B.M. Scott
29 August 2025
Environmental Vaccuum and Paranormal Perception: An Interdisciplinary Scientific Analogy
This article explores a significant parallel between analog technology and haunted or anomalous environments, arguing that both function as dynamic systems in which environmental “noise” and human perception intertwine to produce extraordinary phenomena. Drawing on current research in physics, psychology, and parapsychology - this consideration adopts a bidirectional model of perception in which the mind and environment co-create anomalous experiences in ways which parallel the excitation of phosphor in a cathode ray tube. In the operation of a cathode ray tube (CRT), the core mechanism of analog television, electrons are produced and accelerated through a vacuum towards a phosphor-coated screen. This can be expressed in the following equation:
Ek=eV
Here, Ek (kinetic energy) is gained by each electron as it’s accelerated by a voltage (. This directly determines the energy transferred to the phosphor, which in turn produces visible light. In your analogy, it grounds how “input energy” (whether electrical in CRTs or “ambient energies” in environments) is essential for exciting a system and producing visible effects. When these electrons strike the phosphor, the impact excites the material’s molecules, creating visible light—an effect termed cathodoluminescence. This process can be expressed mathematically in the following equation:
E=hν
This equation relates the energy (E) of the emitted light to its frequency (v). This is fundamental to express how energy inputs are converted into observable phenomena (light) in both technical and metaphorical senses within your analog.
The resulting imagery arises not only from the intended signal, but also from the persistent interaction of background energies, random static, and the viewer’s interpretation of what manifests on the screen. By analogy, a physical environment—especially one with charged emotional, historical, or electromagnetic characteristics—can be understood as similarly susceptible to “excitation” by both material and immaterial energies. The “room” becomes a resonant chamber, where internal or external forces act much as the electron stream does within a CRT. Patterns, visual or auditory anomalies, and even complex apparitions may emerge as a function of this interaction, with environmental features acting as the analog to the phosphor screen, rendering otherwise invisible energies manifest through physical or perceptual effects.
A key feature of analog television is its pronounced susceptibility to noise—electromagnetic interference, signal decay, and spontaneous electronic discharge all contribute to the “static” and unpredictable patterns visible on screen. An emerging consensus in environmental and parapsychological research suggests that this relationship is not unidirectional. Just as the tuning and intention of an analog device shape the resultant image, so too does the observer’s state of mind, expectation, and affective “tuning” influence the experience of the environment. In spaces with strong historical resonance or emotional charge, the dynamic between observer and environment may lead to a feedback loop, increasing the likelihood and clarity of anomalous perception. This bidirectionality invites a reconsideration of paranormal phenomena. They are neither entirely reducible to environmental causes nor purely psychological artifacts; rather, they are emergent properties of a system in which signal, noise, and interpretation are in perpetual negotiation.
Viewing haunted environments through the lens of analog television technology—a system governed by vacuum excitation, phosphorescent response, and human interpretation—provides a conceptual framework for understanding the complexity and richness of paranormal experience. Rather than a search for proofs or debunking's, this model foregrounds the diffuse, reciprocal processes by which mind - and environment - generate the extraordinary from the ordinary; the meaningful from the random. This approach sheds light on both the scientific and phenomenological dynamics at play, suggesting that at the intersection of technology, space, and consciousness - haunting becomes not merely a matter of belief, but a phenomenon always freshly negotiated between signal and static, intention and accident, subject and setting.
Mechanisms of Energy, Space, Time, and Perception: Analog Television as Conceptual Framework
The analogy between environments and analog television mechanisms can be deepened by considering the underlying mechanisms of energy and perception. In a cathode ray tube (CRT), a stream of electrons is accelerated within a vacuum tube and directed onto a phosphor-coated screen. The electron-phosphor interaction produces visible light through cathodoluminescence. This sequence - governed by the principles of quantum mechanics and energy transfer - transforms invisible electrical energy into observable, modulated patterns over time. Scientifically, energy and time are closely linked - viz., photons carry energy, and their flux embodies a measurable passage of time, with physical systems irreversibly reorganizing as energy dissipates and information is lost to entropy. This can be expressed mathematically in the following equation:
ΔS=ΔQ/T
This equation quantifies the increase in entropy (ΔS) as energy (ΔQ) is transferred at temperature (T). It allows us to parallel the irreversible “flow” of time and information loss in energetic processes, with environment and perception selectively ordering or losing signal amidst noise. Thus, in a mechanistic sense, energetic processes can be regarded as carriers of time’s flow, whereby changes in system states - akin to the illumination of a phosphor screen, reflecting the fundamental connection between energy action and temporal progression.
Space and perception, meanwhile, can be analogized as a series of differing convex lenses and mirrors, each bending, focusing, or dispersing light (and images) within physical boundaries. Here, lenses and mirrors function metaphorically for the architecture of space-time, refracting the flow of information and energy, so different observers or configurations yield distinct, emergent realities. Convex mirrors and lenses, for example, do not create real images at the point of reflection but rather disperse light to form reduced, virtual images at a projected focal point behind the mirror or lens. As a result, perception in any environment depends on how incoming “signals”—be they light, sound, or psychological meaning—are filtered, refracted, and reflected by both spatial dynamics and perceptual interpretation. This may be expressed through the equation:
1/F=1/Do+1/Di
This shows how the focal length F, object distance (Do), and image distance (Di) relate in forming an image with a lens or mirror. It provides a precise metaphor for how perception selectively focuses and rearranges environmental signals, making one image manifest over another. Taken together, the analog mechanism (environment and observer) resembles a tri-fold laser experiment in optics - the appearance and behavior of the resulting image will differ depending on the arrangement of mirrors, lenses, and observer perspective. Just as a laser beam reflects and refracts through varied optical elements, the signals present within an environment—whether energetic, sensory, or mnemonic—are shaped anew by each unique spatial and perceptual configuration. This can be expressed mathematically:
M=Hi/Ho=Di/Do
This equation describes how much larger or smaller the resulting image appears (M) in relation to object and image heights/distances. It illustrates how different environments, or perceptual states can “magnify” or minimize phenomena.
In this analogy, the behavior of the tri-fold laser -its alterations through each lens and mirror - illustrates the way experiences of time and space are refracted and reconstructed within a given environment, shaped by both physical context and observer perception. Consequently, when considering environments analogous to "analog televisions," it is not only the raw energy present that determines what is experienced, but how space and perception—acting as a series of lenses and mirrors—mediate, transform, and amplify these signals. This mechanistic analogy provides a multidimensional framework for understanding why paranormal phenomena emerges differently across spaces and witnesses - inviting further inquiry into the reciprocal role of energy, time, space, and perception in anomalous experience.
Invitation for Reflection
- How does the analogy to analog technology change your understanding of how “paranormal” phenomena might be co-created by observer and context?
- Consider a space that feels emotionally charged or “haunted” to you. Can you identify elements—physical, historical, or psychological—that act as “lenses” or “mirrors,” refracting and magnifying specific sensations or events?
- To what extent do you think the boundary between signal and noise, or reality and illusion, is fixed versus constantly renegotiated by mind and setting?
Further Reading
Clark, Andy. Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind.
Oxford UP, 2016.
Gibson, James J. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates,1986.
Hecht, Eugene. Optics. 5th ed., Pearson, 2016.
Noë, Alva. Action in Perception. MIT Press, 2004.
Prigogine, Ilya. The End of Certainty: Time, Chaos, and the New Laws of Nature.
Free Press, 1997.
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