Courtney Brown (social scientist)

For other people named Courtney Brown, see Courtney Brown (disambiguation).
Courtney Brown
Brown in 2016
Born1952 (age 71–72)
NationalityAmerican
EducationRutgers University
San Francisco State University
Washington University (Ph.D.)
Scientific career
FieldsPolitical science
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Emory University
ThesisCatastrophe theory in the social sciences (1977)
Websitecourtneybrown.com

Courtney Brown (born 1952) is an American political scientist and parapsychologist who is an associate professor in the political science department at Emory University. He is known for promoting the use of nonlinear mathematics in social scientific research, and as a proponent of remote viewing, a form of extrasensory perception.

He is the founder of the Farsight Institute. Courtney Brown is also the CEO of Farsight Prime, a streaming service powered by Vimeo.

Education

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  • Ph.D., Washington University, 1981[1][2]
  • M.A., San Francisco State University, 1977[1][3]
  • B.A., Rutgers University, 1974[1]

Applied mathematics

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Brown's research in applied mathematics is mostly focused on social science applications of time-dependent models. He has published five peer-reviewed books and numerous articles on the subject of applied mathematics. Brown is also an advocate of the use of the R Programming Language, both for statistical as well as nonlinear modeling applications in the social sciences.

Remote viewing

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Brown learned the basic Transcendental Meditation and an advanced technique called the TM-Sidhi program in 1991. He claims to have engaged in "yogic flying" (a mental-physical exercise involving hopping while cross-legged)[4][5] at the Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa in 1992.[6]

Brown's remote viewing findings have been dismissed by scientists, such as his colleague at Emory University Scott O. Lilienfeld, who has stated that Brown has refused to subject his ideas and his claimed psychic powers to independent scientific testing on what Lilienfeld describes as "curious" grounds.[7]

Among a variety of controversial topics, Brown has claimed to apply remote viewing to the study of multiple realities, the nonlinearity of time, planetary phenomena, extraterrestrial life, UFOs, Atlantis, and even Jesus Christ.[8] According to Michael Shermer "The claims in Brown's two books are nothing short of spectacularly weird. Through his numerous SRV sessions[9] he says he has spoken with Jesus and Buddha (both, apparently, are advanced aliens), visited other inhabited planets, time traveled to Mars back when it was fully inhabited by intelligent ETs, and has even determined that aliens are living among us—one group in particular resides underground in New Mexico."[10]

Martin Gardner wrote about Brown's book "Cosmic Voyage" about his remote viewing findings of extraterrestrials, "The only earlier book about UFOs I can think of that is nuttier than this one is George Adamski's 'Inside the Space Ships' (1955)."[11]

Robert Baker writing in the Skeptical Inquirer came to the conclusion that Brown's beliefs from remote viewing about alien civilizations is a case of self-deception.[12]

In Remote Viewing: The Science and Theory of Nonphysical Perception, Courtney Brown's work has garnered recognition from prominent scientists. Fred Alan Wolf, described it as foundational for academic studies in "subjective physics" and linked it to quantum theory, while Daryl J. Bem, praised the book for its exploration of remote viewing's creative potential. [13]

Publications

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Political Science

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Remote Viewing

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Mathematics and Modeling

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Peer-Reviewed Papers

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Courtney Brown". Emory University Department of Political Science. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  2. ^ "1982 Commencement Program". Washington University in St. Louis. Washington University in St. Louis Libraries. p. 24. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  3. ^ Courtney Brown. "Catastrophe theory in the social sciences". J.Paul Leonard Library. San Francisco State University. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  4. ^ Mishlove, Jeffrey (1988). "Chapter 3". Psi Development Systems. Ballantine. ISBN 978-0-345-35204-0.
  5. ^ JOHNSON, CHIP (October 9, 1997). "Meditate, Then Levitate / Devotees of TM are flying high". San Francisco Chronicle. p. A.19.
  6. ^ Brown, Courtney (1996). Cosmic Voyage: A Scientific Discovery of Extraterrestrials Visiting Earth. Farsight. pp. 38–42. ISBN 9780525940982.
  7. ^ Lilienfeld, Scott O. (1996-09-09). "The Courtney Brown affair and academic freedom". First Person. Emory Report. Vol. 43, no. 3. Office of Communications and Marketing, Emory University.
  8. ^ Shermer, Michael (2001). The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 9780198032724.
  9. ^ "What is Scientific Remote Viewing (SRV)?". Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  10. ^ Shermer, Michael. (1997). Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time. Henry Holt and Company. p. 325. ISBN 0-8050-7089-3
  11. ^ Gardner, Martin (2000). Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?. W. W. Norton. ISBN 0393322386.
  12. ^ Baker, Robert. (1996). "Scientific Remote Viewing" Csicop.org. Retrieved 2014-06-13.
  13. ^ Courtney Brown. Remote Viewing: The Science and Theory of Nonphysical Perception. Courtney Brown Official Website.
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