Jeffrey Dunne: Cozying Up to the Unexpected, or Normalizing the Paranormal

Meeting ID: 834 5032 8293

Passcode: 392874

What consciousness-focused researchers know well, and the typical person often does not, is that essentially all anomalous experiences – whether one speaks of precognitive dreams, out-of-body perceptions and experiences, inexplicable impacts on physical devices, etc. – in fact are anything but anomalous. Such aspects of reality have been reported throughout human history, and innumerable models have been developed to explain them. Unfortunately, societal pressures keep people from speaking about such moments, and consequently the people who experience them feel isolated and uncomfortable, sometimes even questioning whether the experiences even happened at all.

To change this prevailing culture, we must normalize the anomalous, giving people both the language to speak about such phenomena and the safety to explore the ideas. One such way to do this – and a way that has worked well over the centuries – is through storytelling, i.e. entertainment, in which we allow the exploration of new ideas without demanding a recipient accept them as true before knowing more about them.

In this presentation, Dr. Jeffrey Dunne shares his use of this approach to introduce the concept of Syntropy under the guise of fiction in his novel, Nexus. He will share information about Syntropy itself as well as the process of weaving the science into science ‘fiction’. Attendees will also be given the opportunity to purchase a digital copy of Nexus at a 75% discount.

Dr. Jeffrey Dunne is the President and Chairman of the Board of the International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL), a charitable research organization established in the late 1990’s to build upon the foundation laid through the research carried out at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory.  In addition to his role with ICRL, Jeff is a systems engineer and researcher in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence at the Johns Hopkins University, where he augments his focus on the nature of consciousness with skills in a wide range of technical disciplines, from signal processing and acoustics to data fusion and linguistics.  Jeff is also an award-winning author and playwright.  With his 2023 novel, Nexus, he weaves together the scientific and the spiritual to introduce the principle of syntropy to readers of any age and background, showcasing the importance of finding balance at every scale—personal, societal, and global.  Dr. Dunne holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, as well as a M.S. and Ph.D. in Experimental Physics.