The Intervention Part 31

17 NOVEMBER 1991.

FADE IN.

BG STILL SHOT (MATTE) EXT DARTMOUTH RESEARCH FACILITY.

A picturesque, rather dilapidated three-storey New England saltbox building, dark gray; resembling a barn on side of wooded hill, it looms almost ominously above a stretch of rain-wet pavement and is framed by bare-branched trees. In FG of MATTE stands reporter CARLOS MORENO, whose hard-hitting questions, mobile woolly-bear eyebrows, and divergent squint have often provoked unexpectedly revealing responses from even the most guarded interviewees.

t.i.tLE AND CREDIT ROLL.

SUPERMINDS AMONG US!.

Produced by Jeananne Lancaster

CARLOS MORENO.

(addressing viewers) Tonight we conclude our special three-week investigation of the startling new developments in psychic research by meeting a scientist who is acknowledged throughout the world to be one of the most influential in the field. He heads this laboratory at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire... a place that has been, up until now, completely off-limits to reporters. 60 Minutes will be taking you inside this deceptively modest building, the workplace of the man who was described by the President of the United States as "the most awesome person I have ever met, an authentic supermind"... But first, let's meet him in a more conventional setting...

INT BOOKSHOP.

Begin with ECU of DENIS REMILLARD, with downcast eyes; then SLOW REVERSE ZOOM to a FULL SHOT of him sitting at table in ELOQUENT PAGE BOOKSHOP signing volumes for a crowd of CUSTOMERS who include students in Dartmouth sweat shirts, professional types, working-cla.s.s types, retirees. Remillard is slight of physique, blondish, with a pleasant, shy smile. He wears tweed jacket with shirt and tie, exchanges inaudible comments with his fans during MORENO VOICE OVER.

MORENO (VOICE OVER).

Denis Remillard looks more like a graduate student than an a.s.sociate Professor of Psychiatry at an Ivy League school. He is only twenty-four years old and he has always shunned publicity - even after his book, Metapsychology, leaped to Number One on national best-seller lists last year. Unlike the other psychic researchers we've interviewed during this series, Denis Remillard doesn't concentrate on narrow areas of mind-study. Instead, he's a theoretician who has tried to fit the puzzling higher mental powers into a larger context.

CU REMILLARD.

REMILLARD.

I think my book was a success because people are very open to new ideas now. Things that our grandparents would have called absurd - like traveling to Mars - are reality. But the New Physics shows us that even reality itself isn't what common sense says it ought to be!

(quizzical boyish grin, eyes averted) The universe isn't just s.p.a.ce and time, matter and energy. You have to fit life into a valid Universal Field Theory - and mind as well. That's basically what my book is all about. Theoretical physicists and life-scientists have known for quite a while that the old view of the universe as a kind of supermachine just doesn't work. It doesn't explain the natural phenomena we experience, and it especially doesn't explain the higher mind-powers, which have never fitted into a conventional biophysical format.

INT BOOKSHOP - CLOSE SHOT MORENO.

Remillard and his fans visible in BG as CAMERA MOVES BACK.

MORENO.

(addressing viewers) As he autographs copies of his book here in Hanover, New Hampshire, in a little shop owned by his Uncle Roger, Denis Remillard hardly seems to fulfill one's expectation of a world-renowned psychologist - much less a supermind. But he was the first person summoned to be a presidential consultant on psychic affairs following the sensational Edinburgh Demonstration. He declined the chairmanship of the President's recently organized blue-ribbon Advisory Commission on Metapsychology... But he has agreed to head the American delegation to Alma-Ata in the Soviet Union, where researchers from dozens of nations will meet next year to discuss the practical applications of mind-power... And last week, Remillard's lab was singled out for a ten-million-dollar grant from the Vangelder Foundation. The allocation has been earmarked for an investigation into ways whereby ordinary people - people like you and me -might someday be able to learn the amazing mental feats that Denis Remillard has studied and written about... feats that he himself performs.

MEDIUM SHOT - REMILLARD, UNCLE ROGER, FEMALE FAN Remillard's CONVERSATION with his Uncle, who has brought over a fresh supply of books for autographing, and the young Female Fan is audible at LOW VOLUME under MORENO V. O.

MORENO (V. O. ).

Yes... it's true. Vouched for by no less an authority than the President of the United States. Not only is Professor Denis Remillard a distinguished psychic researcher, but he also possesses extraordinary mind-powers himself!

REMILLARD.

(looks up from book to Fan) Well, it's not the kind of thing one brags about or shows off in bars. But... yes, I am what we call metapsychically operant.

FEMALE FAN.

(hesitantly) Do you mean... you can read my mind?

REMILLARD.

(laughs) Certainly not. Not unless you deliberately try to project a thought-sequence at me. However, I am aware of the general emotional tenor of your mind. That you're not hostile, for instance. That you're fascinated by the idea of higher mind-powers.

FAN.

Oh, I am! It would be marvelous to do things like soul-traveling or telepathy or that mind-over-matter thing... whatchacallit?

REMILLARD.

Psychokinesis.

FAN.

That's it. Just imagine being able to go to Las Vegas and clean up!

The rest of the CUSTOMERS laugh and murmur at this.

REMILLARD.

(patiently) But I can't, you know. Even if I were dishonest enough to try to manipulate slot machines or dice or a roulette wheel with my mind - how long would it take the casino owners to catch on? I'd be tossed out on my ear... at the very least.

More laughs and murmurs from CUSTOMERS.

FAN.

But... then what good are the powers?

REMILLARD.

You might ask Professor Jamie MacGregor that... Actually, I find my own metafaculties most useful in conducting experiments. I can compare my own reactions to those of the test subjects in psychokinesis training, for example.

FAN.

(interrupts, gushing) Ooh, Professor, do you suppose - ? I mean, would it be an awful imposition if you showed us? I mean, I've seen it done on TV by those Russians, but to see you do it live...

CUSTOMERS.

(ad lib exclamations) Hey!... Wow!... Would you?... Super!... Please!

REMILLARD.

(indulgently) And Mr. Carlos Moreno told you to ask me - right?

FAN.

Uh... I'd really appreciate it.

CU REMILLARD looking sardonically into camera. For the first time we see that his eyes are effulgent blue, almost glowing within their deep orbits.

REMILLARD.

Your camera crew is quite ready?... Well, PK is one of the least significant metafaculties, so I guess I don't mind doing a small demonstration. After all, we can't let the Scots and the Russians garner all the kudos... Why don't I use these copies of my book?

MEDIUM SHOT. Remillard takes a volume, turns it so that front cover faces camera. He balances book precariously on one corner of its cover, takes hands away, and leaves book poised sur la pointe.

Now it's impossible to balance a book like this, right? Defies the law of gravity.

He balances another book on top of the first, also on its corner. The books do not tremble or totter; they are rock-solid.

And if we balance another book on that... and then a third... and then a fourth...

He does so.

... You know I must be either holding the books up with mind-power, or else I'm some kind of a [BLEEP]ing magician. And if I then extract the bottom book...

He does so, leaving the three upper books hanging in thin air.

... and the top trio remains there, then you have to be positive that something rather out of the ordinary is going on.

CUSTOMERS.

(ad lib exclamations, applause) How about that!... Sheesh!... Eat your heart out, Houdini!

Remillard shrugs. The three books in the air tumble to the table with a clatter. His UNCLE ROGER, the bookshop owner, a beanpole with graying hair and a youthful face, steps forward looking humorously indignant. Camera CLOSES ON HIM.

UNCLE ROGER.

Is that any way to treat books? All you have to do is write them. I have to sell them!

He extends his hands and beckons solicitously. All four books fly off the table to him. He grasps them and forms them into neat stack.

CUSTOMERS.

(ad lib shouts, a feminine squeal) G.o.d!... Holy [BLEEP]!... You see that?... Sonuvagun!

UNCLE ROGER.

You didn't know? Sorry. My nephew should have told you that it runs in the family.

[SCRIPT PAGES OMITTED].

TWO SHOT - STEADICAM FOLLOWING MORENO AND REMILLARD.

Emerging from TELEPATHY EVALUATION CHAMBER, they walk down HALLWAY toward Remillard's OFFICE, continuing conversation begun in chamber.

REMILLARD.

Only persons who already possess strong latencies for metafunctions can reasonably expect to develop into operants after training. It's like any other kind of talent: singing, for example. One must first be born with a proper set of vocal cords. Then the person might become a talented amateur without training. Usually, however, the voice must be trained. The singer practices for years, and with luck a great singer might result. But n.o.body can make an opera singer out of a person who lacks the right vocal cords, or who is tone-deaf. And you can't make a really competent vocalist out of someone who hates to sing, or who suffers from terminal stage fright.... It's a similar thing when you work to raise a latent metafunction to operancy. Some will fail to make it, and some - we hope! - will sing at the Met.

MORENO.

(frowning) Then all human beings don't have the potential for developing these higher mind-powers?

REMILLARD.

Of course not - any more than all people can become great opera singers. This is why my proposal to test all Americans for latent mind-powers is so important. The powers are a national resource. We must discover who among our citizens have the potential for becoming operant - then give them proper training.

MORENO.

Sort of like the Astronaut Program?

REMILLARD.

Yes... but enrolling both children and adults. Let me try to clarify the concept of latency for you. Our studies have shown that everyone is metapsychically latent to a certain extent. The strength of the latency may vary from power to power. d.i.c.k may be strongly latent in telepathy and weak in the healing faculty, while Jane is just the opposite. With hard work, we may make an operant telepath of d.i.c.k and an operant healer of Jane. But their weaker latencies may never amount to anything.

MORENO.

Suppose I was a latent telepath. Could you make me operant?

REMILLARD.

Maybe. Keep in mind that there's no hard and fast line between latency and operancy, though. Maybe you're a natural - what we call a suboperant. All you need is a bit of practice and you're able to broadcast telepathically to the Moon. But suppose your potential is weak. We might train you till your skull warps - but discover that your operant telepathic radius is only half a meter in diameter. Or you can only broadcast at night when the sun's ionization of the atmosphere is minimal, and even then only when you're completely relaxed and rested. You'd be an operant, technically speaking, but your metafaculty wouldn't be very useful. Except possibly for pillow talk.

MORENO.

(smiles briefly) You mention factors that can inhibit operancy, like ionization. Does this mean that there are ways to screen out telepaths - or stop them from using their powers?

REMILLARD.