June 28 – July 01 – How to Think Impossibly – a mind-bending invitation to experience the impossible as fundamentally human
From precognitive dreams and telepathic visions to near-death experiences, UFO encounters, and beyond, so-called impossible phenomena are not supposed to happen. But they do happen—all the time. Jeffrey J. Kripal asserts that the impossible is a function not of reality, but of our everchanging assumptions about what is real.
Thoughts and Idea-leadership in AI Science, Technology and Business – A.K. Mukhopadhyay
A.K. Mukhopadhyay shares his thoughts on AI, Technology and Business in a powerful, in-depth presentation.
Stop Asking If the Universe Is a Computer Simulation – Simon Duan
The notion that we live as characters in someone else’s video game is irresistible to many, even outside of science fiction bookshelves.
Imaginal Inspirations with Anna Bacchia
David Lorimer's guest today is Anna Bacchia, who describes herself as an Aesthete Innovator Researcher Teacher & Writer. She has conducted more than 40 years of Research in Human Sciences and Cognitive Sciences, where she has focused on unexplored aspects and qualities of the Cognitive, Creative and Intuitive processes. She is Founder of the ‘Consciousness Institute’ Lugano, Switzerland, and of the LIFE Leaders .international® Project, and she holds Educational Trainings and Programs on ‘Consciousness, Self, Life’ dedicated to an unexplored intuitive communicating and understanding, in syntony with the nature of Life.
Interview with Bernard Carr on consciousness and parapsychology
Our brains do not produce consciousness, they 'filter' it and consciousness is related to the higher dimensions in string theory. In this thought provoking conversation, distinguished Professor of mathematics and astronomy Bernard Carr explains his theory of consciousness and psi-phenomena.
Developing a Consciousness Educators’ Network
We are seeking educators, formal and informal, to join us in developing a new field of inquiry that we are calling Consciousness Education.
SMN Webinar 19 January: The Implication of the Reality of ETs on Earth – Jim Garrison
The US Congress has passed the UAP Records Collection Amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act mandating that all US Government agencies and contracting corporations turn over all the evidence they have gathered concerning UFOs — now called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) — to the National Archives for dissemination to the public. Jim Garrison will discuss the implications of this legislation and the possibilities for a larger framework for human identity in a cosmic context.
GC Summit VIII: The Great Upshift Book Launch
Event recording Event description 35 of the World’s Leading Thinkers
Imaginal Inspirations with Frédérique Apffel-Marglin
David Lorimer's guest today is Professor Frédérique Apffel-Marglin, who is Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology at Smith College. She founded the Sachamama Center for Biocultural Regeneration in the Peruvian High Amazon in 2009 where she works with indigenous communities as well as several High Schools in the province, regenerating the most sustainable and climate reducing pre-Columbian anthropogenic soil known as Terra Preta do Indio (black earth of the Indians). Her more recent books are: Subversive Spiritualities: How Rituals Enact the World (2011); Sacred Soil: Biochar and the Regeneration of the Earth with Robert Tindall and David Shearer, (2017); Contemporary Voices from Anima Mundi edited with Stefano Varese, (2020). Her latest book is written with Randy Chung Gonzales who has worked in SCBR for decades: Initiated by the Spirits: Healing Ills of Modernity through Shamanism, Psychedelics and the Power of the Sacred (2022).
Harald Walach: In Praise of Death – A Philosophical Critique of Transhumanism
Event recording Event description A logical consequence of the transhumanist programme of improving humans beyond biologically evolved conditions is
11th International Conference Science and Scientist 2023 – 17 December 2023
MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION In her 1983 Nobel lecture, Barbara McClintock challenged 21st-century science to “determine the extent of knowledge the
Quantum Panpsychism and the Light Bulb Metaphor – Emmanuel Ransford
This paper outlines an approach which casts new light on some unsolved issues surrounding mind and matter, like: What tells them apart? How do they communicate?... It argues, with a little help from quantum physics, that plain matter may be richer than what we are wont to believe. It assumes that consciousness is a nonmaterial content of the world and infers that the mind expands beyond the biological brain. It also suggests a new way to figure out what role the brain plays in conscious awareness, and it puts forward a fresh insight as regards the mind-body dialogue.
02 December – Debate: Does Consciousness Extend Beyond the Brain? with Rupert Sheldrake, Anil Seth and Tanya Luhrmann
At this year's Holberg Debate, Tanya Luhrmann, Anil Seth and Rupert Sheldrake will take on the deep scientific and philosophical mystery of consciousness. The debate will be chaired by David Malone.
Four Simple Questions – Dialogues between Consciousness Scientists and ‘1st person scientists’
A series of dialogues between scientists studying consciousness and those that might be called ‘1st person scientists’. People who have gone so deeply and objectively into the subjective experience of consciousness that they are liberated from the illusion of separation.
Imaginal Inspirations with Lisa Miller
David Lorimer's guest today is Dr Lisa Miller, the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and her new book, The Awakened Brain. She is a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University where she founded the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program and research institute in spirituality and psychology, and has held over a decade of joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School.
Thomas Daffern: Can transpersonal history provide a scientific way of resolving wars?
Event recording Event description Thomas will explain his work as a philosopher and historian and educator working in peace
Rupert Sheldrake vs Michael Shermer – a Debate on Science – How The Light Gets In 2023
Rupert and well-known skeptic Michael Shermer explore the boundaries of human understanding and the nature of scientific knowledge. Shermer argues that while we can never be entirely certain about anything, the scientific method is the best tool we have for approximating truth. He emphasizes the importance of replication in scientific studies and is skeptical of claims that challenge established scientific theories without strong evidence. Sheldrake, on the other hand, believes that there are areas of human experience currently considered taboo in mainstream science that deserve investigation. He argues that the skepticism towards such phenomena is often rooted in a materialist worldview that limits the scope of scientific inquiry. Both agree on the importance of evidence but differ on what constitutes sufficient evidence to challenge existing paradigms.
Galileo At 400 – Expanding the Scope of Science with the Galileo Commission
A dialogue between David Lorimer, Marjorie Woollacott, Athena Potari, and Àlex Gómez-Marín
Romance to Exemplary Wedding. Conscious Humanity loves Humanized AI – A.K. Mukhopadhyay
Artificial device of intelligence, in spite of being an example of the wedding of a good science with good technology is in controversy because its modus operandi of industrialization and growth is not in consonance with a strong emerging Worldview that encompasses Science, Humanity and Spirit (consciousness). This paper shows technological directions how their wedding could be made not merely adorable but exemplary. Making an objective psychology, exploration of other information states beside signal, investigating the possibilities of harnessing dark energy, hybridization with biological materials and organelles, and use of emerging neutrino technology are five approaches discussed in the paper. The paper concludes with a long journey ahead.
Directional Scopaesthesia and Its Implications for Theories of Vision – Rupert Sheldrake
Here, we examine the natural history of the phenomenon based on a collection of 960 case histories collected over 25 years involving both humans and non-human animals. This collection includes more than 80 interviews with surveillance officers, detectives, martial arts teachers, celebrity photographers, wildlife photographers, and hunters who have extensive experience of watching people or non-human animals. In 466 (49%) of the cases, directional effects were explicit, in that the person or animal looked at responded by turning and looking directly back at the looker rather than searching at random for the source of attention. In 186 (19%) of the cases directional effects were implicit. In most of the other cases, directional effects were not mentioned, usually because they were general statements lacking detail. In online surveys, including a survey of a group of skeptics, the great majority of respondents said they had experienced directional scopaesthesia. We conclude that directionality is a normal feature of scopaesthesia in real-life situations and suggest that this finding supports the idea that minds are extended beyond brains and that this extension involves some kind of visual extramission.
Heart and Soul – My Journey beyond Death – BBC World Service Documentary
Following a dramatic train accident, David Ditchfield was dragged under a speeding train in Cambridgeshire and nearly lost his life. As he lay in hospital, just before being taken into surgery, he had an extraordinary spiritual experience characterised by overwhelming love, white light and spiritual beings The experience awakened a previously hidden talent for painting and music. Despite his vision of angelic beings and a white tunnel of light, he doesn’t view his life-changing spiritual awakening as a religious experience. He tells his remarkable story and meets the founder of Near Death Experience UK who too had a profound spiritual awakening while in a critical condition. Together, they share the astonishing changes they underwent and explore how their experiences relate to formal religion.
Frontier Journalists’ Network
The FJN is an international group of editorial professionals devoted to making it easier for journalists to get the resources they need to cover the mysteries of human experience, such as the nature of consciousness and the science of spirituality.
GC Summit VII: Synchronicity and the Nature of Time
Event recording Event description The Galileo Commission and the Academy
What You See When Your Brain Gets Out of the Way – Bruce Greyson
For almost half a century, professor Bruce Greyson has researched the interface between life and death. He was a materialistically trained doctor when he first came across near death experiences. He was intrigued, began researching them and thought he would soon come up with a simple physical explanation. The more cases he studied, the farther away from that he came. The research material has increased since the 1960s because of our enhanced capability to resuscitate people with cardiac arrest.
Imaginal Inspirations with Mona Sobhani
David Lorimer's guest today is Mona Sobhani, PhD who is a cognitive neuroscientist, author, and entrepreneur. A former research scientist at the University of Southern California, she holds a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Southern California and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University with the MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project.