[[Pavel Stepanek]] was a Czech psychic who participated in experiments conducted by researcher Milan Ryzl in the mid-1960s. These experiments aimed to demonstrate the transmission of [[Parapsychology|psi]] data using error-correcting protocols, similar to those used in telecommunications. In one notable experiment, Stepanek repeatedly guessed bits in a randomly generated 50-bit sequence of ones and zeros. After several days and twenty thousand guesses, Ryzl, using a majority-vote error-correcting protocol, successfully reconstructed the entire 50-bit sequence.[^1] While the effective bit rate for this experiment was very low (about one word per day), it was considered an impressive proof-of-concept, suggesting that the claims made in [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|the Nautilus story]] might not have been entirely farfetched. Stepanek's work contributed to the broader body of psi research being conducted in Czechoslovakia and the [[Soviet Union|Soviet Union]] during the Cold War.[^1] --- [^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.