Copyright: Copyright ® 1996, PEAR Inc.


Contents

What is ShapeChanger

How To Begin

Menus

Image Sets

Interpreting Scores

How To Do It

Spacetime

Real Or Not?

Index

Glossary


What is ShapeChanger
What is ShapeChanger ?

ShapeChanger is a tool to help you explore the powers of your mind. You decide on a possibility and hold it in mind while the image unfolds on your computer display. The outcome may be responsive to your feelings and intentions. When it is, you will know it by the results you get. ShapeChanger opens a door to measuring the effect of mind on matter. You can experience ShapeChanger in the spirit of play, like a game, or as a vehicle to explore abilities you may not have realized that you possess.

Playing ShapeChanger is a personal experience that helps you learn to focus your will and intentions on desired outcomes and make them happen.

Here's What Happens
You choose two images from a collection, and pick one to be your preferred target. ShapeChanger mixes them on the display, and then randomly shifts pixels from one to the other.

The two scenes compete for pixels, and which one wins is determined by a random process which you influence to favor your target using your mind alone. According to the laws of chance, you can expect to get the picture you want about half of the time. Your goal is to exceed that rate and make your desired picture appear as rapidly as possible.

Play options include personal play where you compete against chance, and competitive or supportive two-person modes. Groups can also work together to achieve their chosen ShapeChanger goal or compete with each other.

We can't promise that you will become a master manipulator of your world, but we believe that playing with ShapeChanger will give you practice in deciding what you want and focusing your intentions and mental images to get it. We can't promise an easy win in Lotto or a casino (the odds are too stacked against you), but we believe that holding positive intentions can give you an edge. Playing ShapeChanger will sharpen that edge, because it is designed to help you learn how to manifest your intentions.

For a major challenge to your conceptions of space-time, ShapeChanger allows you to play from remote locations and times. ShapeChanger can also be set to run as a continuous sequence resulting in scores that may be affected by what's going on in its environment.

The purpose is for you to learn and have fun playing and beating chance, while getting practice manifesting your intentions with a computer!


How To Begin

You can just go for it!  ShapeChanger is designed for exploration, and you'll easily find your way to most of its options and possibilities. We think the best way is to tune in and resonate with the system.

A Simple Guide to Get Up and Running

There are six different image sets in ShapeChanger®  - A New Dimension (v 2.2):
 “Spectra”, “Images in Time and Space”, “Plants”, “Animals”, “I-Ching”, and “Portals”.

Click on the ShapeChanger icon to bring up the main selection screen. Choose the image set that you want to use, and Click on it. It will have a menu bar that includes File, Options, Game Type, Intended Image, Select Images, and Help.  The main screen shows thumbnail versions of the available images, and two play boxes into which you will place your selected images when you are ready to play. (View any of the images in its full size by clicking on its thumbnail picture.)

To start play:

1 	Select an image by placing your mouse on it,  then Click and drag the image to a play box and release it.

2 	After both boxes contain an image, click on 'RUN' and a dialog box asks you for Player Names. If you do not enter a Player Name, or make an entry only in the First Player space, your next click will place you automatically in Supportive Play. If you make entries in both player name spaces, you can choose either Supportive Play or Competitive Play (if there are two players,
groups of players, or imaginary players). After you have entered the appropriate names and picked the kind of game you are playing, click on the “OK” button.

3 	After Player Names are entered (or you have by-passed this screen for Supportive play), ShapeChanger will ask you for your choice of Intended Image. Click on the button by the name of the image you intend to take over the screen. This will be the image you intend to first resolve on the screen.  You may select “Random” as the intended image. If you choose “Random”, the computer will select the intended image randomly. This means you don't select the image you are asked to “get” (i.e. resolve on the screen), but must attempt to resolve the image presented randomly by the computer. This is usually more difficult than when you decide which image you are going to “get”. After the intended image is chosen, click on the “OK” button.

4 	ShapeChanger will then ask you to choose the Game Type – Standard, Continuous, or Best Of. "Standard" means duration of play will be the time it takes to resolve the image pair one time only. "Continuous" means the image pairs will continue to be displayed for your intended resolution until you choose to Quit. "Best Of" means you are electing to play two or more presentations of the pairs of images, as many as 11 times.  Click on the “OK” button once your selection is made.

5 	ShapeChanger now gives you Options for setting the speed and maximum time of play. "Moderate Speed" means the image pixels will fill your monitor's screen, and resolve slowly. Choosing "Scale Image", means the image size can be reduced as much as 50%, and will run proportionately faster. "Maximum Run Seconds" lets you choose between 60 seconds and 300 seconds (5 minutes) to let you try to resolve the image pairs before your “Time Expired” message occurs, indicating the ending of that image pair effort. Choose your settings and then click on the “OK” button.

6 	ShapeChanger then displays the Intended Image first (or computer selected image if you chose Random), and overlays the other picture until half the pixels are assigned to each image. A progress display in the menu bar shows this happening, and when the mix is complete the intended image name is displayed on the menu bar, a beep signals the start of pixel changes, and the message “Go For It” appears. This is the beginning of your effort on this trial.

7 	ShapeChanger now starts shifting the pixels randomly from one image to the other while you resonate with your intended image and envision it completely taking over the screen. This is the time for your intentions to go to work.

Throughout the game, a random number generator is being sampled and its deviations from chance are used to decide how many pixels to shift and which image will take them from the other. Try to get as many pixels as possible shifted to your intended image. Each run ends when all pixels have changed (resolved ) to one of the images, or when the time limit has been reached
without a winner (Time Expired).

ShapeChanger will automatically return to the main screen and display your score after each run. You can quit at any time during a trial by clicking the “QUIT” button, which will cancel that run.

You can repeat the process as often as you like with the same images and the same intended image, but you can also change the images by dragging new choices into the play boxes.

The score for the run is written on the scorecard along with the trial number, date and time you played, target images you were playing, the score achieved, its qualitative rating, and who won (or was playing if you chose to play Supportively). If you could not get the images to resolve within the  Maximum Run Seconds, your score is given as “NA”, and its rating is the message “Time Expired”.  The File menu allows you to save and print your scorecards.


Menus

File

Options

Game Type

Intended Image

Help

Player Names


File Menu

New Score Card

Used to create a new score card.  This score card is given the name DEFAULT.SCD. After a blank score card is created, you are prompted for the name of the players.

Open Score Card

Used to open an existing score card file.  Score card files typically have a SCD file extension, so you are presented with files to choose from with this extension. Once a file has been opened, you are prompted with the name of the players and the type of game played when the file was last saved.  You can accept these settings or change them.

Save Score Card

Used to save a score card to its file name.  If the scorecard was created using New Score Card, the user is prompted for a filename before saving.  You should always save to a file name with no extension or a file name with the extension .SCD .

If the score card was created using Open Score Card or if it was previously saved using Save Score Card As, the score card is simply saved to its file name.

Save Score Card As

Used to save a score card to a new file name.  You should always save to a file name with no extension or a file name with the extension .SCD .

Close Score Card

Used to close the score card.  If the score card has not been changed since it was opened, it will simply close.  If the score card has been changed, you will be asked if you want to save the score card before closing.

Setup Printer

Used to configure the printer before printing.

Print Score Card

Used to print the contents of the score card to the printer.


Options Menu

Moderated Speed

For new, higher speed PC's, this option provides image mixing and resolution at a pace comfortable for most users.

Scaled Image

For users who like high speed, or for those who have older, slower PC's, this option lets you select a variety of image sizes to permit higher rates of image mixing and faster results.  The smaller the image, the faster it runs.  Whether you choose Moderated Speed or a Scaled Image with a reduced size, the Significance of Scores is the same.

Maximum Run Seconds

This option allows you to adjust the allowable time of each game from 60 seconds (1 minute) to 300 seconds (5 minutes).  If you do not succeed in resolving your image within this time, your score card will indicate "Time Expired".

IMPORTANT NOTE

Be sure to turn off your screen saver, otherwise the screen saver will engage and interfere with playing the game.


Game Type

ShapeChanger can be played in either of two modes; Supportive Play or Competitive Play.  For each of these modes, there are three game types.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure to turn your screensaver “Off” to prevent it from interfering with the play of the game.

Standard Game

The Standard Game runs once each time you click on the “RUN” button. The following are some variations for playing one game at a time:

1 	Personal -- Test your intentions against chance.  Enjoy the interactions.

2 	Supportive -- Two people working together against chance.  An opportunity for interpersonal resonance to help connect with ShapeChanger.

3 	Competitive -- Two people playing against each other.

4 	Groups -- Try to get a group to share a goal.  Alternatively, Team 1 plays competitively against Team 2.

Continuous

The Continuous game option is started by clicking on the "RUN" button.  The game automatically starts new runs until you click on the "QUIT" button.

The scorecard for Continuous includes the date and time of each score obtained. Try running a Continuous game of ShapeChanger when you are away from your computer. Keep track of meaningful meetings or events during your day and see whether they correlate with unusual scores. Alternately, when no one is around the computer and no one has their attention focused on it, you can use Continuous play to generate a calibration set of runs that you can compare to
your best-effort results (see the Real Or Not section for details). In other words, do the scores of games differ when you are trying to influence the game versus when you are ignoring it?

Best of Game

Select the number of runs (3 to 11) for the game from the list box.  After you click on the "RUN" button, ShapeChanger will start them all automatically.  The highest score out of the selected number of tries wins.  This is indicated by the Overall Score shown in the Outcome dialog box of the Scorecard.  Best of Game can be played by one person working for a record score, two people competing for the best positive or best absolute score, or by teams playing with either supportive or competitive intentions.


Intended Image Menu

Select your intended image. This is the image you want to sharply emerge to complete the game. Try to keep your focus totally on your intended image throughout the time of the game.

If you do not have, or choose not to have, an intended image prior to starting the game, choose 'Random'. ShapeChanger will then randomly select an intended image prior to each image mixing.


Help Menu

Help is provided in ShapeChanger to guide you in using the game.  You can use Help to learn more about ShapeChanger and how to use it, or you can use it as a guide to specific sections or functions of the game.

The Help menu also contains information on the following:

How to Interpret Scores

Glossary of Terms

Printing

About the Images

Real or Not?

How To Do It


Interpreting Scores

In ShapeChanger your score is the number of pixel shifts required for one of the images to take over the screen completely. It is the number of steps in a random walk through the changing image space. Scores may vary tremendously because they are counts of random deviations.

In every run it is possible that your intentions may make a difference. When the run has very short duration, it is likely your influence was a factor adding information to the random system that controls the displayed image. ShapeChanger uses statistics to estimate the probability that any particular score was just due to chance. The calculation is presented as a qualitative
indication of how strong your influence was. When the picture changes in the direction you intended, your score is positive. If the change is in the opposite direction, the score is printed in parentheses. In this case, the interpretation becomes a little harder — a backward run may be just chance, or may indicate some contradiction in your unconscious (or subconscious) intentions. When this happens, ShapeChanger will give your results, but indicate they are in the
wrong direction of your stated intention.

In every run it is possible that your intentions may make a difference.  When the run has very short duration, it is likely your influence was a factor adding information to the random system that controls the displayed image.

Game Scores

Your Qualitative Scores are derived as follows, regardless of whether you choose "Moderated Speed" or a "Scaled Image" in the "Options Menu".

SCORE	PHRASE	ODDS	CHANCE	RESULTS ARE
97 +	Wow – Resonating!	plus/minus 2%	2 out of 100	Very Significant
95 - 97	Spectacular!	plus/minus 5%	5 out of 100	Significant
90 - 94	Outstanding!	plus/minus 7%	7 out of 100	Fairly Significant
70 - 89	Good	plus/minus 20%	20 out of 100	Approaching Signific.
40 - 60	Not Bad	plus/minus 35%	35 out of 100	Some Progress
11 - 39	Nice Try	plus/minus 49%	49 out of 100	Pretty Much Chance
N/A	Time Expired	?	May Be Supressing...	Chance
Graphs

Graphs

Outcome

Outcome


Graph
Graphs

The graph displays each trial's outcome as a deviation from a 50/50 chance (or zero) baseline to a maximally significant score of plus or minus 100. Interpreting scores for each game is relevant to understanding single trials, but the graphs let you see trends that appear after many trials.

There are two interpretations of the graphs depending upon the mode of play – either "Supportive Play" or "Competitive Play".

Supportive Graphs

When there is only one player or "Supportive Play" is chosen in the "Player Names" dialog box, the graph shows positive values when the intended image was the result and minus values when the other image was the result.

Competitive Graphs

When "Competitive Play" is chosen, the graph shows the first player's (or group's) image as positive values and the second player's (or group's) image as minus values.


Outcome

"Outcome" shows the “Overall Score”. Scores above the base line are represented without parenthesis; below the base line represented with parenthesis. The "Overall Score" is a cumulative average of your results. The greater the number of games played, the greater the significance of
your "Overall Score".

High scores refer to the largest score obtained in the game or series of games. The low score refers to the lowest score in a game or series of games.

If you are playing “Competitively”, the dialog box identifies both the scores and the name of the winner.


Glossary

A

Anomalous

C

Casino

Chance

Confidence

E

Experiment

L

Lotto

M

Mind on Matter

O

Odds

Off-Time

P

Pixel Shifts

Pixel

Probability

R

Random Event Generator

Random Events

Random Walk

Resonance

Resonate

S

Scientific

Scorecard

Significance

Statistics

W

winner


Image Sets

This edition of ShapeChanger is called "A New Dimension".  In this version you will see the following sets of images:

Spectra

Images in Time and Space

Plants

Animals

I Ching

Portals


Spectra

In the “Spectra” version of ShapeChanger you will see the colors Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet and White. The electromagnetic spectrum is a range of wavelengths, from the very short gamma waves (1 billionth of a millimeter) to very long radio waves with wavelengths up to 10 kilometers (6 miles). Between these extremes a very small band of wavelengths, shorter than 1/1,000 of a millimeter, stimulates the human eye.

The eye sees the differences in wavelengths as color, with the shortest wavelengths as violet, and the longest as red. The familiar colors of the spectrum are in between. These colors exist only in our eye and in our mind. If our reality is in a large part determined by what we see, then our reality differs markedly from that of other life forms which are sensitive to different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.

The light waves themselves are not colored, nor does a prism or a rainbow produce the colors of the spectrum. They produce only variations in wavelength.

Our eye and mind divide the colors into what we call the spectrum colors. But we cannot distinguish the components of color like we can the flavors of a meal or the pieces in an orchestra. A full mixture of all the colors appears to us as white. The absorption of colors, or the reflection of wavelengths below our threshold of sensitivity, appear dark, or black.

Humans have been fascinated with colors over the centuries, often associating mystical properties or special energies with the colors perceived in a natural spectrum like a rainbow, where the wavelengths occurring are due to raindrops acting as tiny prisms refracting the wavelengths of light. These mystical properties are interpreted differently by different cultures, some seeing them as colors representing different states of being as you ascend up the body from
the base of the spine to the top of the head. Some claim they see auras around humans that are colored according to a certain group of feelings, or properties. When you play with these spectrum colors, it is easy to associate moods or feelings with them.

Black –
Something that reflects very little light is perceived as black. Although the perception of black, strictly speaking, is due to a response of zero stimulation of the retina, the experienced perception depends on contrast with surrounding color stimuli. In the gray series, black is one extreme and white is the other.

Red –
A group of colors where the hue resembles that of a stop sign. Wavelengths between 650-800 billionth of a meter are perceived as red.

Orange –
Wavelengths between 590-640 billionth of a meter are perceived as orange. The color is popularly known as the color of the fruit of the orange tree or pumpkin.

Yellow –
Wavelengths between 550-580 billionth of a meter are perceived as yellow. This color is popularly associated with the fruit of a lemon tree.

Green –
Wavelengths between 490-530 billionth of a meter are perceived as green. Popularly the color is associated with emeralds and fresh growing grass.

Blue –
Wavelengths between 460-480 billionth of a meter are perceived as blue. Popularly, it is the color associated with a clear sky.

Violet –
Wavelengths between 390-430 billionth of a meter are perceived as violet. In Spectra, because the perceived differences in computer monitors between blue (460-480 nanometers), purple (440-450 nanometers) and violet (390-430 nanometers) are difficult to distinguish, we have essentially eliminated purple, and included it with violet. Violet is popularly associated with the colors of the flowers of a low growing group of plants with purplish-blue flowers.

White –
A full mixture of all the colors perceived by humans appears to us as white. Like the color black, white appears to always depend upon contrast with surrounding colors.  It is popularly associated with the color of fresh snow.


Images in Time and Space

In “Images in Time and Space” you will see images of Earth, Mountain, Ocean Wave, Giant Rock Sphere, Dolmen, Stonehenge, Taj Mahal, and Chaos.  Whereas Spectra involves resolving the colors associated with our tiny range of visual sensitivity to electromagnetic wavelengths, “Time and Space” exposes us to the short but priceless images associated with time on Earth.

The age of the Earth is only a small fraction of the age of the Universe, and mountains, oceans and rocks are only a small fraction of the age of the Earth.  The historical creations of humans, like Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal, while much older than our lifetimes, are just a recent spark in the age of the planet.

World –
Seen from the Apollo spacecraft, Earth is a beautiful sphere of blue and white suspended in the blackness of space. A miraculous 4 billion year old planet with an environment to support a diversity of interdependent life forms, from single celled organisms to humans, it is our home.

Summit –
The mountain represents an expression of Earth's activity. Massive tectonic plates buckle to form mountains, and where the disruption connects with Earth's molten core, hot lava erupts. Mountains may be very "young" (5 to 10 million years old) or can be traceable to Earth's activities occurring 60 to 100 million or even billions of years ago.

Wave –
Waves can range from tiny ripples to massive towers of water. The rise and fall of the ocean tides are caused by the gravitational influence of the moon. As you watch a wave, it may pass you in seconds as it travels a few hundred feet to the shore. Or it may be an enormous swell, traveling thousands of miles to crest as a 50 foot high monster before crashing on the shore.

Rock –
This naturally formed giant sphere of rock known as the Great Tilting Rock near Madras, India is considered sacred by people in that region. As ancient as the land it derives from, it is a startling outcome of the eons of interaction of wind, water and terrain.

Dolmen –
About 3,500 to 5,500 years ago, the peoples of Ireland, Scotland and other places around the world, built complex rock chambers for burials, sacred ceremonies and chanting. Though these dolmens differed widely in size and shape, they all resonate at about 110Hz, the familiar bass "A" of the adult human male voice.  ("Acoustical Resonances of Assorted Ancient Structures", R. G. Jahn, P. Devereux and M. Ibison, Technical Report PEAR 95002, March, 1995).

Stonehenge –
About the time the dolmens were built, an even more complex arrangement of rocks was assembled in England. Believed to be constructed as a place of worship, these powerful arrangements and shapes remain a testimony to human creativity and ingenuity.

Taj Mahal –
This beautiful mausoleum was built between 1632 and 1643 in memory of the beloved wife of the Shah Jahan in Agra, India. This magnificent edifice reflects the artistry, beauty and skill of human creativity.

Chaos –
Regardless of the formation of matter – a planet like earth, rock arrangements like Stonehenge or architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal –- its origins and ultimate fate is disorder and chaos.  Out of chaos comes complexity and order, only to dissipate and again return to chaos.

This product includes images from the Corel Corporation, which are protected by the copyright laws of the U.S., Canada and elsewhere. Used under license.


Plants

Plants are much older than animals on earth. Their appearance as individual cells, and later as complex organisms like flowers and trees, was what resulted in the oxygen environment essential to animal life. As humans developed in association with plants, special relationships occurred affecting beliefs and well-being. Fruits, flowers and plants are symbols of life itself and its abundance. They also reflect the mystery of all natural phenomena and often inspire strong emotions of fear and awe. Natural symbolism embodies contrasts – positive and negative, light and dark, good fortune and bad fortune. We often find these contrasts of feeling in images of plants. We have selected a few plants and flowers that have become powerful symbols to various cultures over thousands of years.

Acorn –
Potential, fertility, immortality.

Apple –
Life, temptation.

Chrysanthemum –
Luck, happiness, wealth, longevity.

Grape –
Abundance, peace, ecstasy, gluttony.

Iris –
Hope, sorrow, grace.

Lily –
Purity, mercy, charity, guilt.

Peach –
Longevity, marriage, truth, silence.

Rose –
Love, life, secrecy, death/rebirth.

This product includes images from the Corel Corporation, which are protected by the copyright laws of the U.S., Canada and elsewhere. Used under license.


Animals

Attributes of animals are bestowed by cultures. Often we seek to better define ourselves by assuming these attributes. Natural symbolism embodies contrasts – positive and negative, light and dark, good fortune and bad fortune. We often find these contrasts of feeling in images of animals. Some well known animals (mammals and birds) have been chosen to let you associate your intentions with them as you play ShapeChanger.

Lioness –
The leading emblem of royalty.  Endowed with strength, conquest, pride and authority.

Tiger –
Represents vital animal energy. Powerful and ferocious, and is the guardian of hunting and agriculture. The tiger is the mythical guard against chaos.

Bear –-
The symbol of bravery and strength. It is our mythical ancestor and the teacher of shamans. The bear can also be crude and cruel. It represents the dangers of the unconscious.

Wolf –
Complex and contrasting feelings are associated with wolves. Ferocious, cruel and evil are in contrast to maternal love and valor. It is the symbol of powerful tribes, thought of as a being of light and a god of war. It is predatory and often associated with the violence that underlies the superficial calm of civilization.

Dolphin –
Signifies salvation, love, and diligence. It is a divine messenger.

Eagle –
The eagle is the all-seeing sky god, representing courage, victory and power. It is the symbol of rebirth and a messenger of the spirit.

Owl –
The symbol of wisdom, it is also associated with death and misfortune.

Elephant –
Dignity with strength, the elephant is patient, wise and a symbol of longevity and good
luck.

This product includes images from the Corel Corporation, which are protected by the copyright laws of the U.S., Canada and elsewhere. Used under license.


I Ching

Over 3,000 years ago a set of patterns were created, grouped, and written down around the concept of an ever changing universe represented by positive and negative forces in balance. This concept was documented in one of the oldest books, the I Ching, or The Book of Change* (see footnote).

The process of change is visualized as stretching from One to infinity by a path comprised of Two (the Yin and the Yang), Eight (symbolized by the trigrams), Sixteen (symbolized by a group of hexagrams), Thirty-Two (symbolized by this and 16 other hexagrams), and Sixty-Four (symbolized by all the hexagrams).

Each stage along the path consists of a doubling of the previous figure, forming a geometric progression –- the same as that occurring in cell growth in the developing organism.  Eight trigrams were multiplied by eight to produce the 64 hexagrams, which when arranged in their myriad combinations are believed to allow the interpretation of human situations and the prediction of the future. The patterns were originally shaped by sticks, straight and broken in half, which could be thrown and arranged in an octagon and read counterclockwise from top to bottom.

We have chosen a simple and standard arrangement of the eight trigrams to permit you to select combinations two at a time to see what your conscious and unconscious intentions resolve.

Though we can only approximate the complexity of the use of the I Ching, you can make it more interesting and allow greater interaction between chance and intention by selecting the two images you will play by chance. You can do this by numbering the images and throwing a die to get the number of images to select, or by closing your eyes and letting your fingers play across the keyboard and picking the numbers closest to your index fingers, or any other means to make the choice of the two images be as random as possible.

Heaven (sky/cold) –
Powerful, expansive, proud (creative, active, strong, firm, complete, light). Father. The symbol of heaven and the sky.

Lake (marsh/rain/autumn) –
Joyous, delightful and evocative (joyful, pleasurable). Youngest daughter. The symbol of lake, marsh and mist, representing happiness, pleasure and serenity.

Fire (lightning/sun/summer) –
Brilliant, perceptive, and beautiful (dependent, clinging). Middle daughter. The symbol of sun and fire representing brightness, clarity and community.

Thunder (thunder/spring) –
Energetic, decisive and inspired (active, moving, arousing). Eldest son. The symbol of thunder representing provocativeness and experimentation.

Wind (wood) –
Insightful, flexible and flowing (gentle, penetrating). Eldest daughter. The symbol of wind and wood, representing subtlety, purity and transitoriness.

Water (cloud/a pit/moon/winter) –
Independent, diligent, relentless (enveloping, dangerous). Middle son. Symbol of water and the deep, representing labor, melancholy and pervasiveness.

Mountain (thunder) –
Balanced, sincere, secure (stubborn, immovable, perverse).Youngest son. Symbol of the mountain, representing perfection, stillness, and carefulness.

Earth (heat) –
Peaceful, relaxed, open (faithful, receptive, responsive, yielding, passive, weak,
dark). Mother. The symbol of the earth, representing faithfulness, receptivity and charity.

* We are using the I Ching as translated and edited by John Blofeld (1963, E. P. Dutton, New York) as our primary reference. Blofeld, an exceptional Chinese scholar and translator, translates the title as “The Book of Change”.


Portals

The reality we perceive is a mixture of information derived from our senses, experience and the culture we live in. It is also shaped by our memories, expectations and imagination. For the artist, a creative imagination is prized.  The images shown here are a selection of creations by a creative young artist* with a special vision. Using these ShapeChanger images lets you see through the portals of his vision. Resolve your choice without effort, by simply letting it happen.

Gateway

Where Dreams Begin

MoonSailing

Archway

SpaceMountain

ZenSpace

Emergence

FireBody

*All images in the Portals set ©1997 Dan Hanson, Creative Frontiers.


Real Or Not
Influencing ShapeChanger With Your Mind – Real or Not?

An exploration of the phenomena...

by John E. Haaland, Ph.D.
(Dr. Haaland holds a Ph.D. in biophysics and is one of the creators of ShapeChanger.)

The Scientific Issue
I have had a variety of questions sent to me regarding the nature of ShapeChanger and how it works. Many have asked whether it is driven by a non-deterministic random process or a deterministic pseudo-random number generator.  The scientific issue is whether the images we produce with ShapeChanger can be influenced by intentions in a manner that exceeds outcomes due to chance. I believe that most of you will be able to prove that to yourself in the manner I describe below.

Defying Belief
We all know of the many categories and areas of specialty in the fields of science and technology. We also know that these groups of people and the body of knowledge they support is very small compared to the general population of self-supporting individuals, workers, business managers and government officials who are not scientists or technologists. We also know that the view of every person is largely shaped by their beliefs, which to a very large extent is a
function of the particular culture they live in and the peer groups they associate with.

How does this apply to a very simple product like ShapeChanger? ShapeChanger defies one of the major beliefs of our established science and technology culture. It claims that reality can be altered by intentions alone, with no known physical intermediary. We are constantly altering our reality by our intentions through what we say, the tools we manipulate with our hands and feet, and by our body movements – all of which can be in response to our intentions. But in ShapeChanger we are claiming an effect that does not use these normal means of influencing our realities.

How The Randomicity Is Generated
Our goals with ShapeChanger are to let you experience this effect. Although ShapeChanger is covered by our general patent, let me give you some clues as to how its randomicity is generated.

Each sample of the random number generator adds or subtracts a pixel, and after each sample a new random number is generated for the next pixel, based on the thousandths-of-a-second reading of the computer's clock (plus some other proprietary code), which is pretty much random for each sample cycle. This process is sufficiently random so that it can be influenced by your mind, as you can demonstrate for yourself.

Prove It To Yourself

1 	Select the “Scale Image" and the lowest "Max. Run Sec" in the options menu.  Run the system on "Continuous" (Game Type Menu) overnight where it is alone and unattended to by you or by your intentions.

2 	You will get several thousand trials, and if the system was truly unattended, you will see a cumulative deviation of zero or at most +/- 1 (the black line in your score card graph). This is your random output baseline.

3 	Scan the scorecard for clusters of high hits, 60 or more in either direction. You may see an occasional score of 100, and a distribution of lower scores. You may also see some clusters of scores of 60 to 70 or more. You will very rarely see a cluster of 3 or more scores over 70 in any 30 second period.

4 	Now run the game with the same settings using your full attention. You may want to use a "Best of 11" instead of Continuous, since many people find it difficult to sustain attention for over 11 trials at a time.

5 	Now see if you can get a cluster of scores over 60, for example, 6 out of 11 trials. It is highly unlikely that this result is due to chance. Some of you may be able to get 8 out of 11 over 80. I have seen one instance of 9 out of 11 over 60 and some have even achieved four scores of 90 in a row. These are not likely to be due to chance. In this way you will be able to convince yourself and others that you are in fact affecting a distribution of pixels on a screen with no physical intermediary.

Ideas Are Real Events
For many people the evidence that the mind can effect reality without the use of the body is much more tangible than the subtleties of ShapeChanger. They did not need to participate in a laboratory experiment or use statistical techniques. For them, ShapeChanger can become a valuable biofeedback training tool, measuring the effectiveness of their attention in various states.

Our everyday experiences are not scientific experiments, nor does scientific process have much to do with what we do. We do not concern ourselves about the nature of electricity, or whether electrons are behaving as a wave or a particle when we turn our TV's on. Our direct experience is a fact we understand, just as an idea inside our head is a real event that we experience.

A Creative Act
Some of us have seen psychokinesis on a macro scale, effects so large and singular that statistics are irrelevant. For myself, I don't try to convince others of what I and others have witnessed, nor do I claim it has any scientific credence. Like a rainbow or a clap of thunder, I simply accept the experience. I have, with credible witnesses, seen a friend of mine "melt" (roll up) the bowls of spoons in a restaurant without touching them. I have seen this same person, holding a heavy
fork lightly between the forefingers of each hand, "melt" through the center so that filaments of metal seem to be drawn out like taffy.

I have seen people at PK parties do astounding PK feats. I once witnessed a person with arthritis so severe that he could hardly grip a fork, get a salad after a PK party and the standard restaurant forks he picked up to serve himself hung limply and wound up like rubber bands. The skeptic will claim fraud and trickery, or an aberrant mental state in the observer, but in my mind these were not factors at all. I make no claims about these events being real other than that I experienced them. There is no point in discussing these as science.

While I have had some success with metal bending, my training is in the martial arts. I can break boards free standing on end, 1 inch apart, with my hand. But my goal is not breaking all the boards, but to break the fourth board before the first three are displaced from their original positions.

These are not statistical events, nor are they the conduct of scientific experiments. They are more along the lines of a creative act, an expanding awareness, a process of self discovery.

Supported By Laboratory Data
To make scientifically credible claims it is necessary to have many trials with varied subjects and impeccable statistics. This is the challenge addressed by a number of reputable research laboratories throughout the world.  Their efforts have concluded that events that can be altered by intentions alone, are those that can be classified as a non-deterministically random process, and these findings are supported by laboratory data.

But reality is only partially reflected in our intellect, and to an even lessor degree encompassed by the domains of today's science. Macro PK effects often do occur, with or without a recognized random processes being involved.


How To Do It

How Do You Do It?

Many people ask how they should approach these phenomena, that is, what state of mind or method will get the best results. The answer is that there is no set answer. One of the things we are exploring is what we call the "training effect". We believe that anything humans can do they can be trained to do better. Just as athletes and musicians improve with practice, we think that with practice people may get better with these abilities.

To help get you started, we have developed the following protocols, or methods, for using ShapeChanger. You might want to try them yourself, or develop your own.

ShapeChanger Training Protocols/Methods

1 	Visualization:  Pick your images and choose the one you intend.  Click on this image (on the Image menu bar) and absorb its detail.  Visualize every aspect of the image, not only what you see, but the feelings and other sensory images (like quiet, or the smell of water, etc.) it evokes.

Return to RUN and with your Intended Image sharply visualized “as a real thing out there”, start the game. This method is effective at both “Moderated Speed” or “Scale Image” (high speed) options. It has proven to be the most effective protocol if you project your visualization.  You need to be able to stop “inner talk” to be effective.

2 	Talk to it: Treat your computer like a living thing. Give your computer a name and call it by its name – out loud and with expression. Cajole it, tell it you love it, ask it to give you what you want (your Intended Image). This method is effective at both “Moderated Speed” or “Scale Image” (high speed)
options, but not if you get embarrassed or uncomfortable with this type of emotive expression. It can be difficult to sustain for extended runs.

3 	Meditation:  Enter a meditative state and ground/center yourself.  Start with the sensation of breath and breathing, then gently switch to the sensation of the image of your selection as you run the game. Works best with settings of  “Moderated Speed” and “Max Run Secs” of 180 or more.  This method is often effective and can be combined with other approaches.  You need to be able to stop “inner talk” to be effective.

4 	Tangential (or Secondary) Attention:  Choose your Intended Image and simply “keep it in mind” as you do other things. This method can work at both “Moderated Speed” or “Scale Image” (high speed) options. On any one trial it may not be convincing, but over several trials (extended runs) it can produce significant cumulative score readings.  For many, this is one of the most effective methods.

5 	Force It: Shout! – like a karate board breaking effort. More of a “hit or miss” approach, sometimes really effective, sometimes not. Almost a special case of method 2, but more one-way and not as interactive.

6 	Rational Thought:  Think about what you are doing and analytically choose an image. “Will it” with a rational process, like the typical “inner talk” activity of consciousness. The least effective approach.

Breathing rates and depth can significantly affect outcomes in any method.  “Eyes closed” is also a variation, with results like Method 4 (Tangential) where you are not looking at the display.

Our work does not support one method exclusively over another.  Different people get different results with a variety of approaches, and the same person may find one method (or combinations thereof) works better for them on different days, or different times of the same day.  All our experience points to an over-riding requirement that the intention be strongly outwardly directed and deeply meaningful or desirous – something that is almost impossible to fake, and often
difficult to sustain.

For those of us who train in this it is important to be able to correctly assess your inner state in order to choose the best protocol. Even then you may need to switch up as needed to get the desired outcome. Since few of us are aware of our unconscious minds, intentions from deep unconscious origins may be surprising to us.

You will find your ability to resolve the image of your choice may depend on your state of mind, the images selected, and present or past associations with that image. Find out what works best for you by exploring the suggested methods and discovering the approach you do best with.


Player Names Menu

First Player

One or more names may be entered here or a team name.

Second Player

None, or one or more, or a team name may be entered here.

Supportive Play / Competitive Play

Select Supportive if the First Player and Second Player are supporting each other. The scorecard will indicate supportive play by Player 1 & Player 2 (e.g. John & Mary). Select Competitive if the First Player and Second Player are opposing each other. The scorecard indicates competitive play as Player 1 vs. Player 2, where Player 1 is trying to get the image selected as the "Intended Image" and Player 2 is trying to get the other image.


Spacetime

1 	Here and Now:
You are at the computer and getting feedback while ShapeChanger is running. This is the usual way to play the game, as described in Game Type help.  [or as described in Standard Game]

2 	Remote Location:
You are somewhere else – in the next room or a thousand miles away, and a friend is running ShapeChanger for you. Tell your friend what time you want to start and what images to use and what is your intended image. Be sure to tell him/her to not pay attention to the screen at that time unless you are competing with each other. Focus on your intended image and think about keeping it on the computer screen. You can also use Continuous play to start ShapeChanger yourself before you go to a remote location. Take notes about your efforts to resonate with the intended image and compare with the scorecard when you get home.

3 	Off-time:
Just like Remote Location, except you think about ShapeChanger at a time different than when it's running. Try focusing on your intended image at 10:00AM and then setting ShapeChanger to run that image at 2:00PM, or even the next day. Amazingly, laboratory experiments show that it is possible to communicate such intentions over both space and time. What's even more surprising, the scores are reported to be at least as good as the here and now scores.


Index

A

Acorn

Animals

Apple

Archway

B

Bear

Best of Game

Black

Blue

C

Chaos

Chrysanthemum

Close Score Card

Competitive

Competitive Play

Contents

Continuous

D

Dolmen

Dolphin

E

Eagle

Earth

Elephant

Emergence

F

File Menu

Fire

FireBody

First Player

G

Game Scores

Game Type

Gateway

Glossary

Grape

Graph

Graphs

Green

H

Heaven

Help

Help Menu

Here and Now

How To Begin

How To Do It

How To Play

I

I Ching

Image Sets

Images in Time and Space

Important Note

Intended Image

Intended Image Menu

Interpreting Scores

Iris

L

Lake

Lily

Lioness

M

Maximum Run Seconds

Meditation

Menus

Moderated Speed

Moonsailing

Mountain

N

New Score Card

O

Off-Time

Open Score Card

Options Menu

Orange

Outcome

Interpreting Scores

Outcome

Overall Score

Owl

P

Peach

Plants

Player Names Menu

Portals

Print Score Card

Protocols

Prove To Yourself

R

Randomicity

Real Or Not

Red

Remote Location

Rock

Rose

S

Save Score Card

Save Score Card As

Scaled Image

Scorecard

Screen Saver

Second Player

Setup Printer

SpaceMountain

Spacetime

Spectra

Standard Game

Stonehenge

Summit

Supportive

Supportive Play

T

Taj Mahal

Thunder

Tiger

Training

Trials

V

Violet

Visualization

W

Water

Wave

What is ShapeChanger

Where Dreams Begin

White

Wind

Wolf

World

Y

Yellow

Z

ZenSpace


Anomalous

General term for results or events that are not explained and do not fit into current theories.  The term is sometimes used to be more specific and less interpretive when referring to human capabilities that don't depend on the senses or on normal physical actions.


Casino

A gambling house.  The "house" arranges the odds for gambling games to provide a reasonable (actually quite handsome) profit for the house.  The house advantage varies from about 1/2% (optimal betting in Blackjack) to 7% in American Roulette, to perhaps 20% in some slot machines.  Of course, continuing to play with any odds against you makes it almost certain that you will ultimately lose.


Chance

The expected behavior or performance of a system (e.g., a game) when there is no influence from external sources.  If you flip a coin, the "chance" outcome is 50% heads and 50% tails.


Confidence

When statistics are calculated, the results are estimates of a "true" value.  Such an estimate has some range of variation around the calculated value which is called the "confidence interval".  A 90% confidence interval means that if we repeat the test, 90% of the estimates of the value in which we are interested will be within this interval.


Experiment

Laboratory experiments have many "controls" that eliminate other possible sources or explanations for anomalous effects, leaving the interaction of mind and machine as the most likely alternative.


Lotto

A game of chance with extremely high possible rewards, say, a million dollars, for a very small investment, say, a dollar for a ticket.  However, the odds of winning are proportionately small, and the payoff ratio tend to be something like one in several million.  That is, although somebody will win big, your individual chance of doing so is vanishingly small.


Mind on Matter

The effect of human consciousness interacting directly with its environment is something called "mind on matter", or an influence of mind on matter.  Most contemporary researchers of this topic believe the effects are not caused by a "force" of the mind, but by a transfer of information, or by creating order within a random or chaotic system.


Odds

The ratio of winning verses losing in gambling or betting, and more generally, in games of chance.  10 to 1 odds means one alternative is ten times more likely.  50/50 odds means they have equal chances.


Off-Time

In ShapeChanger, it is possible to play the game at a time different from the actual display of the images.  This allows testing whether the mind's influence can extend into the future or the past.


Pixel Shifts

When a ShapeChanger run begins, a random number that varies in size, and may be positive or negative, is drawn from a random sequence.  The size and sign are used to determine how many pixels to change, and in which direction they will be shifted; that is, which of the two images will gain pixels to become more complete, and which will lose pixels.


Pixel

The image on the computer screen is composed of very small rectangles of color placed in (at least) 640 rows and 480 columns.  These are the individual points you can see if you look closely at the screen, and they are the colored elements that make up the images.  In ShapeChanger, a group of image pixels is changed to display the elements that belong to the competing image, about once or twice a second.


Probability

If the present or future state of a system or situation is unknown, it may be possible to estimate how likely the alternatives are, either by testing or by using some reasonable theory.  Each alternative can then be given a "probability" that it will be the actual outcome, and this represents the best guess that can be made about the proportion of the times the alternative will occur in repeated tests.


Random Event Generator

Many processes can be used as a source of random events, but the term usually refers to either a computer program that creates a sequence of numbers that appear to be uncorrelated and unpredictable, or to a "true" random source such as the emission of particles in radioactive decay or the flow of electrons in a reverse- biased diode.  In either case, the events can be used as random numbers to make unpredictable decisions.


Random Events

Technically, "random events" are defined as unpredictable elements in a sequence that is otherwise well defined.  For example, if we define the sequence by flipping a coin, there are just two possibilities, heads or tails.  If the coin and the flipping process are unbiased, then which outcome happens will be completely unpredictable, and the heads or tails are random events in the sequence.


Random Walk

If a movement in space is defined by steps taken according to a random process, the result is called a random walk (sometimes referred to as a "drunkard's walk").  Tracing the steps will make a wandering line that usually doesn't get very far from its starting point since it is likely to go back and forth.


Resonance

When two or more physical systems share some characteristics, vibrations in one may be picked up and shared by the others.  For example, if you sing or hum a note that's in tune with a guitar string, then listen carefully to the guitar, you will hear a faint echo of the note, resonating from the guitar.  More generally, shared qualities facilitate communication of information between apparently separate bodies.


Resonate

If some common elements or structures exist in two separated systems, there is a tendency for them to synchronize or act in sympathy with each other.  Two people who "resonate" may communicate more easily, and many react to things in a similar way.  Their "vibrations" are in tune with each other (also see Resonance in the Glossary).


Scientific

The scientific approach follows rules and procedures that give exact control over the situation in which some question is being explored.  It is a strict method designed to eliminate mistakes and accidents, or other possibilities that might give a false or misleading answers or interpretation.  In future versions of ShapeChanger, a scientific option will give actual probabilities for the results rather than interpretive feedback.


Scorecard

The ShapeChanger keeps track of the results of each run made by a player or players.  Once a name has been given to a scorecard, it will be used to record new games by that person or team.  High and low scores, and overall scores are displayed by clicking on the Outcome button.


Significance

In scientific experiments, the results are often presented as statistics that summarize the average and the variability of the individual scores or test outcomes.  When different conditions or groups are compared, a calculation is made to indicate how likely the difference would be if there was no effect on the test conditions and the difference was just by chance.  When the probability of a chance explanation is small, say, less than 5%, scientists agree that the difference is "significant".


Statistics

When large amounts of data are accumulated in experiments, or in a game like ShapeChanger, and we want to understand what happened, it is necessary to summarize, using averages and measures of the range or variability of the data.  These summaries, and various procedures to use and compare them, are referred to as "statistics".  A variety of standard tests, e.g. the T-test, and discriptive procedures, including graphs and other visualization techniques, have been developed by scientists for examining and understanding their research results.


winner

The winner of Competitive Play is shown in the Outcome feature of the Scorecard.