Duke University used to -- may still -- have a department of the paranormal or parapsychology. They had Ph.D.'s from various fields working on this. Interest in this ebbs and flows, as does belief in it, though there is always a cohort who are true believers. I'm interested in the reports and theories, but when there is no further tangible evidence, it seems like creative energy having its way with us. On the other hand, peoples' concept of objectivity blocks a lot of their vision. I think the mind is an evolutionary fact, in perhaps all creatures. A grasshopper may have two cells devoted to it, a bacteria two molecules. Most mammals and many birds have well developed minds that are more limited than ours but more effective and less destructive. A jaguar would like to eat me for supper, but it doesn't want to exterminate most of life on earth, so it's one up on us. They are in effect our great great grandparents, who didn't have cell phones but were smarter than us in many ways.
