Whatever happened to TTSA's intended research work on consciousness and telepathy?

Physical evidence

So far, the To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science's (TTSAAS) UAP work  has been almost exclusively, involved in the physical world of Navy Pilot encounters; radar observations, and looking into physical trace evidence. What has been little written about, and little talked about, especially of late, is their work on "consciousness" aspects of the phenomenon. It wasn't always so.

Leslie Kean

On 10 October 2017, an article appeared by US journalist Leslie Kean, titled "Inside Knowledge that Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Could Lead to World-changing Technology." This article provided an early look at what, was later announced as the To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science.

In part of the article, Kean wrote about Tom Delonge's earlier company, To The Stars Inc., and said:
"It had the gaol of disseminating information about UFOs, consciousness, the paranormal and other unexplained mysteries..." Later, citing a TTSAAS statement, Kean wrote: "The Science Division will conduct the research, which will also include consciousness."

Kean went on to say that on 4 October 2017, she had spoken to TTSAAS co-founder Jim Semivan, whom she cites as saying:

"I have come to realize that the Phenomenon is curiously multifaceted, exasperatingly complex and appears top exist both in our consensus reality and in another unknown space.Perhaps if we are very lucky, someday we may understand its ultimate purpose."

Jim Semivan

Semivan wrote a forward for the book "Sekret Machines: Chasing Shadows" (February 2017, paperback edition.) In part, this forward reads:

Image courtsey of Amazon Books

"The Phenomenon seems to work on another level (consciousness, dimensions?) unknown to our science. A friend once remarked to me that perhaps the Phenomenon seems to exist at the nexus of quantum mechanics and consciousness. If that is so, and I personally believe this may be a viable way forward, then our science needs to expand its horizons to include things beyond the quantifiable and replicable."

Elsewhere in the book's forward Semivan tells how his: "...fascination with the Phenomenon started in earnest while I was an undergraduate and later a graduate student...." He studied English literature, including the works of Swedenborg and other metaphysical writers. He also reveals that:

"As for my formal introduction to the Phenomenon, as we know it in today's context, it came suddenly and unexpectedly. I will not attempt to go into the experience here, but I will say that it was one of life's game changers for both my wife and me.  The experience was simultaneously frightening, perplexing, frustrating and absurd. It was also both physical and emotional...almost thirty years later, I am still not sure what to make of the experience. What I do know, however, is that this event changed my view of what constitutes our collective version of reality."

Elsewhere, we learn that Semivan's experience was an interaction with "beings" of some kind. US researcher Melinda Leslie, who once lunched with Semivan and his wife states that the Semivan's shared details of their experience with her; however, these details have never been shared any further.

Dr Paul Rapp

From the beginning of TTSAAS, their website has listed a number of "Advisors," one of which is Dr Paul Rapp, who is shown as their "Brain Function & Consciousness Consultant." Who is Dr Rapp? The original TTSAAS website:

"Dr Paul Rapp is a Professor of Military and Emergency Medicine at the Uniformed Services University, and Director of Traumatic Injury Research program. He also holds a secondary appointment as a Professor of medical and Clinical Psychology. He is a past editor of Physics, and served on the editorial boards of the Intersection Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, Chaos and Complexity Letters, and Cognitive Neurodynamics. His past honors included a Certificate of Commendation from the Central Intelligence Agency for "Significant contributions to the mission of the Office of Research and Development." Dr Rapp attended the University of Illinois and earned degrees in physiology (minor in Chemistry, Summa Cum Laude) and engineering physics (Summa Cum Laude). He received a PhD from Cambridge University, working under the supervision of Professor Sir James Lighthill in the department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics."

Despite the fact that Dr Rapp is a TTSAAS consultant, I don't recall any other mention of him,  or what he brings to TTSAAS's work.

An aside

It is interesting to note that Robert Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science, back in the mid 1990's to early 2000's also had a duel focus. NIDS looked at both the UFO phenomenon and the topic of consciousness. Bigelow was particularly interested in the topic of whether or not consciousnesses continued beyond physical death. I explored these interest of Bigelow in a blog post here.

So what was TTSAAS's interest in consciousness and telepathy?

On the 2 November 2017 version of the website, the writeup about their Science Division includes the words:

"...designed to be a theoretical and experimental laboratory to challenge conventional thinking with the discovery of new world of physics and consciousness-related possibilities...to pursue projects which include....Telepathy." Later it says: "Telepathy - Explore the location in the brain where the phenomenon is centred, and develop protocols for its enhancement and use."

Interestingly, this was one of the research areas of a former TTSAAS advisor, Dr Garry Nolan, who parted company with the TTSAAS in 2018. I explores Nolan's work in a blog post dated 13 January 2019.

However, a look at the 15 August 2019 version of the TTSAAS website, reveals no mention of consciousness or telepathy anywhere on the site. There is an abridged version of the 2017 writeup about Dr Rapp, which states that he is still their "Brain Function & Consciousness consultant." I also checked the "News" area. None of the blog posts listed there are headlined "Our research on consciousness" or "Our research on telepathy."

To double check, I also inspected documents re the TTSAAS' plans, on the website of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The TTSAAS filing, dated 1 September 2017' includes the words: "The Company's Science Division will be a theoretical and experimental laboratory, challenging conventional thinking by discovering a new world of physics and consciousness-related possibilities and exploring hot to use them to affect the world positively...Telepathy."

However, by July 2019, the SEC website's TTSAAS documents are silent about "consciousness" and "telepathy."

Conclusion

It would appear, that with the resignation of Dr Nolan from TTSAAS, that the TTSAAS focus on research on consciousness and telepathy, waned. It will be interesting to see if any research work undertaken by Dr Rapp, on behalf of TTSAAS, surfaces in the future.

Members of the TTSAAS have, on a number of occasions over the last twelve months, mentioned that the use of the word "aliens" by them, is not acceptable to a number of their constituents, e.g. US politicians. Perhaps, the same is true of the use of the terms "consciousness: and "telepathy." These latter terms, may just be "far out" when discussing the phenomenon with politicians and scientists.

Update: 20 August 2019

I was just reading a transcript of the video of the launch of TTSAAS in October 2017. At one stage, Jim Semivan says "I'm very excited about this. I think it's an opportunity for us to take certain topics whether that's unidentified aerial phenomena or ESP or telepathy and really get to the bottom of it."