In “Star Wars” and other movies, characters can be seen using telekinesis; they move an object or objects with their minds. For example, in the “Star Wars” movies, a Jedi can retrieve his or her lightsaber using only mind power. The natural question that pops into your head after seeing this is, “Can this be for real?” Is it actually possible to move matter just by imagining it?

Let’s start by thinking about a normal human body. Your brain does the thinking, but every thought you have expresses itself with a muscle. When you think about walking, you actually move using your leg muscles. When you think about speaking, the sounds are created because of muscles in your voice box, your throat and your tongue. When you write a letter, your fingers control a pen or a keyboard. In short, the only way for you to get your thoughts out of your brain is to send a signal to a muscle. Well, unless, of course, telekinesis is possible.

The idea behind telekinesis is that your mind can somehow directly affect matter, without needing a muscle. If you do a little research, you’ll find that there are lots of TV shows and YouTube videos showing people who seemingly are able to move pencils and cups without using anything more than their minds. You’ll also find videos of people who bend spoons and nails with their minds. What are we seeing in these videos? Is it real?

What we’re seeing are very clever magic tricks. In every case where scientists study telekinesis, no one is able to move anything with mind power. Not even a feather. People have tried all sorts of things – even controlling the roll of dice. But, in a lab setting, no one can do anything with just his or her mind.

Lately there has been a lot of excitement around a new idea called the Global Consciousness Project. In this project, random number generators are located around the world. Some people claim that when a big world event occurs – for example, a big earthquake that kills many people, or the sudden death of a world leader – that these random number generators change in interesting ways. But the more we study it, the more this seems like an illusion as well.

So, at least for the moment, it looks like telekinesis is a nice idea. It looks great in the movies, and it would be fun if it worked. But in reality, it doesn’t work. The only way for a human being to affect matter right now is to send a signal down a nerve fiber to control a muscle.