Nudge · Micro-psychokinesis
Direct your intention.
Micro-psychokinesis, or micro-PK, is the study of mental intention in relation to random physical processes. The shifts it looks for are small and show only when many events are counted. It is distinct from large-scale psychokinesis, such as moving or bending objects. In Nudge you hold one direction in mind while a random stream runs.
- Practice
- Micro-psychokinesis
- A session
- 30 seconds
- Chance
- 50%
How to play
Step 1 of 3
Set your intention
Choose a movement. The app assigns one of its two directions at random.
- Vertical, Horizontal, or Size: each is its own daily round.
- Your direction is fixed before the random stream begins.
- Take a moment to settle on that one intention.
Step 2 of 3
Hold your intention
Tap Begin. A three-second lead-in is followed by 30 seconds of movement.
- Keep your intention on the assigned direction. There is nothing to tap.
- The shape follows the stream moment by moment. It is not a running score.
- Stay for the whole session. An interrupted session has no result.
Step 3 of 3
Review the stream
When the session ends, the whole stream is counted.
- You see the share that went each way, beside the 50% chance rate.
- Shifts are small. One session is one observation.
- Your record builds over time.
Psi Explained, Ep. 3: Micro-psychokinesis
Aim at one side. Count against 50%.
One minute on micro-psychokinesis research: Schmidt’s random number generator, the Princeton laboratory’s 12-year review, a Toronto neurology team’s studies, and a session of Nudge.
The text is on screen, so it plays without sound too.
The practice
Settle
Take a slow breath and read your assigned direction.
Direct
Form one clear intention: up, down, left, right, grow, or shrink.
Sustain
Hold it steadily for the whole session. Let the shape give your attention a place to rest.
Review
When the stream is counted, compare it with chance and note how you held your focus.
Where it comes from
From 1979 to 2007, a laboratory at Princeton’s engineering school called PEAR studied whether intention could shift a random event generator. Volunteers sat with the machine and held an intention recorded in advance: aim high, aim low, or leave it alone.
2.5 million
trials by 91 volunteers over 12 years in the laboratory’s main experiment.
PEAR’s own review, 19971 in 10,000
bits: the size of the shift toward the intended direction that PEAR reported.
PEAR’s own review, 1997832
studies by 68 investigators from 1959 to 1987 in an earlier review. Runs with an intention departed from chance. Control runs did not.
Radin and Nelson, 1989
Figures are as reported by the researchers. Later replications have had mixed results, and micro-psychokinesis is still debated.
How Nudge is built
Nudge keeps the order PEAR used: the intention is on record before the random process starts.
Your direction is assigned
It is chosen at random and fixed before the stream begins.
A random stream runs
Your device produces secure random numbers for the whole session. Nothing you tap changes them.
The shape is a guide
It follows the stream moment by moment so your attention has somewhere to rest. It is not a running score.
The whole stream is counted
After the session, the full stream is compared with an even split.
Reading your results
Chance is 50%. The shifts reported in this research are very small, so a session moves only slightly either way. One session is one observation.
- Your statistics average your sessions beside the 50% chance rate.
- An interrupted session has no result. You can run it again with the same direction.
- Use each review to notice how you held your intention.
Free and Premium
Free
- Each movement once a day: Vertical, Horizontal, and Size.
Premium
- Repeat any movement, as often as you like.
- Every completed session counts toward your personal statistics.