Abstract

A basic question in parapsychology is whether psi is a faculty that is becoming more pronounced, or whether it is better developed in lower organisms and regressed in evolution to become less effective in humans. Some scientists believe that chance mutation and natural selection are not sufficient to account for the apparent goal-directed or purposive nature of evolution. In addition to natural selection and mutation as mechanisms of evolution, psi may be a basic means by which evolution is accomplished and not merely an adjunct in the manner hypothesized by A. Hardy (1950). Chance mutation and natural selection alone may be inadequate to explain the origin of such organs as the eyes, which have no apparent positive survival value in their early stages of evolution. As a mechanism of evolution, psi may explain how such organs arise. (7 ref)