Pioneering Applied Anomalous Cognition
Ashta respects Stephan Schwartz's rigourous, empirical approach to nonlocal consciousness. We present his public work as a foundational inspiration, intending to replicate his protocols under pre-registered, adversarially auditable conditions.
Our Stance
Is applied remote viewing a real effect? At Ashta, we treat this as a contested scientific hypothesis. To explore it, we look to the work of Stephan A. Schwartz, a researcher who has spent decades designing controlled protocols for applied anomalous cognition. Please note: Stephan Schwartz has no affiliation with, partnership with, or active involvement in the Ashta Project. We present and link his public body of work here purely as a scientific reference, and we frame our own research as an independent attempt to replicate and test his protocols.
We particularly admire Schwartz because he operates as a rare "publish either way" empiricist. In the same journal, he has published both a striking positive finding—the 2019 wine study testing intention-on-matter—and a clean null finding—the 2014 double-blind applied kinesiology study (PMID: 24607076). This commitment to publish null results matches Ashta’s core philosophy: we do not start with a cherished outcome; we measure and publish whatever the data shows.
In Conversation
Ashta's founder sat down with Stephan Schwartz for a wide-ranging conversation — "The Power of Consciousness and Collective Change" — on his decades of controlled research, the discipline of publishing whether the result is positive or null, and what it means to study consciousness without a cherished outcome. We share it here as a primary-source introduction to his thinking. It is a recorded public conversation, not an endorsement of, or involvement in, the Ashta Project.
Interview: "The Power of Consciousness and Collective Change" — Adrian Taffinder with Stephan Schwartz. ID: cbrDVEnNL7s
The Alexandria Project
One of Schwartz's most famous marine archaeology campaigns is the Alexandria Project, conducted in Egypt. The protocol used consensus remote viewing—aggregating independent, blinded viewer responses to map potential submerged structures before diving. Side-scan sonar and divers subsequently located Byzantine and Cleopatra-era remains. While critics and sceptics contest the hit-rates and warn of post-hoc target-fitting in rich archaeological areas, Ashta aims to test this methodology by implementing pre-registered scoring rubrics and coordinate locks before any data collection begins.
Documentary: The Alexandria Project (Nemoseen Media). ID: klCzHhYYQjQ
Project Deep Quest
Project Deep Quest (1977) tested remote viewing from a research submersible (the Taurus) off Santa Catalina Island at depth, with viewers Ingo Swann and Hella Hammid. The goal was to determine if remote viewing accuracy persisted when electromagnetic waves and electrical signals were shielded. The viewers successfully described distant land targets and located an unmapped shipwreck on the seafloor, suggesting that whatever mechanism anomalous cognition operates on, it is not electromagnetic in nature.
Ashta plans to run independent tests of spatial remote viewing, utilising strict double-blind protocols and digitised coordinate targets to eliminate sensory leakage.
Documentary: Project Deep Quest (Nemoseen Media). ID: BEC-GBTTLBg
For a discussion of applied anomalous cognition in security and tracking contexts, view the interview "Remote Viewing the Capture of Saddam Hussein with Stephan Schwartz" (New Thinking Allowed, ID: rEJnrVasOrc).
Bibliography & Resources
Schwartz has authored numerous books and peer-reviewed articles. The following resources are directly linked to their primary publications and official records:
