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Approved For Release 2004/08/02 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600350001-3 UNCLASSIFTED DST-1810S-387-75 September 1975 gravitational field and some existing but unexplained factor, possibly produced by the cerebal matter itself, might be involved in telepathic communication. He also suggested that thought transmissions might be connected with the laws of cybernetic systems. Vasilev also referred to the action of neutrino particles formed during nuclear reactions. If it could be established that such particles (which have no electric charge, move with a speed approaching that of light and are capable of penetrating obstacles of enormous mass) are generated during the neuro- psychic activity of the brain, it might conceivably be shown that these particles serve as the medium for telepathic transmissions. (U) The Soviets’ renewed interest in the problem of parapsychology during the 1960s constituted, to a certain extent, another aspect of the trend away from doctrinaire control which had previously dominated all areas of intellectual effort in the USSR. The easing of intellectual control was exemplified by a quote from Laplace's "Essai Philosophique sur les Probabilities" used by Professor Vasilev: "we are so far from knowing all the forces of nature and their various modes of action that it would be unworthy of the phi- lospher to deny phenomena simply because they are inexplicable at the present state of our knowledge. The more difficult it is to acknowledge their existence, the greater the care with which we must study these phenomena." Vasilev himself said: "Tt has happened more than once in the history of science that the establishment of new facts that were unexplainable by what was already known gave us a glimpse of unforeseen aspects of existence." (U) Such was the climate of Soviet parapsychological research in the early 1970s; Soviet science, for all its characteristic pragmatism, had apparently begun to free itself gradually from the restraints of an out- worn materialistic foundation which on more than one occasion had shown its flimsy bases when faced with new discoveries. However, as noted in Section I, there may now once again be a fairly concerted effort on the part of some highly placed Soviet scientists in other disciplines to undermine parapsychology on political-ideological grounds. (U) In 1966, F. Zigel, a renowned Soviet astronomer, concluded that telepathy is the science of the future. In order for it to become a service to mankind, research in telepathy must be organized on a state- wide basis. Otherwise, after a short while, "reproaching ourselves for past mistakes, we again would have to catch up with foreign countries. If the insulting remarks addressed to scientists engaged in telepathic 17 Approved For Release 2004/08/92, .GARBP96-00792R000600350001-3