The Science of Magic: How Consciousness May Shape Reality | Dr. Dean Radin: E71
“Magic being a placeholder within science for things that we don't quite understand yet.” - Dr. Dean RadinDr. Dean Radin on consciousness, magic, and the science behind unusual human experiences.This conversation discusses consciousness, psychic phenomena, meditation, and the overlap between science and what people often call magic. It matters because the conversation moves beyond folklore and into experiments, philosophy of science, and the practical question of why so many people report experiences that conventional materialism struggles to explain.Thank you to Thrive Protein for supporting this episode. Family-owned, clean Canadian-made fuel, nutrition, electrolytes, omega 3's, super greens, and more - everything you need to fuel your training, racing, and life adventures. Use the code RUNEGADE to save 20% off your order.Dean shares how his path moved from professional violinist to engineer to psychologist and researcher, and why that background shaped his work on consciousness. The conversation also covers his books, his experiments on presentiment, and how runners and other athletes might think about intention, focus, and performance in a more expanded way.Key topics:Dean explains how years of violin practice trained him into states of automaticity and presence, which helped him notice parallels with meditation and altered states.His first serious experiment at Bell Labs on whether the mind could influence radioactive decay rates, which he says produced odds against chance of 20,000 to 1 and caused an ontological shock.How materialism can work as a useful model while still being only a special case, and Dean compares it to classical physics being a special case of relativity and quantum mechanics.Dean recounts early TM meditation experiences that caused perceptual distortions, including corridors seeming to widen or narrow, and how stopping meditation made those effects fade quickly.He explains presentiment research, including experiments where meditators showed brain responses up to 1.5 seconds before a random stimulus occurred.The conversation explores whether psychic-type experiences are more common in children, with Dean citing data that performance on ESP-style tests peaked around age 4 in one study.Dean argues that many adults suppress unusual experiences because of social pressure, religious interpretation, or fear of being labeled mentally ill.He breaks down the three categories in The Science of Magic: enchantment, divination, and theurgy.The discussion turns to small-scale mind matter effects, including work with random number generators, plants, stem cells, and glioblastoma cells.Dean outlines the logic behind his book sequence, from The Conscious Universe to Entangled Minds, Supernormal, Real Magic, and The Science of Magic.The conversation closes with AI, consciousness, and whether future systems could become conscious or even outperform humans at magic-like tasks.Find More Dean Here:Website: www.deanradin.comNew Book: The Science of MagicDean on X: @DeanRadinInstitute of Noetic SciencesSave Money with RUNEGADE:Check out the RUNEGADE Linktree and Save - friends of the podcast offering great savings and discounts to our RUNEGADE listeners.Connect with Todd and Mark:Email: [email protected]Todd on Instagram: @altramarathonmanMark on Instagram: @runclemarkRUNEGADE on FacebookRUNEGADE on XPath Projects | our favourite running gear and apparel. Look great and perform to your potential by gearing up with Path Projects. Elite running gear and apparel, by runners, for runners. Hats, T-shirts, base liners, hoodies, shorts, jackets ... everything performs. Use code TRP10 for 10% off (limited time)
