Global Consciousness Project

An icebreaker

Since 1998, psychologist Roger Nelson has run a worldwide network of random number generators, arguing their output shifts slightly during major world events, as if shared attention left a trace. Statisticians who reanalyzed the same data reached far more cautious conclusions.

Ask one of these · tap to take it

Could shared attention leave a trace in something as neutral as randomness?
How much should a tiny effect size change your confidence?
What happens when you pick the event after seeing the data?
Why does a null result feel less interesting than a signal?

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Worth knowing · 1 of 5

What does the project actually measure?

Since 1998 it has run a network of hardware devices generating random numbers continuously around the world, storing their output and checking whether it drifts from statistical chance during major shared events, like disasters or celebrations.

Worth knowing · 2 of 5

Who runs it and what do they claim?

A psychologist formerly on staff at a Princeton lab studying mind-matter effects directs the project, and argues the combined data across hundreds of events show a small but statistically significant departure from pure chance.

Worth knowing · 3 of 5

What's the most famous test case?

The response around the September 11, 2001 attacks is the project's most cited result, showing a notable statistical deviation in the network's output during and after the event, according to the project's own published analysis.

Worth knowing · 4 of 5

What did outside statisticians find when they reanalyzed it?

Two researchers who reanalyzed the September 11 data concluded the result depended heavily on exactly which time window was chosen, and that a slightly different, equally reasonable window would have shown no effect at all.

Worth knowing · 5 of 5

What's the broader statistical criticism of the project?

Critics argue its open-ended hypothesis allows wide latitude in choosing which events and time windows to test after the fact, a pattern they say resembles selective pattern-matching more than a controlled, pre-specified experiment.

Words to know

Random number generator (RNG)A hardware device producing statistically random output, the project's basic instrument, sometimes nicknamed an 'egg'.

Global Consciousness ProjectA network of RNGs run since 1998 to test whether shared human attention correlates with shifts in random data.

Effect sizeA measure of how large a result is, separate from whether it is statistically significant at all.

More words

Post hoc selectionChoosing which data or time window to analyze after already seeing the results, a recognized source of statistical bias.

A voice · 1 of 3

Roger Nelson · Psychologist who directs the project

He founded the project in 1998 to test whether widely shared human attention or emotion correlates with shifts in a global network of random number generators, and has argued the combined data show a small, consistent departure from chance.

A voice · 2 of 3

Edwin May · Physicist who reanalyzed the September 11 data

With a colleague, he reanalyzed the project's September 11 dataset and found the reported effect depended on the exact time window chosen, concluding the widely cited result was likely fortuitous rather than a genuine signal.

A voice · 3 of 3

James Spottiswoode · Statistician who co-authored the reanalysis

Working with a colleague, he applied an alternative statistical method to the same September 11 data and found only chance-level deviations throughout, challenging the project's headline claim about that event.

A line to leave them with

The randomness moved a little. Whether that means anything is still argued.