Physicist and author Russell Targ discussed the applications and importance of remote viewing and psychic abilities. Such capacities indicate an expanded awareness beyond our current notions of space and time, he said. For example, with remote viewing it's "no harder to describe an object that's across the planet than it is across the street," and similarly there's no greater difficulty in describing "what you will see in the paper tomorrow than there is in describing the object I'm holding in my hand," he explained. But in order to access psychic impressions, Targ noted that it's crucial to be able to quiet mental chatter.

He also cited instances where precognitive information can actually save a person's life, such as when a psychic refused to get on a plane that he'd seen crashing in a vivid dream. In terms of practical usage, Targ said he's started a financial investment club for experienced remote viewers, and through this he hopes to bring attention to the validity of psychic skills.

Two different sources work to discredit psychic abilities-- the hard science/materialist point of view and American fundamentalists who view these skills as being Satanic, he pointed out. Targ also shared some early cases he was involved in that have now become declassified, such as the Patty Hearst kidnapping. Along with Hal Puthoff and Pat Price, he worked with the Berkeley Police in trying to locate the heiress. Price was able to pick out one of the ringleaders from looking at a mug shot book and to describe the location of the kidnappers' car, he recalled.