TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Work report
Swann, Consultant
DATE: 15 April 1984
1_9CATION: SRI, NY
1. The following constitutes a report on the overall work achieved in
the training program 1 January through 30 March.
2. Beginning With 1 January 1984, a great part of the training program
was moved to SRI NY. Prior to the commencement of work, and with regard to
obtaining appropriate rooms at the NY office, considerable upset was experienced,
leading to a small delay in beginning the work which might have begun two months
earlier. Eventually, however, the rooms were secured. Because of confusions
between SRI office management and the contractors in the building, it became
necessary for me to engage a'separate contractor to complete the changes desired
by the client. Finally, during the week of January 14, the painting, installation
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Dr. H.E. Puthoff
of appropriate lights, etc., was completed.
3. The NY rooms were designed to be a duplicate of those chambers designed
at SRI. Certain smaller changes were made. The walls are a slightly different
color; the lights in the viewing room are of.Pfull spectrum" quality; and a good
negative ion generator was placed in that room. As a result, all the trainees
claim that this set up is nicer than the one at SRI, indicating that these small
changes configure to help establish an even more optimum (psychologically)
environment than that at SRI. Since we have great interest in just what kind of
environment the trainees can most competently exercise the benefits of their
training, these comments are given for the record.
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4. S4 training completion: The client.preselected trainee (TM)
who began S4 training during the second week of December 1983,
completed the requirements of S4 on 22 March 1984. As you are
N
aware, this is the first opportunity that we have had to train
another candidate on the materials that we believe comprise 54.
Because of this, I was very careful to monitor the daily reports
and to oversee his progress during training with particular attention
to determining whether or not our designed materials for 54
were a natural increment on the other stages. we have managed to
isolate.
5. While I did expect to encounter some difficulties, in fact
none at all were encountered. With the possible effects of the upsets
acquiring the rooms initially (which the trainee surmounted with
.great elan, due, probably to his own abilities at maintaining
productive poise in,the midst of difficulties), the S4 work progressed
without faults and without any upsets at all. The cumulative
progress of the S4 training is to be found in the trainee's own
daily reports, copies of which will be forwarded to-you shortly.
6. Originally, I had extimatel 8-10 working weeks, with
appropriate rest and consolidation time interspersed, for completion
of a S4 training series. The completed S4 training of this particular
trainee falls well within this estimate.
7. As you know, the simulated sites selected for S4 training
are of a complexity that is such that the trainee must a'tess information
that would not generally be available to him if he were actually
viewing the site from the physical characteristics made available
through our Sl-S3 techniques. Thus, these selected simulated sites
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are those of considerable complexity. This particular S4 trainee
used up 31 simulated training sites, the last seven of which led
to accurate descriptors of the site's major functions, as well as
to other particular and associated site-information. Judging against
the strict standards that I believe should be imposed, then this
trainee arrived at the culmination of S4 with a particular excellence.
8. As you are aware, the usefulness and workability of S4
can not and should not be predetermined within our own competency.
The trainee and the clients were, therefore, requested by myself
in advance of the training to quickly have this trainee produce work
in their own house that might or might not quickly establish the
efficacy of the training here. To my understanding, this has already
been done or is in process, and the comments I have heard are positive.
9. T believe it is appropriate here to comment overall on the
character and nature of this particular trainee (TM). I recommend
that we forward to the client our congratulations on this product of
their selection methods, which are, apparently, excellent. In all
instances, and even under certain project hardships, this trainee
exhibited what can only be rated as high and professional demeanor
throughout. He was able to apply himself at all times with the
utmost of intellectual accuracy to all the tasks and training drills
that were encountered. He was able to perform even all the tedous
drills necessary, to maintain his performances within the standards
that have been inbuilt into the training model, and, finally, to
emerge at the other end of the training with new and consolidated
aptitudes. While we do not, of course, yet have enormous numbers
from which we might draw comparisons, it should be stated to the
client that in the case of this trainee,'he exhibited the least of
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difficulties, if we compare his performances to those few we have, including
my own. In addition to his professional poise, this trainee was, as-a person,
always considerate of the problems at hand, and a pleasure to interact with..
I believe that these traits, although not uncommon, yet are rare enough, especially
in our field which has a history of demonstrated antagonisms, personality
clashes and unwillingness to comprehend the subtle natures of esp and psi,
that this trainee must in some form constitute an ideal model for future
selection procedures.
10. New trainees: As of January 1984, four new'clientpreselected trainees
embarked on the difficult training procedures of Si, phase 1. The first two
weeks were held, at the client's request, at SRI Menlo Park. Due to the
importance of four selected,' highly intelligent and qualified individuals
incoming as a group, I took the opportunity to redeliver all the lectures
person, with a view to tightening up the overall procedures.
11. Each of the four new trainees (CC, BR, PS and ED) exhibited from the
outset great interest and enthusiam for thework to be undertaken, and this
interest only grew as they began :to become familiar with the implications implied
by the training sequences. From the outset, no problems have been encountered
and the work at the SRI office has. proceeded in quietude and peace. These trainees
are invited, as is usual, to comment on the daily procedures in their daily reports.
12. Each of the four trainees has since completed S1, phase 1, and are
embarked on phase 2. As we are all now aware, Sl is probably the most difficult
of our designed stages, due mostly to the fact that in addition to understanding
the mental processes involved, the trainees must for the first time in their
experience bring them also into objective use. The following chart illustrates
the beginni.n.g, completion and number of simulated sites required for each trainee:
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Start
cc 19 Jan 84
PS
Completion
27 Feb 84
29 Feb 84
22 Mar 84
27 Mar 84
With regard to the above statistics, it is clear that two
more simulated sites than the other two.
is natural to
Sim-sites used
26
26
interpret this fact
as meaning that two had a harder time of it than the other two.
This interpretation
is to be definitively discouraged. The difference in the amount of simulated:
sites necessary only reflects that before consolidation of the new and emerging
.aptitude, a greater "noisy" period was encountered. It has been my overall
experience as training monitor to find that each trainee is different, and that
each trainee will enperienceua "bulky" noisy sequence somewhere in the. training
line;. and that this major noise will not always occur at the beginning of Si.
Within the training procedures as we understand them., therefore, whether one
person uses up numerous or few sites during the course of any given training
sequence means nothing at all. Since we can monitor the progress through the
learning curve, we can anticipate the "turn over" into consolidation and thus
the emergence of a new level of ability. Each of the four new trainees performed
therefore along the lines of our expectations, and did so admirably.
13. Each of these new trainees is considerably different from the rest, but
all have several things in common: an apparently high intelligence, a quick grasp
of fundamentals, diligence in pursuing the repetAtive training tasks necessary,
and, on the personal level, open and pleasing personalities.
14. I should like to take this opportunity to ask you to forward to the
client'my personal appreciations at this time. It goes without saying that I am
gratified they have confidence in the work at hand, and have undertaken, the
oAppM Je6LF --R IW 'e 12001104&Z ~"CTAARD 6i iO 8 0U_ O144 -5-i'nd I hope
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that my personal appreciation will, at this time, be entered into the written
record. In addition, since the outset of all this work was not without its
rather enormous upsets, I hope you will inform the client that I am personally
grateful at this latter end of the work that they have taken utmost new care to
help ensure the peaceful progress of the work at hand. This has not gone
unnoticed by myself, and it is due to this development that we can say and see that
the work overall proceeds without enturbulation; when, indeed, at times in the
past, we had begun to wonder if it ever could.
15. In closing, I wish also to extend to you personally, as well as to
the relevant people at SRI, my appreciation for making available the rooms at
SRI NY. This has indeed made my life easier, but also it has enabled us to
ascertain that the training work can and does have an integrity that suggests
it is transportable, and that it can go foward in environments other than: those
at SRI Menlo Park.
Cordially yours,
1;4 A-4- CW
Ingo Swann
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