Boing Boing (and now also Metafilter) has a fascinating post (and a skeptic rebuttal) about an interesting scientific study on Collective Consciousness:

At first glance, it is an unremarkable piece of equipment. Enclosed in metal, it contains at its heart a microchip no more complex than the ones found in modern pocket calculators.

But, according to a growing band of top scientists, this box has quite extraordinary powers. It is, they claim, the 'eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future and predicting major world events.

The machine apparently sensed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened - but in the fevered mood of conspiracy theories of the time, the claims were swiftly knocked back by sceptics. But last December, it also appeared to forewarn of the Asian tsunami just before the deep sea earthquake that precipitated the epic tragedy.

Now, even the doubters are acknowledging that here is a small box with apparently inexplicable powers.

'It's Earth-shattering stuff,' says Dr Roger Nelson, emeritus researcher at Princeton University in the United States, who is heading the research project behind the 'black box' phenomenon.

'We're very early on in the process of trying to figure out what's going on here. At the moment we're stabbing in the dark.' Dr Nelson's investigations, called the Global Consciousness Project, were originally hosted by Princeton University and are centred on one of the most extraordinary experiments of all time. Its aim is to detect whether all of humanity shares a single subconscious mind that we can all tap into without realising.

(insert spooky-sounding theremine soundtrack)

Right now, I have no doubt about some kind of crazy collective consciousness because in the last 7 days I have received not 1, not 2 but 10 emails from old friends who haven't written in many months - if not years! Johnny D, Mikey Squires, Nathan Hale, Guy Smiley, Paul Curtis, Kris Jasper, Milo Crane, Alex Barton, Susie Nisbet and Junot D. Not to mention a higher than normal number of random web-site generated correspondence.

Weird.

Maybe my recently recharged bristling kinetic energy is sending out subconscious messages to the collective consciousness and reminding my friends that I am well and truly alive and kickin'. It's fabulous. Keep 'em coming.

(close spooky-sounding theremine soundtrack)