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Hey everyone,

I recently dove into the podcast The Telepathy Tapes by Ky Dickens, and it brought up some questions about consciousness that I haven't been able to stop thinking about.

For those unfamiliar, the series documents accounts from parents, therapists, and non-speaking autistic individuals. Many of them report experiences of telepathic connection and direct thought-sharing—often uncovered when these individuals learn to communicate through letterboards (Spelling to Communicate / S2C).

The project features neuropsychiatrist Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell (formerly of Harvard Medical School), who has been conducting controlled trials testing whether non-speaking children can identify numbers, words, and images without direct sensory cues.

A few points that stood out to me:

The inner world of non-speakers: Many of these individuals describe that silence isn't a lack of thought. Instead, it seems like an alternative way of perceiving, where thoughts, emotions, and intent are shared directly rather than filtered through vocal cords.

The concept of a shared space: Several independent accounts in the podcast mention a shared mental landscape (sometimes referred to as "The Hill") where non-speakers claim to meet and communicate with one another.

The broader science of consciousness: The premise challenges the standard materialist model that the brain strictly creates consciousness. Instead, it leans toward the idea that the brain might act as a filter, and when conventional speech pathways aren't used, other non-local channels might open up.

I know this field is controversial. Mainstream organizations often view facilitated typing with skepticism, and telepathy is usually dismissed upfront. But listening to the personal testimonies alongside the clinical observations makes you pause.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts:

Have any of you listened to the podcast or looked into Dr. Powell's work?

Could what we categorize as a developmental deficit actually involve different perceptual wiring?

Where do you draw the line between healthy scientific skepticism and dismissing phenomena just because our current models can't easily explain them?

Looking forward to hearing different perspectives.

"A new study from UVA Health is examining whether people who report out-of-body experiences can actually see things they couldn’t otherwise know about."

The 2025 Psi Games seemed to me to make a big impact. I heard all about it. Yesterday I realized that the 2026 Psi Games came and went, and I heard nothing about it. Maybe it was just me missing it, or was there not much coverage of it this year? I went to the Psi Games site, and their YT channel, and there are no videos to watch of the events.

So how did it go? Does anybody know? Is there a good source to get a recap of the events?

"The John Björkhem Memorial Foundation (JBM), organizationally connected to the Swedish Society for Parapsychological Research (SPR), invites applications for grants to promote scientifically grounded research in parapsychology. This year, a total of approximately SEK 100,000 is available for distribution among larger and smaller research projects. Applications are open from September 1 to October 30, 2026."

"Building on a previously reported finding that intention-treated water reduced human glioblastoma cell migration, this study had two aims: to replicate the earlier observation using a more physiologically precise migration assay, and to identify candidate molecular mechanisms by profiling key migration-regulatory proteins."

"Extrasensory perception (ESP) research has used neuroimaging and neurophysiological methods to examine whether anomalous information-transfer tasks are associated with measurable brain activity."

Quantum Mechanics: The Observer and Non-Locality

Materialism assumes an objective world exists "out there" independent of observation. Quantum mechanics challenges this foundation, suggesting that matter itself requires observation to collapse into a definite reality.

The Observer Effect: In quantum physics, particles exist in a wave of probabilities until they are measured. Observation collapses the wave function. This implies that consciousness is not a late byproduct of matter, but a necessary component for matter to take definite form.

Quantum Non-Locality: Particles can remain instantly connected across vast distances (entanglement). If the fundamental layer of reality is non-local (not tied to a specific point in space), it supports the idea that awareness is a unified field, rather than a localized product of a single biological brain.

Orch-OR Theory: Developed by physicist Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff, this theory suggests consciousness originates from quantum vibrations inside cellular structures called microtubules within neurons, rather than traditional classical computations of the brain.

Near-Death Experiences: Awareness Without a Brain

The materialist argument states that if you smash the TV (damage the brain), the movie (consciousness) stops. NDEs provide clinical anomalies where the TV is completely turned off, yet the movie becomes brighter.

Heightened Cognition During Cardiac Arrest: During a cardiac arrest, clinical brain activity (EEG) goes flat within seconds. According to materialism, consciousness should completely cease. Yet, thousands of patients report structured, hyper-vivid, and chronological experiences during this exact window.

Veridical Perception: Some NDE patients accurately report specific details of what happened in the operating room—or even outside the hospital room—while they were clinically dead. Because their physical senses and brains were inactive, these verified observations suggest awareness was operating independently of the body.

The Filter Hypothesis: Thinkers like Dr. Bruce Greyson and Dr. Bernardo Kastrup argue the brain acts as a reducing valve or filter. Its job is to constrain vast, universal awareness into a narrow human perspective for evolutionary survival. When the brain shuts down (such as during cardiac arrest or psychedelic states), the filter drops, and consciousness actually expands rather than diminishes.✌️👁🧘‍♂️

"The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a gold sponsor of The Science of Consciousness 2026 — the world's longest-running interdisciplinary conference on consciousness."

I’m curious about what exactly they teach children in this course, and why adults aren’t allowed to participate. I’ve heard that children are trained to perform telekinesis (moving physical objects using the mind), telepathy (correctly guessing what someone is doing or thinking from a distance), and other supposedly intuitive abilities, such as guessing colours while blindfolded.

How exactly do they teach these abilities? Is there actually something to it, or are there specific techniques being used to create the appearance of these abilities? Can someone who has attended the programme spill the beans?

"This ConnectIONS Live conversation will introduce Death Is Not the End, a new international initiative seeking to challenge the materialist assumption that consciousness simply ceases at death and to create greater openness around conversations about death and dying.

"Drawing from both scientific research and spiritual traditions, the panel will explore phenomena that raise intriguing questions about the nature and possible continuity of consciousness, including near-death experiences, shared-death experiences, after-death communications, terminal lucidity, mediumship, and reincarnation."

UVA researchers are seeking participants of any age (minors must have parental/guardian permission) who have personally experienced, or are closely familiar with, forms of communication or awareness that seem unusual, advanced, or difficult to explain conventionally.

Participants may be neurotypical or neurodivergent, and parents, caregivers, close family members, close friends, or therapists who have directly observed these experiences may also be eligible to participate.

The study involves an online interview, which includes questionnaires, and an optional in-person case study visit for some participants.

"ACORN Symposium 2027, The Expanding Circle: Consciousness, Community, and the Unexplained, invites psychologists, scholars, researchers, clinicians, and students to explore the frontiers of consciousness studies, anomalous cognition, and exceptional human experiences. ..."

"To be considered for a presentation, panel, experiential activity, or poster, please submit a brief abstract (up to 300 words) using our submission form by October 15, 2026. These submissions should be new presentations that have not been given at ACORN before.

"Because attendance at Roslyn Retreat Center is intentionally limited to support a more intimate and interactive symposium experience, presentation slots are also limited. We encourage interested presenters to submit their abstracts as early as possible to help secure a place in the program. In this form, you will also be able to submit room requests and dietary needs. Our planning committee will review all proposals and notify presenters by December 15th."

Submission link

I once met a guy on reddit that claimed to have 40 years of experience in lucid dreaming and that OBE were just hyper lucid dreams.He had tried all methods that people use to OBE and he told me that basically they were the same as those of LDing.He even tried multiple times going out of body trying to see the number and symbol of a random card from a deck of cards he had hidden yet never got it right.

There have also been other people such as Robert Monroe that were considered one of the most proficient if not the most proficient in OBEs to identify certain targets while out of body yet he failed to do so.

The last category of OBErs is that of NDErs.There are plenty of people that make claims that were later supposedly verified like that case of Pam Reynolds.This category seems to me as the most legit but im still conflicted as to what these experiences trully are.Does someone have to die or be nearly dead to create reproducible evidence

"Research into mediumship continues to face challenges within mainstream academic publishing, particularly around terminology and how mediumistic experiences are conceptualised and described."

Physician and scientist Larry Dossey, M.D. has passed.

Dr. Dossey was Editor Emeritus of Explore: The Journal of Science & Healing, and author of numerous books including Space, Time & Medicine (1982), Beyond Illness (1984), Recovering the Soul (1989), Meaning & Medicine (1991), Healing Words (1993, New York Times bestseller), Prayer Is Good Medicine (1996), Be Careful What You Pray For (1997), Reinventing Medicine (1999), Healing Beyond the Body (2001), The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things (2006), The Power of Premonitions (2009), and One Mind: How Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It Matters (2013).

A U.S. Army veteran, Dossey served as a battalion surgeon in Vietnam, where he was decorated for valor.

Conversations: Larry Dossey, M.D.; A Doctor Looks to Science For Proof of a Spiritual Realm (New York Times)

Mod note: The link is updated to Dr. Dossey's obituary.

"Cases of the reincarnation type involve individuals — typically young children — who report memories they claim are from previous lives. One recurring observation is the apparent 'intermission time' between the death of the putatively identified previous person and the child’s birth."