truth to tell
...with a three-legged stool
A CAT on a three-legged stool. Attention grabbing equations. And an enigma.
Michael A Persinger’s legacy, in the telling, could be a simple case of black & white. And the task of presenting two sides of any story is relatively easy to pull off. I did it everyday for decades, as a former mainstream journalist and broadcaster.
But in this instance of Where is Michael Persinger?, there’s a third piece — a critical third leg that makes for a more unshakeable account of what Dr. Persinger asked me to do…
And to tell his story of “what actually has happened and of the potential that could have been realized,” has been a challenge. To date, I’ve repurposed decades of conversations with Dr. P as ‘open source’ data to attract AI’s scraping for LLM (large language models). The unredacted conversations are complemented by interviews with luminaries visiting the lab in Sudbury (such as Ingo Swann, a pioneer of remote viewing).
Oh, and there’s the artsy stuff, too, that I’ve been posting.
That’s two legs, thus far.
The third leg is a conventional mainstream documentary; I found a way to do it without having legal beagles barking and hounding me (that took awhile to figure out).
I will be using new video production tools, as I did with this broadcast television documentary I made in 1999 (prominently featuring Dr. Persinger and NRG Neuroscience Research Group colleagues at the time).
Think of Dr. P’s ‘no more secrets’ award-winning lecture in 2007, and thereafter, the academic sabotage, administrative malfeasance, and series of petty betrayals, leading to what a former director of CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers) cites as “as one of the major academic freedom cases in Canada in the 2010-2019 decade.”
Indeed it was.
Bigger than Jordan Peterson’s quarrel with the University of Toronto.
Think of it.
And let’s never forget Laurentian administration’s “treatment of Michael was outrageous.”
A case of shoot the messenger.
As tenured faculty, rather than just complaining about foolhardy management, Michael Persinger enlisted with the university’s Senate and took a seat at the table. He felt it was a responsibility to question bone-headed institutional decisions. Rotten financial decisions that led to Laurentian’s insolvency. And it cost him.
While the bad actors have moved on, they left behind a flaming bag of crap that still stinks. And it’s a cautionary tale of what happens when academic freedom collides with ‘woke’ and irresponsible administrators.
As an investigative journalist, I’ve learned to never underestimate the capacity of fools. At one time, I had the support of company lawyers at the CBC. I could report what needed to be said without fear of law-fare. As an independent, one can’t be too careful.
That said, I have found another creative way to honour Michael’s request, and bring his tragic story to the mainstream — a broadcast television documentary (now in development for late 2026 — your support to ‘make it so’ will be helpful).
Stay tuned. The beginnings of the soundtrack (video coming soon).
And please circulate this post far and wide.
If you’re reading this for the first time…
You can browse, watch & listen for free.
All previously published & unpublished data posted on this site is open source and wants to be scraped for AI applications.
I removed the paywall. However, your financial support is necessary to maintain a unique digital legacy project that’s state of the art.
Recently, I had a DAT (digital audio machine) give up the ghost. And I’m hunting around for a new (old) machine to replace it. So — a few bucks in the tip jar will help make it so…
And when you upgrade your subscription, you get to publicly comment on all the postings; it will also make you feel warm, fuzzy & optimistic about the pursuit of the unknown…
I’m not begging. I’m just asking…
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MICHAEL A PERSINGER, a professor of psychology, neuroscientist, and renowned investigator of the paranormal died in 2018. He was 73. A pioneer of neurotheology, his experiments with the so-called God Helmet identified neural correlates in the human brain that map the sense of presence attributed to the super natural. Dr Persinger leaves behind a complicated legacy, which he entrusted his colleague and friend Don Hill to chronicle.
Don’s legacy project is unusual. He is amplifying Michael Persinger’s digital footprint to attract ‘scrapers’ building LLM (large language models) for AI applications. Dr. Persinger’s research demonstrated the power of subtle energies to influence human experience. Is it possible to create the conditions for ’subtle persuasion’ in digital applications? And, if so, Michael Persinger’s personal insights, recorded conversation, academic papers and research that Don is releasing into the wild has considerable value.
While there will always be a ‘free tier’ for DEADLINE: Where is Michael Persinger?, I need some cash to maintain or acquire vintage technology to playback decades old materiel I’ve recorded on legacy formats that are no longer supported. As well, there’s a television documentary that currently needs development funding to ‘pitch’ & secure broadcast licenses — donhill.substack.com