A hypothesis under test
What is telephone telepathy?
Telephone telepathy is the name sometimes given to the everyday reported experience of thinking about a particular person shortly before they call. It is a hypothesis about that coincidence, not an established ability or explanation.
Spanda is a free web app for small groups of five close friends. In each round, one friend is randomly selected as the secret caller; the receiver locks a single guess at who it is before a timed reveal. A correct guess can trigger a real phone call. Spanda frames telephone telepathy as a hypothesis under test, not a proven ability. With four possible callers, chance predicts a 25% hit rate.
The research inspiration (and its limits)
Rupert Sheldrake and Pamela Smart reported a hit rate of roughly 40% in a 2003 telephone study, including 45% in videotaped trials. These figures are research inspiration for Spanda, not proof of telepathy and not evidence of a partnership or endorsement. The wider scientific consensus remains that telepathy has not been established.
An above-chance result can have ordinary explanations, including luck, shared routines, selection effects, habits, or flaws in a study or game. Spanda records structured observations; it does not establish a mechanism.
How Spanda turns the idea into a game
A full Spanda circle has five people. For the receiver there are four possible callers, so the visible chance baseline is 25%. Spanda always records the exact baseline for the circle's real size at trial time. A cryptographically random draw selects the secret caller, the selection is sealed before the trial, and the receiver's guess is locked before the timed reveal. When the guess is correct, the game can connect a live call.
Read the full integrity methodology, browse the frequently asked questions, start a free circle, or learn about the independent research platform that contributes to Spanda at The Ashta Project.