The CIA trains people not to look directly at the people they are following, as otherwise they can ‘sense’ they are being stared at and turn around. This Scientist argues that this is due to consciousness being extended outside of the brain.

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist who has written over 100 scientific papers and 9 books, and has helped write 6 more. His books have been translated into 28 languages. In 2013, a top think tank in Switzerland named him one of the world’s 100 most important thinkers. On ResearchGate, a popular site for scientists, he ranks in the top 4% for research interest.

Sheldrake agrees that he does have a philosophical view. His worldview is holistic: he believes that consciousness exists throughout the universe, that minds extend beyond just the brain, and that nature has a kind of memory—what he calls “morphic resonance.” These ideas go against the usual materialist and mechanistic view of science, which sees everything as just matter and machines. But Sheldrake says the key difference is that he thinks all of these views—including his own—should be openly discussed and tested scientifically. He does experiments to test his theories.