze only .....urs sincere

From: Maria
Congratulations there is still a beatiful wonderful world for us to profit and discover. MILE Maria

From: Michael D.
Mr. Pickford, Your webpage continues to boggle my mind. The ESP program worked 5 times in a row. I closed my eyes and randomly pointed. I can't imagine that any type of visual or arrangement subversive tactics could cause this to happen.

From: Doug F.
You Got It Right. My thoughts tell me that people tend to click the eye that is in the same position as the card they picked.

From: W. Thomas.
Dr. Cliff, I have a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and have been involved with MIS Applications for many years. I visited your Experiment several times over a few days and tried numerous methods of varying the Combinations to see if you were correctly eliminating the chosen card. You were RIGHT EVERY TIME !!!!!! I am most impressed and have NOT the foggiest clue how you do it. Thanks for the entertainment. Any chance you will share how this programming works ???

From: Lia
I'm not very computer literate so I don't know exactly how you programed it but seems to me that the act of clicking anywhere on the picture sends a comand pn my computer to randomly display some of files. Good one!

From: Barry B.
I think your test works on the probability that an individual will select an eye in the furtherest pair away from the original card selection and will then most likely select close to the pair then will select the eqivalent site to the card. the chances of this happening are high and you will generally only have a reaction from those that match.

From: Dave W
You sure have me hooked! Did the ESP experiment 6 times, your page was right each time. IS that always the case? What are you willing to tell me about it? And what might I have to offer in return? You must really be enjoying this, playing with the heads of so many people, and it is all automated! I am off to more play on your page(s), thanks for an intriguing morning.

From: Arthur S
I give up. I have tried the ESP experiment a number of times and you = have always been correct. The last five times, I did it without saying the card aloud. Fantastic!! Peace and Joy

From: LK
Too cool! Truly Amazing, yes you got it right twice even when I purposely ignored the directions in order to achieve different results.

From: rmsp
it worked a dozen times and i did not say my pick out loud. I don't get it! It makes me very nervous! Will you ever explain? sincerely, andrea schrage

From: Jim H
Whow. After following the directions, the card I had selected would always disapear from the group. So I decided to cheat a little by taking the six cards from a deck of cards and shuffleing them. The top card was my selection and without turning it over, clicked on the eye. The card that was removed from the computer was always the top card in my hand!!! Whow. Niagara Falls

From: Lianne
Well done Mr. Pickover! Your Esp Experiment was truly mind numbing, and never have I experienced anything quite like! To begin, I tried the exp eriment 49 times. Out of the tries, 7 times I actually DID stare at th e card(without saying it out loud.) Out of those 7 times, my card was correctly removed from the remaining cards. So, 100% of the time that I did look at my card, it was removed, which in itself, is truly amazing! 7 out of the tries I looked at a different card, while thinking of the card I chose. Out of the 7 tries, 7 times was the card that I was thinking of removed. But what is truly amazing, is that of those 7 times BOTH the card I was thinking of, AND the card I was actually looking at were removed! Again, a 100% percent success ratio. So, I took it a step further. 7 times I chose 3 cards. Out of those 7 times, every card I chose sAs removed, which is dumdfounding. Once again, 100% correct. I took it another step, and chose 4 cards. Out of the 7 times I did this, not one time did ANY of these cards show up, which is also amazing. So I chose 5 cards. Out of the 7 times, again, not once were ANY of these cards dis played. I am truly beside myself. Then I chose all 6 cards. And, yes, once again, not a single card remained. Again 100%. Alternately, out of the 7 times I chose my card out of the remaing cards, then went back, not one time, or 0% of the time, was my card removed. This leads to these conclusions:
1. The experiment uses an eye tracking program to gauge the users eye movement while he/she looks at his/her card, but this cannot be true, due to the fact that seven out of the tries I looked at a different card while thinking of the one I wanted.
2. The experiment uses true psychic programming to read the experimentees' minds, which would is truly amazing piece of technology: IF it existed. I was amazed. For a short period of time. I think you can deduce the true genius behind the experiment. Thank you Mr. Pickover, for expanding my mind, no matter how brief the expansion was. I applaud you!

From: Joseph
Today I tried out your ESP experiment. I'm fairly familiar with HTML and Javascript, and after having it guess right _everytime in 50 tries_ I decided to look at the source code. Frankly, your javascript is way too complicated for me to figure out, so I looked elsewhere ;) At first, I speculated that since there were the same # of eyes as there are cards, I thought maybe you were just assocaiting the eye that was clicked on with the card that was picked, but after a few tries I disproved this theory. Then I thought maybe you just had a really lucky randomization script, but after looking at the source it looks much more complicated then simple randomization. However, your quantum consistency meter is completely random, and doesn't seem to have anything to do at all with the rest of the code (unless perhaps, the seed has some signifigance?) So tell me, how the heck does this whole thing work? Just a curious 14 year old, Joseph

From: "Ron/Mary H."
That was really neat - how can the computer do that (delete the right = card)! or is that a secret?

From: "TONEY M. very scary, i'm not sure how you do this but it can't be anything we're informed about already are you a magician, scientist, or what? hypnotism, possibly?

From: Holly
Hello Cliff, The ESP experiment was incredible! All I can say is "WOW"! Holly

From: Grads
You got it right twice, !! That blows my mind No idea how you would do it. I will try again another day just to see. I'm very interested in creativity and teaching so will spend more time on your site later. On the whole I tend to find the web eats up way too much time. So it is a pleasure to find you. Thanks. I'm going to send this along to my son Cheers Alex

From: "Paul R."
The way it works is the mouse picks up the last card touched by the user as they have made their selection. It is then irrelevant which eye they choose as the card has been eliminated. The chose would never display this. Paul R.

From: David C.
OK, Cliff -- I did the experiment about a dozen times -- it was right every time, except twice I deliberately chose no card and the program couldn't "read my intention" -- each time choosing a card to eliminate which was of course wrong since I chose no card at all. Still, I am baffled as to how it could work when I did choose a card -- the probability of being right 10 out of 12 or 10 out of 10 depending on how you count must be astronomical. Yet, the program seems completely unable to actually read my thoughts or it would never choose a card for me when I didn't choose one. So what is the secret: I know it isn't optical scanners; I tested for that, by choosing from an oblique angle -- besides such technology barely exists and requires extra gear. Please tell me. David C.

From: SAAM

Dear Mr. Pickover I found myself completely enthralled by your ESP Experiment and tackled the problem (and explanation) with joyous vigor. After several unsuccessful attempts at a satisfactory conclusion I was rewarded with the answer but, admittedly, the solution came from a rather strange source and not of my own contrivance.

I will keep the story as brief as possible.

Some years ago I had the opportunity to spend several weeks at a location in the far north at an ancient habitation (DORSET) located in the area of Alexandria Fiord which is, itself, located north of Baffin Island in the Canadian (at that time) Northwest Territories. While there I had the opportunity to explore the 'land' in and around our camp site. Our camp was located at the conjunction of 3 separate glaciers and I was able to spend many pleasing hours at the base of these glaciers.

One such exploration found me at the foot of the most distant glacier that I had hesitated to visit considering the rough intervening terrain and the daunting distance entailed for such a trip in view of the limited time available resulting from time constraints involved through my formal duties (sorry - classified).

While examining the melting face of the receding glacier I noticed a rather shiny patch of metallic material protruding from the ice which I immediately touched and, to my suprise, was able to free from the surrounding frozen glacial matrix. The object measured approximately 4 inches square and was metallic and featureless except for what appeared to be a lens located in the center of one of the faces of the cube. Needless to say I told no one of my discovery and merely placed it in my kit where it stayed until my return to 'civilization. Since that time the 'device' has accompanied me on my travels and has become rather a 'talisman' that I, in times of stress or confusion, handle to bring me to a state of calm.

Needless to say, my presentation to your ESP Experiment left me in an expanded state of confusion as well as decided mental turmoil..at which time I, as is my custom when confronted with mystery, began to twist the cube in my right hand, flipping it at a speed consistent with my agitation. At one point the 'lens' of the cube became directed at the screen containing your 'experiment' and to my wonder (and yes, horror) a voice issued from the cube and, in perfectly clear English, explained the process involved which allowed the astounding 98% accuracy rate. Even more astounding was the next statement which, in perfect simplicity, advised how the program could be modified to provide a true 100% ACCURACY in its predictions.

Now the sad part. Rather than have a calming mental balm sweep my intellect the exact opposite occurred and, in a fit of extreme turmoil, I smashed the device. I crushed it into its component parts and disposed of it in a manner that would never again allow it to be seen.

Oh, the crushing regret, the mental self flagellation...I rend my garments and cover my brow with ashes. The regret at this rash act leaves me in a state of remorse never envisioned. I fear that I may commit an offence that is unforgivable but then...I do recall that, in the ice... were shadows. Shadows of immense size, just waiting for thaw. I know that no one has returned to that scene of discovery...do I?

Yours in bewilderment

A. Paul M.

From: "Joe R."
how did you do that ???? its amazing...is there some electronic trick = involved ?? good job JR

From: police
Hi!! As as an ex-police officer of 30+ yrs. experience I do not believe what my eyes have just told me, but my wife asures me that it is so! Thank you for the sleepless night to come.

From: "19 Beaumont Street"
You picked the correct card twice. you are so cool!

From: "rachel g."
I think I would say 100 %.....I can not fool you.... it is really = amazing.......I have tried a dozen different times doing a dozen = different things to fool you with no luck....I give up....I do not even = want to speculate how..... Some of the explanations really help me to think in new = ways..........Wow.... Rachel PS I would love to link you up to my web site..... rachelgriffinmakeupfx.com

From: "Lee, Robert"
Dear Dr Pickover, I looked over the answer some of your respondents gave about how you run the test and I think the ones which link it to eye-movement/focusing may be correct. I looked at the king of hearts and picked it - your program removed it. I repeated the experiment - I looked at the king of hearts but picked the Queen of H instead and your program removed the King of H. Repeated again looking at the king of H but picking the Jacjk of H and once again the program picked the King of H. The "eye" i clicked on made no difference to the outcome. cheers Rob Lee.

From: "Gavin F."
this was amazing, and fun too. i am having problems with my own = spirituality and this has just given me rise to laugh at myself. If you = can do it over a computer and several thousand miles, my soul is not = that far from me, I just have to open up to it. Thank you. Linda F

From: Wade Harry F
Don't know where this address came from, someone on the campus I guess. Great Card trick, must be something to do with which eye you click on, I mean I chose the card and went for the corresponding eye or the one next to it. Keep it up mate.

From: "Maristella & Antonello"
Dear Mr. Pickover, I'm actually reading your fascinating book"The Science of Aliens", very funny and not a line of boring dissertation... Your ESP Experiment is really unbelievable, even if I' ve only tried 3 times and the result was correct in each case... What kind of work are you the hell performing in your labs at the IBM???? Simply, the only explanation i have for this results; I'm not so intelligent to deal with JAVA CODES or else; is that the parallel worlds you talk about in your book are real , and you are able to travel with no problems between them... In that way you see the cards people choose by simply taking a look at the cards your software have removed in a parallel world or something like that...
Anyway i have enjoyed all this and appreciate your work i'm starting today to know and hope you will reserve me some more surprises in a "future"... THANX from Sardinia Monni A.

From: "Maristella & Antonello"
Your mind reading experiment is, I guess a cookie work, I say that because i have had a message error trying to open one of the files and it was the same error message that i have triyng to open a cookie... Back to the ESP i think that a software is a software... so a software, to work needs input fron the user and yoyr software asks the user 2 different inputs, the first input is said necessary to prime the system but in effect it's an input... i can deduct that there is a kind of first imprinting about sex differentiation (male and female cards) and you can store a data 50%? . The second input is when the software asks user to click on an eye... it seems to be 6 different eyes but in fact only 3 pairs of eyes so I think it's like to be in front of 3 persons watching you and at an inconscious level we are guided to choose not betwwen 6 eyes but between 3 persons so remembering the starting position of the tarots we are surely guided to choose again like in the first choose basing our choice upon our male /female preferences... Did I said something intresting in all this stuff or was I an universe away??? Very stimulating...! Monni A.

From: Jennifer S.
This test is outrageous! I received it from a good friend a few months ago and since then have opened the e-mail up again from time to time, just to re-try my hand at this 'game'. In the many times I have tried to fool it, I have only succeeded once. You may be surprised, think I am lying, or find this amusing, either way, I know that I did fool your game. The way I fooled your game was I looked over the cards and memorized them in my mind and then stared good and long at one while I picked another. I tried many attempts again afterwards, but this time it didn't work, much to my dismay. All I can say is that you are one interesting person, and even though I don't know how you did it, it really makes me think of the possibilities people can come up with,...when they put their minds to it. ;-) Jennifer S.

From: "Bill N."
Your ESP test was in fact a math problem. The same thing is used by magicans. You can figure out to almost a 99.99 which card I will pick Bill

From: "Martin C."
I'm just wondering if you, or anyone whom you have heard of, would be interested in the attached file? It concerns a physical property of water that appears to have interdisciplinary significance and is as yet unresearched.
I have just tried the esp experiment on the webpage twice, and the second time I didn't even look at the card. What worries me is not that the card I picked was removed both times, but that I wasn't even asked if the right card had been removed; the percentage accuracy given was not 100%, so presumably there is some way of the incorrect card being removed and the remover knowing later that it was the wrong card? Perhaps the next paragraph is also, therefore redundant??

From: "claire d."
Wow- That can be pretty trippy if you think about it too much! Fun and facinating. Thanks- would love to know the secret. Look forward to exploring your other stuff.

From: "Weldon B."
OH MY GOD hehehe .......Hey sir im 16/m/louisiana Your ESP test kinda freaked me out in a way and i kinda knew that you would end up guessing the card i chose. Im a total believer now, really to tell the truth i have always believed that people have the ability to predict things ...ya know like psychics i dont know if this is a sign of being a psychic but i get the feeling of dejavu a lot and sometimes i can use that energy to get me out of certian consequences like if im about to do something wrong sometimes it seems familiar to me like im remembering doing it when i know i havent(dajavu) but in my thoughts of having the dajavu i see the consequences therefore i cease to do something wrong .Another sign might be predicting what others say before they say it or before they finish a complete sentence during a conversation ....i use this energy especially when i give advice to friends when theyre feeling down . I somehow feel that they shouldnt finish that sentence like it will hurt them more to say it out loud so i cut ! them off and and judge them based on what they said .....and regularly they agree like ...yes yess thats exactly how i feel .....and i give them very helpful advice. This also helps me to write poems. So in a way i not only predict the outcome of situations, conversatinal remarks, but peoples feelings as well. .....I know this sounds crazy but i feel i need to talk or e-mail a person like you with the knowledge of understanding this  pleaseeeeeeeeeeee write back

I feel theres so much more i should tell you but u may already know what im trying to say.Well please write back - hope youre not too busy. sorry for all errors in this message

From: "Marcus W."
I am currently a student studying to be a physicist and I must say that your ESP test was quite impressive. After recently completing a course on basic quantum mechanics and uncertainty, I did not think it possible that your web page would be able to predict my choice for cards. However, you succeeded on multiple accounts. Even after subjecting the system to the Waddington-Frantz test, I was unable to figure it out. Well done. Marcus W.

From: "Will and Chad"
Hey there cliff, we tried your E.S.P. at least 4 times and you were = right all 4 times. We are all impressed..... Thank you for the = entertainment!

From: Anthony C.
Greetings, So I spent some time experimenting on your experiment. I haven't finished this process yet but I wanted to share some results. Of course, I tried the usual guessing of random cards. Not one failure. I tried picking cards in sequence and always clicking on the same eyeball. Not one failure. I tried picking the same card but using each eyeball in sequence. Not one failure. I've tried various patterns. Every other card, every other eyeball and so on. I haven't had a failed pick yet. Since it's fortunately not possible to scan my eyeball and I'm not prepared to accept that the simple, little javascript is able to decode all the complex obfuscations going on inside my brain, I'm stuck in a dilemma. At this point, I have this nasty suspicion that there's something deeply obvious (ie right in front of my nose) that I'm missing. The quantum consistency is bogus...randomly generated.

It's all the little trig functions and the ParametricPlot that bug me. I notice the cards are always in the same order. Oddly, I notice whatever card I pick that the name of the image displayed on the second page is always the same even though the image itself changes. But I see no code that could do that so I'm wondering, "Where is the hidden code?"

I did try pulling the source, out of cache, into BBEdit and playing some games with it. Deleted 8-bit characters, line breaks and so on. Oddly, when I did that, the number of characters actually INCREASED. Weird. In either case, the only thing you can possibly track is my mouse movement and I've done everything I can think of to randomize it. I'm assuming that saureye.gif is The Eye of Sauron? Reasonably appropriate for a mind reading experiment. =) So there's something going on behind the scenes. I see that the randomizer just throws out a random picture of the little lightning ball. And that the img src always throws out the same set of cards to pick from.

At any rate, I'm still working it out but that javascript sure looks strange. Erroneous, to use a word, which makes me wonder if there's more code than is visible.

But, even then, what would it do? Track mouse movement? I've moved my mouse in all kinds of different, random ways. No failures. I thought maybe it was sometime can of average timing thing...that the click always happens some time period later for each eyeball to the right. I was thinking maybe the eye has to track down the cards and, by measuring the time, it was possible to determine how far the eye had moved from the card picked to the eyeball selected. I'm still kind of wondering about that.

But I must admit that I'm pretty baffled. I'm reasonably certain you're not going to be forthcoming with clues but I never let a thing like that stop me.

Thanks for the brain twister, Anthony C.

From: Tom M.
Hi there. The ESP experiment is incredible. It got 100% correct over 20 tries - and I clicked the same button for each run. Care to share your secret?

From: Black Onyx
WEll, I must be the odd one out. I tried it six times. And five of those times, it failed. I picked the queen of swords, most often my significator card... Then I picked the Queen of Hearts. And clicked on the first and third, and last eyes. And all three times with that, it did not work. I forget teh details of the other two failures, but the very last time I tried it, it worked, with the Queen of Swords, the Jack of Diamonds, and the last eye. It's an interesting concept,a nd I'd like to know how it works, but I'm afraid it didn't function properly for me. *smiles* -Geoffrey

Dear Cliff: It worked. I tried my best to defeat it but it still worked. Any clues on how? Impressed, BEN

From: TARFU2day
it took me like 20 tries to figure out it was a trick. had me shitting my pants for a bit, i thought it was real. BUT I FIGURED YOU OUTTTTT! good one though, really joe

From: keenb
Yes, it worked. Got me how. Mindboggling. Someone smarter than me (and, apparently, everyone who has visited the site--presuming any correct guess does not get edited out) needs to look at this. Bill K

From: "Jabawoki"
Hello, Your site was forwarded to me by a young man from Russia. I'm form the UK. Just to let you know your card ESP experiment thing worked x3, even with just the barest of glances, never mind saying stuff out loud. My hobbies include tarot, palmisty & astrology. The Russian chap does not know about these hobbies though.

Although I don't go to spritiualist churches, spiritualists have a habit of coming to me & talking to me in the street, saying I give out strong vibes. Another one of my strange skills is that I can lay hands on someone's head & take a headache off them. I have been a nurse & midwife & used these skills when I worked on on the delivery suite. Anyway, this is just some background on me. Thanks for the site. Email me if you have any queries Thanks Jabawoki :)

From: "Rich"
I performed the ESP expriment and you had over 20 hits.. No misses. Even when I called my wife and had her take 4 runs.. Still no misses. I've haven't seen anything like this in years.. I'm totally impressed and would like it very much if you explained how you did it.. Thanks, Rich

From: "bdkfam"
I love your esp test. It always ''works". I don't understand it, but = it is fascinating. The same can be said of your site in general. Thank you for giving us art,illusion.pleasure. Sincerely, Bonnie K

From: Rebecca J.
I don't believe that you can get that right? Is there voice activation or something? Is that why you have to say it out loud? Can you predict anything else???? Bec
Rebecca J.,
PhD student,
Tissue Engineering Lab,
Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology,
School of Biomedical Sciences,
University of Queensland,

From: "Brett K."
Dear Dr Pickover, I am writing in response to your amazing esp experiment. Since having seen it last night, the world has become a much more interesting place. The solution to your experiment, whether simple or so advanced, that a mere person such as myself will never explain, has intrigued me all the same. Like everone else, I have some theories. Whether right or wrong here they are.
1. You are an Alien.
2. You are the most amazing software writer on this planet.
3. Like everything else in this universe history is repeating itself.
4. My thoughts are creating my reality.
Thank you for your amazing insight. It must be amazing being you. Brett K.. Melbourne Australia.

From: "Jennifer B."
WOW !!! I did the thing like fifty times and every time the cards I = picked were removed....... cute. Great books by the way.

From: "Raegan M."
Dear Dr Pickover Please don't you want to explain how that esp experiment works??? I'm = mailing you all the way from Africa (South Africa) that's got to count = for something? Enlighten us over here? Thanks for your mind boggling books Regards Raegan Murphy (ms)

- From: Peggy M.
Tried it three times, which was plenty to convince me that it works. There's no way to guess the card using computers, the software or my eye movements. Now, let's do it for "Powerball"!!!!!

From: salvatore
i dont know if you read these or not, but i will entertain my self anyway. i think the way your esp experiment works, is the source code of the page. it shows a rather intresting math algoriythm and a bit of programming skill..its just a mathematial equation that makes a right choice 98% of the time.. but it is still amazing and your web page is great. i think i will bookmark this page and return again ;) a new fan, m3cc

From: JoeS.
Per your request, wanted to let you know that in a single, first attempt, your ESP program picked the correct card. Pretty cool. I'm searching for the secret.

From: Unknown
wait so do u explain how it works?! sometimes it takes out two cards.. wuts the deal with that?.. cuz i wus thinking of two cards.. but..

From: Suemay13
Would you be able to explain the experiment in language that most of us can understand?

From: "Dave B."
Just want to say I really love your experiment i tried it at least 3 or 4 times and every time it picked my card i sent the link to several of my friends :)

From: "Dolan P."
I tried it ten time - right every time. You're wack.

From: "Dolan P.
I have shown it to friends - I'm still baffled.  Every time it knows.  Too weird.

From: "scubapup"
Cliff: I tried the experiment about 25 times with it being 100% accurate! I am a firm believer, and user, of ESP. How it works with a computer.....???? After years of it being a part of my life in the world of humans and animals this is a real surprise! Thanks for sharing your obvious hard work! Woody

From: "LYNDA H.
Hi Guy! I spent some time with your card experiment and tested it over and over again. Either I am so very common and I do it in the pattern of every other lemming or this stuff is out of this world! Whatever it is, it is a mystery to these little brain cells of mine. OK, I'm peaked! See your work at the bookstore! I can't stop laughing either... way too cool! Lynda H.

From: "William G. S."
Mr. Pickover, I'm going to have to read your books - this is very impressive. I'd love to understand the theory behind this! Here is a question, for many picks of the cards, I tried to completely clear my mind - what is the actual result of not guessing a card and what does the Quantum consistency number mean? Thank you, Bill

From: Frederika S.
Hi Cliff! Your experiment worked, wow! Loads of love, Suvarna.

From: "Almast"
Dear Dr. Pickover,

Your experiment really works. I see some similarity with the experiments of Dr Rupert Sheldrake.

Almast , Amsterdam

From: JulNScot
Hi, What freaks me out is I tried this for about an hour, then tried to freak out the kids, and my son ended up freaking me out even more. I was impressed my the test, but even more impressed by my son. Thanks, Julie M.

From: "a.reba"
I was totally stunned by your ESP trick. When my son came over and I showed him he immediately saw it!

From: "Marjon B.
WOW Cliff, with this ESP-pick a card game, I tried 5 options and they were all correct! Magick & mind-blowing ! Thanks! Marjon (The Netherlands)

From: Adam R.
WOW I have tried your ESP experiment a few times and got FREAKED OUT by it...Then, after reading all the efforts to explain it, I am left believing that magic must really exist! I am a lowly artist who flunked out of math and got a B- in physics....so although I don't know how it works, I am supremely alive to it's transformational jolt capacity. Thanks!!! You are AMAZING!

From: "Purpose"
Incredible! how does this work? I did the experiment 3 times, all 3 times the card I picked was gone! Eric

From: CourtisaQT
well we are impressed it worked....three people tried three different cards...FUN!

From: "OpheikensFamily"
Right every time, I can hardly believe it - Some things are bigger than us!

From: "D. Lee"
Mr Watson, I consider myself an amateur, though enthusiastic, astro-numerologist. Basically, I believe much widely-considered 'supernatural' phenomena is actually a logical numerical pattern intimately linked to planetary orbits and rising constellations, which many times are hidden to us. These schemes dominate much of our behavior, and most likely control higher-order communication between all forms of life. We have given sundry names to this: ESP, sixth-sense, telepathy, but it describes the same truth. I am very excited about your experiment, because I feel you have hit upon the core of this communication. Somehow you have interpolated the astro-numerical process and extracted its function, allowing you to "guess" which card I selected, when it's obvious you simply "listened" to the super-dimension dialogue I was having with you. Looking through your code, I see nothing extraordinary, which is even more mind-boggling, I can barely believe you have simplified it so. But that is great news. I understand you would not want this breakthrough to leak out, because mankind is a master our behavior, and make first contact with other beings in our Universe before truly understanding their nature. Your secret is safe with me, but realize I appreciate your greatness, your unprecedented brilliance, as this card experiment reveals, given its 100% accuracy. Of course, it could also be that because....

From: "Maureen P."
I tried the test twice once with multiple cards. Both times it was correct. The only way to describe this is really freaky since the second time i didn't say them aloud and only glanced at the cards. I plan on freaking all my friends out with the test, its only fair. But if you are providing the actual explanation(since I'm pretty sure the govt hasn't bugged my computer) Please, please, please e-mail it to me.

From: Antony T.
Your experiment has made my stomach feel funny in that exciting way. Why our stomachs do this is a mystery beyond the casual psycho somatic explanations. In fact having the consciousness that recognizes any present moment is truly to be alive. That whatever you have done to create this experience, brings forth ones consciousness to be present, is a gift. Thank you Antony Thier

From: soffiot
I'm curious - do people who tend to select certain cards initally, tend to also select the same playing card?

From: "Brian L."
You did indeed guess my card. Most remarkable, because I made a conscious effort NOT to select the cards that drew my eye.

While it is true that technology exists that can track users' eye movements, virtually no home computers are equipped with this hardware. (Fellow surfers take note: unless you deliberately went out and bought & installed eye-tracking hardware, rest assured that you do not have such equipment. Such hardware is rare and expensive, and is NOT standard equipment on any model of home computer.)

The only user input available to your web server is (A) which tarot card & which eye the user clicks and (B) the elapsed time between the displaying of each page and the user's clicks. Hence, the computation MUST be based on this information alone.

If I were to attempt to create such a program, I would try to make it learn by trial and error. It would begin with random guesses and gradually develop a statistical mode of predicting the final card selection based on the inputs I mentioned. However, this method would require the user to confirm whether the correct card had been eliminated, and your site does not do this. Perhaps, nonetheless, you DID follow this approach, and this page is the finished product, no longer in a learning mode. Very interesting. -Brian L.

From: william C.
Sir, I took your experiment twice with the same positive results. Just yesterday I saw the same experiment overlaid over a "David Copperfield" presentation. I have no explaination other than perhaps a belief in experience-based reality. After participating in your experiment I decided that you picked the proper card because I wanted you to in the first place, and that I created the conditions to make that outcome come true by affecting my own perception of reality. Otherwise, perhaps the cards chose me instead of me choosing them? Regards, Bill

From: "teri p."
Mr. Watson,that was amazing.I know there has to be a system you use.It's a good one.I commend you.A part of me believes in such things,the other doesn't.It's like show me more I am from Mo.Not really but you know what I mean.It was fun just to participate so thank you for that. Sincerely, Teri P.

From: Linda
That is fantastic! Please please please tell me how it is done, I am stumped and it's driving me crazy! You've just sold a book. Linda Hessel

From: Elaine1279
All I have to say is, What the hell! That is wow. I don't even hve words to explain, but the fact that you can do this mathimatically, says that there is possibly truth to psychics. I can't believe I actually said that.

From: "Michele M."
At first I thought that if you click on the "eye" that corresponds to the same space your card is in, i.e. second from the left, that that was it. The other two times I tried it I just clicked the "eye" at random, no special corresponding spot. I didn't even look straight at the row of "eyes". Concentration on my part? Not really sure. Give me a hint.

From: "F. Lynch"
Hi. Okay your ESP experiment is pretty neat. I've ruled out it reading my thoughts. The only way to beat it is to not even look at the cards. I've tried dark sunglasses and even looking at them with a mirror it still picked my card. Maybe mirrored sunglasses ??? To bad I don't have a pair.

From: Ben S.
That esp experiment is off the wall. It was right about every one of ten of my choices. How the hell...? Ben Szloboda

From: "Yohan H."
wow...i am very impressed. Is this really esp? or is it a program that = uses probability. Please send me a response. Thank You

From: "robbie"
Hiya, How do you do that? Please please let me know...i wonder if you are you using the quantum encoder php module i have heard of, but how? too freaky! -- Robbie

From: "Paul H."
This is freaking me out. The amazing thing is that if I think of all six cards it freaking gets all six! How the heck does it do it? Maybe it has something to do with havn a really good monitor. Cliff can = I send you some money or something? Dude, I bet you get laid a lot ! Haa, Haa. E-mail me, I have a killer business idea. Paul H.

From: "Christine"
Pretty neat that you could write software with built in ESP!

From Mike M. Cincinnati, Ohio
I absolutely loved it. After doing it once I read the attempts at explanation. Then I called my wife to the den for a go. She tried it once and said "No way". She did it a second time and shared with me the wonderful and beautiful explanation. I haven't stopped kissing her yet!

From: "Patricia L."
unbelievable! correct every time. I am afraid. Pat

From: AngieKts
Dude! How the heck does that work? I did it twice, and it was right on. I picked the king of hearts twice, and that was it. Way cool. -- Angie

From: "Scott B."
I have no idea how your ESP program works. Do I want to know? Maybe. Maybe not. It seems incredible, but the answer must be a simple one. Right? -- Scott

From anon:
Yes, I liked your experiment. Is there a way we can develope our own esp?

From: "Only me"
Hello, that is freaky. It got my card right. What does "quantum consistency 197" mean? I got 699 this time and it was right again...now I`m scared.

From: "Swindells"
Mate it`s never wrong!!! It hasn`t failed for me yet!!!I`ll show loads of people don`t you worry!

From: Robert T. D
This is still pretty impressive. Jack of clubs correctly removed twice. Then jack of clubs removed third time but should have been queen of spades. No attempt to "fool" the experiment, but on the third try I left the settings just as they appeared on the screen--relevant? Thanks.

From: Pauline L.
Sir! Your ESP experiment is brilliant. That must be a very complex algorithm. I had fun trying over and over again, and it worked everytime. --Pauline

From: (Robert T.)
my wife saw the explanation of the esp experiment immediately, whereas, after 24 hours of befuddlement, I was beginning to speculate on the possibility of neural network programs. There's a saying here if I could only think of it--perhaps "leapfrogging one's own feet" would do.

From: "Cindo C."
Well, from what little I know about "magic" and card tricks/games, most, if not all are based on probability and/or mathematical formulas. So part of my guess is that probability has something to do with it. The other part of my guess is that I noticed after several tries, it stopped working, and also that all of the card's face value change after clicking on one of the eyeballs. I don't know, if I've got it partially right, I can imagine it working 98% of the time. Was I close? -- Cindy C. P.S. If I'm close, I'd appreciate you letting me know. Thanks!

From: "Andreas Schertel"
Aaaaaaahhhhhh very fantastic. Wow, two times you tok the right card away by two tests. Wow. Greetings Andreas

From: Patrick C.
Wow! You correctly guessed Q-D. I chose the third and second eye respectively. Amazing. -- Patrick

From: (Stephan A.)
Hello, I mean, the program uses the time you need to choose your card.If you choose quick, the programm removed the King of Hearts always. Yours sincerely, Stephan A.

From: Lara A.
To Cliff, Firstly thank you for replying to my email a while ago when i enquired on your job. Secondly I thank you for a brilliant website! Your ESP experiement worked for me everytime, and I'm not really sure how. I have a theory though on why your computer can mind read other computers and discover what files they have on them:

Computers can communicate with each other as they are far more intelligent than we imagine, they are all incredibly clever as they make us think that we are cleverer than them so we never discover the truth! from Lara P.S. Your books and website are providing me with fascinating facts to discuss with my friends at school!

From: Lassi K.
To be honest i have zero knoweledge how the trick works, i'm not much into 'magic', but there is an ad campagn run by a Finnish bank that has a similar trick(well not 100% same), but it's like that 'put one card in your mind, POOOF, i removed it', saw that at the movies last weekend.. certainly it beats me how it happened, but as said the trick on your page works better(works with different cards whereas i'm quite sure the tv/movie advert somehow makes you choose that particular card). i'm quite certain most(if not all) explanations that are on the explanation page are incorrect(most due to technical impossibilities). btw, that ad campaing promises to make it possible for you to invest money even if you are still paying mortage, sounds impossible, right? that's why the illusion ads.. :)

From: Lars D.
Dear Mr. Clifford Pickover,
I certainly like your Jormungand Encounter Quantum Consistency ESP Prediction Experiment! It is: 477 by the way. It *always* chooses the right card, so I'm mighty impressed. I wonder what else you might know about me or anyone else.

From: njmc100
I tried your test 10 times, and not only was it wrong EVERY time, but after the first couple of goes I noticed that it always seemed to take away the black jack. Is it supposed to do that? Or has something gone wrong on my go? Oh well...

From: "Doe"
It worked - technology that I cannot comprehend!!!! Or ESP? Thanks for = the interesting test.

From: Anthony
I was super freaked out by your esp test.. but I did it quite a few times..and realized that there isn't always the same cards when you do it..so I'm not sure still exactly the reason it works that way..but I know it can't really be esp through a computer... Jill T.

From: Noah
Dr. Pickover,
I'm a student studying human behavior on the Internet and I absolutely love the 'ESP Experiment' on your web-site. I think it elegantly proves something I've always suspected people of doing as they interact with things on a screen. Whenever I watch someone read things on a computer they usually highlight the text they are reading or move their cursor around it in some way (this is most noticeable on the web, where clicking is highly prevalent). I wonder if you've done a controlled experiment with something like the ESP test. I'd be very interested in seeing the results.
Yours, Noah E.... ps - I worked for almost half a year with Dr. Benoit Mandelbrot in the Watson labs and I'm curious; which group do you work with at IBM?

From Ray H.
What about power ball lottery numbers for washington,d.c. maryland and v.a.

From Gracie
you where right you picked the right card the card i choose was the king of cups gracie

From: Dennis T
I have absolutely no idea of how this works but I can tell you that it = has worked 6 times in a row... I believe I will lose sleep over this... = great site and very clever "test" PS: would love to know the solution if that is = within your power

From: "Michael S."
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I took your ESP cahllenge 5 or 6 times and the correct card was chosen = every time. I tried different things with the mouse position and card = choice position, but consistently stared at the card every time. How do = you do it? Mike Slatton

From: "Lauren L."
I bet it simply tracks where the pointer goes BEFORE we actually click on= an eye. I noticed that it always picked out what card I pointed at firs= t, regardless of whether it was the one I was thinking about.Get more fro= m the Web.

From: Christopher B
Oh my, that's elegant. Wish I understood how it works.
I suspect the cards are an animated gif, and are prompting us to associate a particular card with a given hyperlink. It's easy to rule out a few ways it's NOT being done, but I'm delighted with the effect.
Hope you'll share the secret of this wonderful illustration. Thank you for putting it online. kit Pensacola, Florida

From: AthlonXPcc
it works by when someone looks at it they unconsciously move there cursor over it so the site detects that. am i right?

From Christian
holy shit... that is about all i can say...

From Joe
Dr. Pickover, I tried your ESP experiment 3 times, and each time the computer predicted correctly. I find this strange. My son forwarded this to me that is how I discovered this. Interesting.

From: "Amaranth"
It worked, OK ... I'm going for some sort of mapping between card position and eye position, but I want to test more ...

From: "pebbles"
lol....way too scarey.....does everyone pick the same card? how did that work? I am a curious sort.....and just love this kind of = thing.....very neat....yours pebs

From: Dave Lewis
Hello Dr. Pickover:
Absolutely amazing results. 10 out of 10. I don't know how you do it, but congratulations.
Maybe you should go to work for the government to analyze for potential terrorist threats!

From: a1057905
I didn't beleive it but it really worked!!! About 12 times ~ what can I say I'm very sceptical.

From: "Henry Kahn"
I cannot begin to tell you how much this experiment has meant to me. It absolutely shows that we must all reconsider our chosen paths in our current existence. For me, this is maybe the final experience I've needed to really change my life. I'm talking about a major paradigm shift here. This proves that we can predict the future. I'm sure it's done with numbers that only exist on the spiritual plain. Please tell me how many other people (if any), from here, can do this. Maybe ONLY a computer can do this. The bus drivers may have a technology way beyond anything the Pentagon can muster.

You can see that you've helped me decide to leave law school (I can always go back) and go somewhere like tibet; that's a good place to start. I hope you agree. If not, feel free to recommend a teacher you may know of.

Actually, I don't know if one can go to tibet but I'd like to meet Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dali Lama. If he's unavailable maybe I can find David Verner, who was, I think, a good friend of Garrick Spencer.

From: "jason d miller"
How the hell did you do that? I tried the esp test three times and every = time it was right, what gives?

From: SPIN
Cliff, Awesome little card trick thing going on... You had me and many people I sent this to though - took me about 45 tries, when I finally realized what was going on!

From: "bob smith"
I just completed one of your tests, 20 times over and it was consistently correct each time, this is just fantastic! This sort of stuff fascinates me, and it was great to participate. I just wanted to email you to thank you for cheering up my day. Cheers BOB

From: "Emily H"
I tried your ESP experiment on your website and was so shocked the first time that you removed the right card that I tried it again.  I ended up trying it over 50 times and every time was overwhelmed that the card I picked had been removed.  I was so shocked that I told all my freinds and we have decided you must have great mental ESP powers.  We have even started a small club/cult to worship and study you and your page.  We have even  created a shrine from pieces of Stonehenge which we bought over the internet at a great deal.  Although we have not done as much analysis as we would have liked, we have found a large energy field surrounds you as well as a strong psychic power in your mother's family.  We hope to find out more of where this ESP comes from in the future and will let you know.

From: "Kody D."
I love You. Oh My God! That is simply amazing... I cannot belive how you can do = that. Either computer's are a reincarnation of Satan (which i have = believed for a long time) or you are Jesus. I perfer to believe the = latter. I will follow you where ever you go.. to the ends of the earth = or even to Heaven. I will take others with me if that is what you so = wish oh great master of ESP. Allow me to be your loyal servant in the = great world of chaos that awaits us. Let me be guided by your ultimate = knowledge and leave this cursed world behind. I love you... -Kody D.

From: "Barb Cooper
Why does this work? I tried it a bunch of times using different "strategies" and it was always right. Mystified in Venice

From: Ccfrasca
DOes this not work via a cookie? Chris

From: "James Friedman"
I have been playing with this experiment for hours now at the office and my boss is going to fire me unless I stop. What is going on with this? Can you offer any explanations or even a hint or two. Im no scientist, but Im well-educated and this is driving me nuts. Thanks, James

From: Jackyikes
Yes, it worked, twice. Very impressive. My guess is that you correlate which eye a person picks each time, to which card the person "choose" in their mind, based on previous trials where they told you their selection. Still that seem weak. Nice job!

From: Ed
Wow!! Your ESP Picker experiment is amazing! First, it picked the right card two times in a row... no matter which eye I clicked on! Then, I tried to trick the ESP Picker and I selected TWO cards and guess what??? It removed them both!!! You are really on to something here. Ed Y.

From: rchatte
Dear Sir, this is crazy but that ESP program seems to get my guess everytime....i really cant figure out how.Would you tell me ? thanks for your time,

From: Sonjay
Obviously, the ESP test works because of the "cosmic" balance between type A "meta-brains" and the raijelian pseudo-spiritual clone- babies. I am impressed you have discovered to harness this power. I once dabled with these great powers, but became a mere shell of a "human being" due to "oxygon rays". These rays WILL be the death of you. For more information visit my site at www.timecube.com May the great eye of rashashamon have mercy on you in your "life" Reverend Sonjay "Logitek" Phymur

From: "Helbard A"
It took two attempts and I figured it out. I freaked out at first but then noticed that I kept clicking on the eye placed in the same spot as the card. Nice! I'm linking you on my site helbard.com

From: Jiri Soukup
Did you write the ESP program yourself? I don't think there is any possible feedback between the person and the screen, or is there something I don't know about? I know about an ESP experiment which was using self-correcting codes, but its rate was far under what you have. There must be some technical trick related to eye concentration. Jiri

From: T Gibbons
Dear Clifford Pickover I don't know how it works, but I have eliminated how it doesn't work:

It's not sensing deviations in the movement of the mouse, I tabbed through the site using the 'return' key and it still worked with great accuracy even with only keyboard interaction.

Having no video camera hooked up to my computer, I have eliminated this potential for facial clue interception by normal means.

Though one scientist has managed to create a sensitive device that can 'see' photons hitting a CRT screen and create a weak image of the room the screen is in via EM resonance down the antenna/cable from the CRT screen, to the best of my knowledge, this only works when there is no power to the screen, and no external signal on the line. I have eliminated this potential, until further research can prove or disprove it.

It works even when not verbally stating the name of the card aloud, eliminating sound card interaction.

It works when choosing the card from a random list, and it works when one is not engaged in the web site directly before choosing the card.

It works regardless of which button you press, even if you press the same buttons and eyes every time.

I have yet to get it to fail, so I can't try to correlate what 'went wrong'.

I have heard of a law of mathematics that states there are no two truly random events, that any two random number sequences created by random number generators will have entire strings of related data, as an example. This seems to go well beyond this aspect of the seeming unrelated behavior. It is this process that is believed to make such things as Tarot and I-Ching possible.

My guess, based on this, that it is using a complex mathematical or quantum process that is not only repeatable, but somehow predictable.

Occam's Razor, apparently, can cut away nothing. I can find no simple explanation for function based on the illumination of data.

I would love to know how it works, if you can tell me, or direct me to a text describing its potential.

If the computer program allows for 'telepathic calculation,' it would be interesting to see where the technology could go.

From: Ron F
I don't get it. Everyone else said it worked and the ten times that I tried it failed to remove the card I picked. Whats the deal? Maybe my mental focus is so intense that your ESP in ineffective. Who knows? Ron

From: Dan A
Cliff, Thanks for your speedy response. Despite my famous name (and late famous uncle), I don't happen to be a sci-fi fan. But for you, maybe I should make an exception and check out your books (since, as I've followed your career, it's clear to me that you & I share many interests). In any case, let me mention that I am totally astonished by your "ESP Experiment", which picked the same card I did about 20 times in a row, despite my attempt to keep my choice of blinking eye uncorrelated with my choice of card. The only rational explanation I can think of is that -- although I thought otherwise, my computer must have a microphone somewhere inside -- and you must have a voice-recognition program at your end. (Can this be?)

From Sara:
The thing is creepy, Was correct 10 times in a row.

From Cindy:

Cliff; I am not even going to ask you how you do that ESP guess your card eye thing, because your brain is definitely wired at a prodigy level we mere mortals only can galk at. For kicks I did it, and unbelievably, even when I did NOT say anything out loud, and tried to "fool" it with mouse moves and switching eye movements, and even when I focused with my eyes on another decoy card, whatever card I repeated in my mind was the one that the computer picked to eliminate. I am not afraid, I am just trying to figure out how we can use that genius to find Osama Bin Ladin. As this ESP thing is neither seemingly dependent on what you say, where your eyes actually go, or where your cursor actually goes, then it has to be based upon some statistical probability reductionism of numbers and sequences of times the game is played or the buttons hit, which is astounding. If that is the case, then it explains how God knows what choices we make and yet provides us with almost cover of an illusion of free will. Is it mere scientific statistical probability? N.B. the debate on predestinationism and free will; do we really choose or is our "true path" something written in the annals of heaven before we were born?

From Jane:
No doubt your ESP experiment has some sort of formula...i just can't be bothered working it out.

From: "Esther Donaldson"
Hello, your ESP experiment is absolutely excellent. Although I believe in ESP for humans, I do not believe computers posses the same skill...so I am guessing that in an age of extensive technological brillance, you have a program that somehow senses human responses regarding the chosen card. After all, there are many ways of reading a human being, through various physical sensors and also through brain waves. Either way....it gave me something to smile about. I'll discover your little secret ;) I have some little skills of my own you know! Hehe. Esther.D

From Stephen W: Dear Cliff, l tried youre e.s.p card trick.and l wasn't afraid what you found out. even if you got the card trick right,l think you have us memorising the = card and if at all possible read our minds,but if we pick another suject = to think about l would doubt very much if you would get it right. susan w

From: Cheryl
Wow that is amazing.I picked 3 cards at once didn't repeat it out loud and you were correct.passing this site on to my freinds. regards Cheryl U.K.

From: Manas: Hi! it is rather difficult to believe that thsi is possible, especially with present day technological advances. nevertheless, if it is really unaided, then this is really something! -Manas

From: NBate34898: Very weird!! Every time the 3 of us watched the screen it got our card each time,but when we closed our eyes & were directed to the eyes,you never got it!! 3 out of 3 of our cards were left there! I don't understand because you can't possibly be watching our eyes!! But even weirder-this time I closed my eyes & shouted out the queen of clubs,my mum guided me 2 the eyes & this time,the queen of clubs had disappeared,but the queen of spades had appeared!! it wasn't there b4! I think this is all a big trick. Kim & co

From: "Connor Harty" : Well, your page doesn't seem to work for me. Maybe that's because i'm = using my psychic powers to predict what cards you will be laying out, = and thus trumping your computer's powers. Connor

From: Benedikt
Dear Mr. Watkin. I found your site about your esp experiment really interessting. But, how does it works? If I remember a card in my mind, and a second before i click on of of the eyes, i got another card in my mind your esp-prg. show me the second card! I am very interested in programming. so what kind of language did you choose? Greetings from germany, Yours

From "Smith, G. (Greg)
It is soooo easy! You used the elementary mathematical equilibrium formula to find the commonality (or to be mathematically correct, the intercept) between possibility and probability. If you had enough transactional history across all permutations, you would be able to easily formulate the equilibrium equation for the card "trick". If you had asked at least 100 different people a day (everyday) to pick a card over a period of no less than 5 years, you would have accumulated enough history (obviously you recorded their choices) to apply the equilibrium formula retroactively to the recorded possible choices and the recorded probable choices, to achieve a 98% successful estimation formula using Euler's totient theorem. This equilibrium formula is used extensively in economics for example to calculate the equilibrium price of goods (i.e. the intercept of the linear graph depicting the price consumers are prepared to pay for goods, and the price producers are demanding for those same goods). The quantity of goods in circulation is another example (i.e. supply vs. demand). Nice try Cliff, but we don't think our computers are psychic. We might not know a lot about computers on a technical level, but we know enough about mathematics to know how you did it. You can't fool a couple of maths grads that easily... Sorry, Cliff. Better luck next time.

From: "Godfrey Banga" : You freak! Your freaky little program is getting my choices right ALL the time! How the hell does it do that? I'll try and figure it out and I'll be back! Godfrey Banga

From: "Origin"
Cliff, the answer lies in the claim that youcan guess your number 98% of the time. Out of a deck of 52 cards there are 52 ways in which you can omit any card, but 51 ways of omitting a specific card. In Stats (Permutations and Combintions) this is denoted as n!/r!(n-r)! for the number of combinations of r objects from n. In this case n=3D52 and r=3D1 or 52. So out of 52 ways of omitting any card, 51 can omit my selected card, giving a probability of 51/52=3D98%, which is the probability of you being correct, which is your claim! You completely reshuffle the deck when you present the 5 cards after removing any single card from a full deck of 52. Had you been presenting the original 6 cards minus my selection then this would have been truly amazing, but it isn't. Alternatively, in a deck you select 5 cards to show the result. What is the probability that any single card is missing from a full deck suite? With 52-5=3D47 cards missing, the probability is obviously 47/52=3D90%. However, you select 5 cards from 52 in C=3D52!/5!(52-5)!=3D2,598,960 ways, and for each of these the probability of leaving out any single card is 90%. I am sure one can find the entire probability of you being correct approaching 98% if one pursues this argument with conditional probabilities, where A1, A2, A3, A4....Ar...AC are the probabilities of you being correct on the rth trial. Phineas

From: "Becky
I am an 11 year old boy who saw this web adress in the paper and have always been fascinated about magic even though I know a fair amount of magic I was puzzled about wether that is magic you are doing! But I think that those creepy eyes are reading my mind and when my mum tried it she walked out the room,whispered it to me and came in and it was right! I tried it and didn't even say anything it and it was right! Are you psycic? You know I even thought of joining the magic circle! I think I am gonna try and be like you and learn about being psycic and magic and try to do whatever it is you do cos things like knowing that don't just pop out of thin air! I was going to ask you how to do it but my mum said "Nobody goes around telling people how to do things like that!"

From: Littlewitchkez: well we are amazed my husband and i kept pickin card we wasnt even tellin each other and you got it right everytime ,,we must have done it at least 20 time you are very very cool wish i had the power bit gutted that im just plain old me,,,kerriexx

From: "Kyle
Totally bazaar! Three of us tried to randomize the selections by having one person (without actually looking at the screen) select the POSITION of the card (1 through 6) on the screen, while another person selected the eyeball without first knowing which card was selected. The program picked the right card 25 out of 25 times. I'm sure there's a logical explanation, but I can't figure it out. Good job, Dr. Pickover! Kyle B.

From Louise:

I tried Larry's suggestion, and the card I chose still vanished. I'm so curious as to how it's done, however not really bothered byt he fact that it was. I'm not exactly what I'd call a believer, just very curious. Thanks for putting so captivating a site onto the net. It's a blast just to come here and check it all out for myself.

From: Paige Miller: Okay, I don't know how this works, but it obviously is a plot by the people at CSICOP (who publish The Skeptical Inquirer) to discredit ESP. If you were a real ESP researcher, you would be getting results that are just slightly above random chance under conditions that you tailor to suit your experiment, instead of consistent results like you are getting.

From: Lynda:
OK this is scary I did it 15 times and it worked each time,can you pick the lottery?;-) Lynda

From: "Tom : Dear Dr. Pickover By chance I tried the "esp" thing shortly after an eye exam in which = my pupils were dilated. With the resulting hyper vision I was able to = detect a ring of 7 pointing fingers (similar to the cursor) surrounding = and pointing to the king of hearts and flickering rapidly. The next day, = when my eyes had returned to normal, I was unable to see the pointing = fingers but obviously they registered on my subconscious and dictated my = choice. Sorry to spoil the fun by revealing your secret. Tom

From: Thomas Happ I : After trying the test approximately 1,223 times over the course of three days - during which I did not eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom - and after trying various methods of picking the cards - including dice rolling, phoning my blind uncle in CA, and writing random number generators in five different programming languages - I have finally, through meditation, achieved enlightenment. THIS WILL CHANGE HOW WE LIVE OUR LIVES FOREVER. It all has to do with the Theory of Quantum Amalgamation, which says that each and every one of us posses a link to every particle in the universe, which we can access only through special nerves located in the appenedix. Since this is a vestigial organ it does not possess it's full potency, but through a special surgical procedure known as "Appendocentisis" cellular biologists are able to cause the nerve cells to multiply at a faster rate and thus become hypersensitive to the psychic field generated by the invisible links between subatomic particles. It's TRUE, each of and every one of us has latent psychic abilities originating in our gastrointestinal tract, NOT in the hypothalamus (as is commonly believed). Anyway, this fact has been known since 1985, when the US military began its appendocentetic experiments on human subjects in Area 51, and is not really news. The thing which makes this special is that while it was previously thought that only biological subjects could connect to the Collective Subconcious, recent innovations have made it possible for ANY COMPUTER in ANY HOUSEHOLD to become a psychic "spy", policing our thoughts and cataloguing anyone who thinks "differently" -- i.e accepts the existence of the Human Psychic Potential or who uses mind-freeing drugs such as marijuana, LSD, and superglue. This new technology is employed as a virus which is automatically downloaded to your system (regardless of the architecture or OS) through the power supply, thus circumventing normal protective measures. The virus then enters a specific "Quantum State" which puts it on the same frequency as the Psychic Field of the Collective Subconscious, allowering it to tap into the mind of anyone within the computer's magnetic field. I submit that Clifford has managed to "crack" this virus with a countervirus that is automatically downloaded when you enter his site. This countervirus, in addition to automaticaly mailing Clifford any classic Bee Gees mp3s you may have on your harddrive, is able to read your mind and then interface with your web browser to predict the correct results. Clifford is indeed a hero among heros for being able to save us from the government's prying eyes and simultaneously accumulate a massive collection of soul-inspiring Bee Gees music, all under the guise of an apparently harmless web puzzle. Either that or you just need to look at the... cards more closely. -Tom

From: German Douglas K
Cliff, You've undoubtedly heard of the "infinite universes" theory of quantum mechanics, which hypothesizes that every quantum instant (the hypothetical smallest unit of time) every universe in existence spawns an infinite number of successive universes. Each successor universe represents the actual outcome of one thing that could have happened in the predecessor universe. For example, at this instant, there is a uranium atom in a universe that may decay, or may not. That universe instantly spawns two successor universes, one where the atom did decay and one where it did not. This theory implies the existence of an unaccountably infinite number of universes, where anything that could have ever happened did in fact happen in at least one of them. You and I (or essentially identical copies of you and I and everyone else) have been replicated and are being replicated an infinite number of times in an infinite number of universes. This happens constantly and has happened since the initial proto-universe started the whole mess, whenever that was. (Sorry for the layman's explanation of the theory, I'm not a physicist.) Of the infinite number of Universes that pop up every instant, in 5/6 of them you fail to guess my card and in 1/6 of them you succeed. In 5/6 of them I wind up thinking your experiment is a fraud, but there are still an infinite number of universes remaining where you get it right time after time for every person who visits the site. That's a small fraction of the total number of universes, but it's still an infinite number. The only universes where people write notes like this one are the ones where you've been lucky a lot. Because that's the only universe we know of (being the one we are in at this instant), we're amazed. But "most" of us, if we could take a poll across all the universes, would be very unimpressed because in total you're only right 1/6 of the time. (Of course there are universes where you're right the claimed 98% of the time...they probably think it really is ESP). Doug What I like about this "explanation" is that it could, according to my poor layman's understanding, actually be possible given the theory...albeit dependant on a unprovable theory and also on a variation of the weak-anthropic principle. Now, when do you plan to tell these poor people it's a simple trick? Fun! Thanks.
From: GeneWhacker
You might find this amusing, I passed the test around to my co-workers today and made this observation, the length of time it took to discover the "trick" was inversely proportional to the management level, i.e. one of my reports (lowest man on the totem pole) figured it out at first glance as compared to one of our directors who took a whopping 35 mins before enlightenment. Would have been fun to see how the CEO would have done...
Of course, I would think this is a correlation rather than a causal relationship! (at least I hope so). The confounding variable may be that the higher up you go on the management ladder the more tasks people are juggling....but it is humerous to take the "Dilbert" viewpoint, and just say that as you move up the management ladder, your IQ drops. Overall everyone discovered the trick rather rapidly, but that is probably not surprising giving that I am working in the bioinformatics department for an advanced biotech company where over 90% of the people are scientists or working with scientists. Thanks for your response! Ed Szekeres

From: BadlyDrawnGirl8:
saw the link to this in "skeptical inquirer", I'm not smart enough to know how this works.. but you are just too cool. Like that guy said before: you must get laid alot. I told my friend I thought you should be president haha. Thank you for being so clever! -Valeria

From: TTaxiJJazz: Well, I know its a trick, since your letter in Skeptical Inquirer made that clear, but you gave no explanation! I think a clue to the mystery is that the program does not choose the card, but instead eliminates one. It may be some trick of the eye in the way the cards are presented that makes it APPEAR the chosen card is eliminated, when in fact it is not. Jon P.S. I love the Watson reference. You have a most interesting web site.

From: "Ralph :
I think I know how you do it: your computer program doesn't cut the deck before it deals the cards, so there's a higher-than-normal probability that the cards will be displayed in a pattern that can be maximized so as to fool the player into thinking that the computer has eliminated his card. Right?

From: "Mr. Leyde": I think you traveled into the future, and that's how you knew what card = i picked. THat's so cool!

From: george:
I discovered your trick on the first try. As any experienced time traveller can see, it utilizes only the simple quantum tachyon entanglements of consciousness described lucidly in "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of

From: "FG Productions": your powers are frightning.

From: "Ernest :
I have no fucking clue how you do it, nevertheless, I think that it's great. Ernie Costa Rica

From: msw:
Cliff, thanks for your quick reply. I don't know how it works but I feel certain it is a trick, not ESP. You must be the smartest guy in the world to figure how to do this. My granddaughter is a Senior at University of Texas. She thinks it is something mathematical that has to do with the number of cards and eyeballs. Thanks again, your the greatest. Mary Sue

From: "Jock :
Your ESP experiment is absolutely baffling - but one heck of a marketing = tool; I'm buying your book to find out how it's done. Jock Savage, San = Francisco

From Rufus:
A marvelous trick, I have no idea how it is done except that I know it waswn't done by esp. When I read about it in Skeptical Rnquirer I assumed it was like some of the very obvious automatic ones that one of the big name magicians has done on TV.. Rufus

From Chance:
cliff, hello, my name is Chance and I am a student at Western Illinois University. I played with your esp a couple of times and was absolutely amazed, but very curious because there is no way for a computer to read senses or eye movement which makes me lau My next question is, do you believe in aliens? I know you have written some books about it but I do not have time to look at any of your info bec i am about done working in the lab and I have to go home. I will tell you I believe in them and would love Chance

From Buzzi:
o.k. I did this about 3 times and each time, yes the card was correct. What blew me away was the last time I did it I actually picked 2 cards and both were removed.......too weird! How was that done? You little rascal!! Buzzi b

From: Stuart Mitchell :
I believe that the reason you are always able to pick the correct card to remove has its roots in the same mathematics that brought us digital signal processing as well as some simple geometry. I am hypothesizing that you are using a combination of high resolution timers as well as a high sampling rate on the mouse position. The concept is simple. Each card is located at a specific angle from the eyes. It is important to note that even if you are not using the mouse as a pointer to the card you want to choose, it is still going to have very slight movements that will follow your eye movements. So as long as the following are taken into account, it is easy to monitor and calculate which card to remove. 1) Each card's angle to each eye must be unique, and so should each distance. 2) The sampling rate of your mouse is above the nyquist frequency for the optical spectrum.
Taking this into account, all you have to do is monitor the mouse movements over time right before one of the eyes are clicked. Depending on which eye was clicked, you can measure the trajectory of the mouse prior to the click. It will either have moved from the card, or had the same angle of the card when the person took one last glance at it before they clicked the eye. Of course, you can calculate the distance when you realize that the actual distance the eye moved is going to be a multiple of the time that it took that trajectory and the velocity of the eye movements. Obviously, the eye velocity will be an the inverse of its own sampling frequency times the distance it traveled when it was measured. The trick is that it was measured on the previous page when it was moved from a cleverly placed point on the page to one of the other eyes. I see no other way that this could be accomplished given the constraints of our technonogy. For some, your trick may seem like ESP. But to others, it can be demystified. Clever concept nonetheless. Samuel

From: "gianni.v:
If I chose the card beforehand, the program removed the "wrong" card. If I chose the card while looking at the screen, it was always right.

From: grabowsk: It wasn't correct, I'm proud to say. I read about it in the Skeptical Inquirer. I don't know exactly how it works but figured it must be an order effect combined with color. I loved the explanations. Good amusement for a sickday at home. Thanks bg

From: Jockel Deadeye :
Wow! I tried it several times and I must confess that you always managed it to pick the right card! At first, I tried to find an logical explanation for this. I used a randomly generated number between 0 and 1 an multiplied it with 26. Then I began to count through the cards, beginning left, until reached the number, which was the result of the previous calculation. I choose that card and, guess what....you or your program also did so!! I tried it at first 3 times in a row, then I paused for 5 minutes, then 8 times, then 3, then 4, the 4 again and finally 2 times. I don`t know why I did so, but I tried to somehow override the psychological link to my brain. Furthermore I wore a metal helmet to prevent any connection to my brain by electromagnetic waves. I accidentaly wrote down each number I tried and the letter for each, based on the alphabetical order. The word or sentence that came out was:"dea dauschdh joa ahle kaddn as". This doesn't seem to have any meaning, but then I realised what was going on!!!! You're able to influence any random number generating mechanism !!! So I think the sentence that I recieved is a messege from you! The only explanation is that you have abilities which are far beyond everything that is known by science!! I never believed in aliens, but know I ask myself nearly every minute: IS THIS GUY AN ALIEN?!?

From: "Judy A"
The Cricket is the name of the mouse at present time on a computer, or did you think that this is the first time in 3078+ years we have had a computer? The sound of the cricket was eliminated from use because it is an unsecure and inaccurate data base structure. The placement of the sound of a 'mouse or cricket" is the deciding evaluation of a compile of energy simular to the one used in nature to produce insects. To place it on the card and click left the impression in the system and the compile is annoying to the human senses as in the small nerves of the human body. Ask for TISP MRS HERSHEY on a search and ask for connector and I can allow you access to all human knowledge so I will not embarrasse you further with your ignorance in phsics, quantum or other wise. But you too can have fun with this subject even after I dsstroy your theory....All YOur data plus a light tough to update of knowledge of storage of data. Will give you the apporpiate game Dr. J.

From: "Lorraine:
what is it with the jack of clubs? when i completely clear my mind of all cards (as much as is possible considering the incredible and largely unexplored mechanisms involved), choose an eye, i invariably end up with = this card.using the number system i asked my partner to choose a number = 1-6, and guess what?same bloody card.she was cleaning the floor in = another room at the time and was not participating at all. throw us a bone.=20

From: "Arthur
Dear Sir: Love your ESP experiment. I teach a course in applied statistics in psychology. Your experiment is perfect for gathering data from the class to summarize and consider the possibility as to whether there is empirical evidence for ESP. Much additional misdirection is supplied by asking the class to consider the probability model that a particular card is selected and then removed in the first stimulus presentation. With much discussion the class data appears to unequivocally provide scientific evidence for ESP since invariably the probability that 20 people or so all have their card removed from the second stimulus presentation is statistically significant. The subsequent discussions of how the psychology of ESP might explain this apparent phenomenon is richly attended to. Since no one is aware (of how it really works) the class gets a real live dose of how good theory must explain and drive an experiment and that statistics, however significant, is not the salvation of sound scientific analysis. No theory of ESP, however good, can explain a non-ESP event like your experiment. And data which appears to be collected to explain an ESP event, but in fact is collected on a non-ESP event aptly shows how the wrong theory applied to the right data produces bogus science. The best part is how to explain why some people swear that their selected card was NOT removed. Then were into some real psychology of how the mind works. And all that whiz-bang jazz in your explanation page about technology sensing your eye movements or anticipating how your mouse event can be interpreted is priceless. And as a teacher of JAVA, I loved the hype about downloading the JAVA code and inspecting it for clues to the ESP event. Outstanding! And thanks for the teaching prop,

From: "Zebediah:
Dr. Pickover, I am a Ph.D. with seventeen years' experience in neuropsychology and mathematics, and I must say I have never seen anything quite like this. Even in the eighties, when the U.S. government was actively encouraging and funding experimentation with increasing hypothalamic mass in voluntary subjects, my colleagues and I were never able to produce results so strikingly accurate. I suspect their techniques have become refined since I ended my participation in the Program in 1991, and that the push to synchronize vertical and horizontal refresh rates for CRTs and computer monitor displays with frequencies harmonically related to theta brainwave function (that is, even multiples of the frequencies at which the brain is most responsive and aware) is a direct result of this refinement. It's obvious that this planned synchronization has resulted in the ability to conduct bi-directional thin-client transfer of information between subject and centralized artificial intelligence.
This has profound application in today's political climate. The ability of our government to monitor the thoughts of individuals, and process those thoughts automatically for motive and intention, is an important advance in the fight against terrorism.
There are also exciting possibilities for inverse applications--that is, the ability to push data to individuals electronically rather than simply pulling brainwave data to a server for processing. Because the information link is bi-directional, it allows for massively parallel processing of computationally intractable nondeterministic polynomial (NP-hard) problems, such as those encountered when factoring products of large prime numbers. Remember "Sneakers"? Factorization of large primes is directly related to the ability to break complex cryptographic protocols, such as the RSA and Diffie-Hellman protocols currently in use by most governments and financial institutions. This is a classic application of the "Chinese Television" method of codebreaking, but on a much more massive scale--processing by billions of Web surfers, without requiring their acquiescence or consent. The SETI project, as I am sure you are aware, has been using this method (albeit with computer processors, not human brains) for quite some time now, but the technology you have demonstrated allows, for the first time, practical applications for government agencies such as the CIA and NSA. Just think of the possibilities--foreign cryptographic measures broken in mere hours, with the (unwitting) help of a few billion Web surfers across the globe!
Whew, just kidding there. I'm no Ph.D., just a computer programmer with a couple of years of college and a little science fiction under my belt. You're free to quote from my message above if you think it will give your website readers some kicks, but a caution--I'm not going to be responsible if some nutcase takes my horse pucky as the Word of God and goes around bombing CompUSAs ;-)
I got a real kick out of your source code (who knew pipe symbols could be used to such effect?) and was rather surprised at the, er, "innocence" of some of the self-described educated people who were taken in by the references to Java and your handy HTML comments, not to mention the "ESP test" itself. Which makes me wonder, how do these people react when they realize they've been taken by a parlor trick? I'd like to believe most of them laugh and shake their heads, although I suspect many persist in their belief in various paranormal and conspiracy theories ("My Computer Has Really Cool Eye Monitoring Hardware Dell Didn't Tell Me About," "Big Brother Is Watching Me Through My Optical Mouse," "Quantum Mechanics Explains All The Shit I Don't Understand," and my personal favorite, "Cliff Pickover Has Nothing Better To Do Than Travel Back In Time To Fool Me") despite your attempt to acquaint them with the fallibility of their own memories.
Best of luck to you. I should like to meet you across the table at a poker game someday. Regards, Z.B. _

From: SSJ3Millencolin:
I had had pre-selected my card before clicking on the first eye, kept my eyes shut and scrolled down, and clicked on another eye...IT STILL WORKED!!! If you are trying to get people to read your books youve done it

"Kathleen :
Terrific! After playing twice, (you won), I PRE-picked my card, closed my eyes then= looked at only the eyeballs and clicked on one. Those times I won. Truly weird, because I don't want to believe the possibilities!!!! Keep up the good work. Kathleen

hi liked yer" e psuedo p" exsperiment....but i was able to fool the program buy choosing a card before my next choice.. so now that i know what cards u have as i presume there all the same... i'll be able to choose what card i want before yer 2% veriable can kick in leaving me to outwit your program but i will tell all my friends about the site& experiment.lol i'll let them see if they can figure out how to beat it....... while i amaze them on how i can.....lol

From: "Richard:
It took me 2 hours and 1 bottle of wine to find out. You are a bastard !! bey Richard

From: Magsue: this is going to keep me up at night if i dont find out how this works..is there any way i can find out?

From: Mark:
Cliff: As an engineer with multiple degrees, I can not create a logical explanation of why it worked. Good job on entertaining us.

From: "Mark
Dear Mr. Pickover: I tried your experiment with cards many times and, = sorry to say, it worked approximately once in five or six attempts. = Since there are six cards to choose from, the probability of a random = success is about 0.16, which is about what happened in my case. Of = course, if the choice of one of the six eyes is not a red herring and = also affects the outcome, the probability of a random success is just = 1/36, and my result (about 1/5 to 1/6) was way above the expected. = Stiil, I wonder why almost everybody else reports the astonishing 100% = or nearly 100% success. I don't doubt the veracity of these respondents, = just wonder. I don't think you'd be willing to shed light on this puzle, = but if you do, it'd be most welcome. Best wishes, Mark

From: "Pankaj"
Dear Dr. Pickover, I am amazed and fascinated by your experiment. I don't seem to understand what relevance does"Quantum Consistency number" has in this experiment? because,once it was 357 and the answer was correct and then it was 950 with three flashing lights and the answer again was correct. just confused regards Pankaj

From: JohnHJose
I tried the experiment three times and was right each time. When I contacted your site I was feeling somewhat misfortunate and powerless due a recent series of irrelevancies. However I picked the right card three times in a row and immediately felt better. I decided to test the 98% accuracy claim by doing the trick 100 times. On the first 98 times I picked the right card. The next two times I picked the wrong card. Amazing. Next I decided to extend the investigation to 47150 trials. The first 46207 times I picked the right card. Then I picked the wrong card 943 times, thus attaining a 98% record. Amazing. I am convinced that I can pick the right card 98% of the time. Amazing. How do I do it? I think there is a microphone in my pants. John J.

From: Bernd:
I just discovered that your magic program works even when I think (no need to say anything) of three cards at once!! I didn't mangage to try more. Knowing how to do this trick I would immediately give up my job and start a career in ESP. Sincerely, Bernd

From: SallyTmayflower: How do you do it. You did scare me & amaze me at the same time Sally

From: "Greig Isles" :
Two questions, what does ESP stand for (I must have missed it), and two, can you influence other events or is it making us in the present believe we have been manipulated when really its some kind of algorithm? By the way, neat lttle gizmo you got there, G. Isles N.A.T. (not all there, lol, making fun at my self)

From: Richard :
This is brilliant. You must be a computer genius. I haven't slept in a week. How do you know card? I am now afraid to leave the house. Rich from Boston

From: "joanne" :
Hi, My name is Kayla and I totaly belive in all thinge that revolve around ESP but how did you do that?!

From: Proctor12976:
dear cliff, i did an experiment of my own. i decided to pick one of the cards,say it out loud,but in reality picked a different card in my mind that was my choice. i clicked on one of the eyes and it said that it had removed my card. however,now with one removed,five remained. neither the card i said out loud,nor the card i chose in my mind were there. this means that one was taken away and one was swapped with another card. how do you explain that? i would love to know as i find it is obviously either a trick,an illusion or both. -jeff f.

From: "Mike :
Ahhhhhhhhhhh, somebody help me esp has me I cant sleep I cant think the voices wont go away Mike R

From: "Tara M."

Hi, My name is Tara M.

Your experiment was really fascinating. I tried it about 15 times and all were correct whether or not I looked at the screen, picked a random card in my head, looked at one while thinking another, moved the cursor, picked a different blinking eye or the same eye over and over for a differen t card, etc. The only thing that did not work was if I chose a card that was not one of the six on the screen, for example, the 10 of hearts. If it were ESP this would have kept all 6 cards and not eliminated any. Besides that, I don't think ESP works via computers, it would be hard to "perceive" remotely and also to attend to all who were logged on at once. Obviously though, your knowledge of either programming, numerical statist ics, physics, or all of the above are excellent. Like the others who wrote in, I hope you will eventually post your results, and explain the tech nique used.

Thanks for the experience!

From: William R.

Isn't the first pick usually the third card and the first eye chosen the third eye?

From: David V.





From: "Karen L.,

This experiment is absolutely awesome. I did it over and over and every time you were correct. The scary thing is if you can ESP the cards that we randomly choose, what else do you know about the future? Great job at this. Keep up the good work!! Karen L.

From: "Stacy D."

I'm curious and have no clue - how does it work????

From: "Tori T."

I took the ESP test SEVERAL TIMES. Your computer got it right every time! I'm scared!

Tori T.

From: Sonja


From: "Andrew T."

WOW! Me and my five friends played the game, and it turned out we each chose different cards and you removed ALL SIX of them! WOW! It was AMAZING!!!!

From: William K.


You were right every time, but it's time you got out of my head. And when you go please take John Poindexter and all the other boobs at Total Information Awareness with you. Thanks. Bill

From: "Jared W."

I don't think it was ESP, Mr. Watkin. I think you used Javascript (a computer language), even though I can't find it in the code. Could you tell me honestly?


From: "John M."

Dr. Cliff,

The way I think you carry out the ESP experiment is that u have a frequency analyser installed in the software and when one says the name of the card aloud, the software can match the various frequencies in the voice to that of the chosen card and in doing so figure out which one it is



From: "Patrick M"

Wow--all I can say about the ESP test! I am absolutely baffled at the results! What's "Quantum Consistency?" Mine was 958.. Wow... Patrick

From: "Vincent p"

Greetings, I thank you in advance for reading this, if indeed you are. I try to keep an open mind about everything, and i do mean everything. However, I find it very difficult to believe that a website could be instilled with the psychic energies and/or perceptions of a living being. Still, I am (almost) completely devoid of any viable theories as to how the program might work. I have conducted a few controlled experiments and still have come up empty.


I kid you not good sir, if you do not send a reply to this E-mail in some form of an explination as to how you accomplished this amazing feat, you have ruined a young boy's life. I will not stop trying to solve this riddle until it is answered. (Keep in mind that should the answer involve computer programming techniques, please keep it VERY simple, i know little of computers) In either case:


Thank you for your time and evident genius,

From: "Le Tigre"

Ok I took your test to see if the computer can read your mind. Here is what I found::: I took it quite a few times and it was right. But then I looked at the feedback page, and someone said something about choosing the card beforehand and not looking at it. So I did that and did not move my mouse. Guess what--- it was wrong every single time that I did that. So I'm thinking it has something to do with eye movement and/or pupil dialation. Hence all the eyes!!! hehehe. Am I getting close? I thought at first that it had something to do with the order in which the eyes were selected but.... Oh i guess that's why it told us to 'stare at your card'.

From: KLuLeSs224

HOW do you do it? I tried it about ten times and couldn't figure it out! A lot of the time I chose ahead of the time and didn't even look at any of the cards and one time I even looked at the wrong card and it still got it write! It's totally creepy!

From: jared h


From: Ponsaelius

It has to be something visual that draws your attention towards particular cards. It's nothing to do with what you click on - that's irrelevant, but there's a visual manipulation of some sort to draw your attention towards a particular card. It may well be shading.

The reasoning is simple: if you pre-select your card it is invariably wrong. If you choose while looking at the page, it is correct. The animated gif is a nice distraction from what is really going on.

Most excellent!

Imogen :)

From: Joseph L


Your ESP trick baffled me for most of the morning. I even wrote a little script to generate random numbers for the first eyeball picked, the card picked, and the last eyeball to click on. After going through it numerous times, I decided to look at it from another perspective.

From: "Paul B"

I have no idea how this works. I can handle algebra, so the math behind your algorithm is way beyond me. However, I noticed that if make my card selection from the cards that remain after my first pick, and then return to the pick screen, the program never selects the card I have chosen. I don't have the math skills to figure this out, however. Paul

From: t_d

I'm a CS grad, and this is the spookiest thing I've ever seen in my life. This page was correct 15 times in a row for me. Even after I started rolling dice (5 times). With my hand off the mouse. You've got me questioning reality now, thanks.

From: "Morah R"

wow you were so right. my friend and i always think alike and i want to no if it is esp or coinsedince. we once wore the same outfit and we didnt plan it and we also do alot more things. please please please email me with your comments. we are both very interested and also scarred and dont no what the deal is. sassygirl41102

From: "Anand P"

Right ! I have had enough, i own and run my own business - a newagents and at the minute all of my customers are talking about it - one of them thinks he has sussed it out after spending 28 hours trying to master the technique!

i thought to myself that all of my customers are refering me to this website and so i thought to try it myself and it is absolutly amazing!!!

shouldn't this technique be out in the real world making millions and millions of dollars ?????

i live in england and found the site amazing that i have made a poster of the site to make sure friends and family go onto it for sure and check it out !!

many, many thanks for this spooky adventure you have sent us all on, i will find the way you do it ! , you will see !!

thank you once again,


More Explanations

You can find more recent explanations for the peculiar phenomena of the EST test here!
Again, was my ESP program correct? If you like this experiment, please send me a note. My e-mail address is on my main page. Please return to my page now.

The book that discusses this ESP test in depth is Dreaming the Future.


Return to Cliff Pickover's home page which includes computer art, educational puzzles, fractals, virtual caverns, JAVA/VRML, alien creatures, black hole artwork, and animations.