Sunday, August 18, 2019

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."



9 comments:

  1. Thank you Keith for your interesting article! It is quite curious that TTSA has been silent about the consciousness/telepathy aspect. On the other hand,the silence does not necessarily mean that no work is being done on that aspect. I think you are right when you say that it may not be the right time for, at least, being public with the consciousness aspect. Now is the time for the physical aspect of the phenomena. That aspect is both easier to brief senators about and it is easier to digest. You also have a concrete threat and a technology that you potentially can exploit.
    However,considering the many prestigous individuals with an (strong) interest in the consciousness aspect, and a history of working with it, Hal Puthoff, or who is public with being an experiencer, Jim Semivan, I would be surprised if the consciousness aspect is put on the shelf, not even temporarily.
    At least on the entertainment side, the consciousness aspect is quite central; both in Tom DeLong's book series with AJ Hartley and Peter Levenda. According to the authors,facts/real events are intervowen with the fictional content. The difficulty is many times,of course,to differentiate the non fiction material from the fiction stuff. Anyhow, I can recommend people to read them, especially the "Gods,Man,War" series. If anything, I think they give clues to what and how DeLong's insider advisors think about the Others (at least, one form of them). Neither of the book series give a complete picture of what the Phenomena is or is not,influence,intentions,etc.
    I am quite certain that work on the consciousness aspect is being done by TTSA and/or some associate at this moment, but away from the public eye. Also remember previous work done by Bigelow's different initiatives and by Hal Puthoff on remote viewing. I hardly think TTSA is not going to use and build on those previous studies and result.
    But we will not know for sure until some new public announcement is made by TTSA. Maybe TTSA is waiting for some other studies to be published in a peer reviewed journal to pave the way?
    Looking forward to your future articles!
    /Janne


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    1. Hi Janne, thank you for your interesting observations. I think you may be right that work is being conducted behind the scenes. I would imagine that Jim Semivan would be very interested in pursuing this line of inquiry. I hope we may see more of his thoughts in future.

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  2. To The Stars has been been interesting to guess what their new direction is after their days in the headlines and popularization in TV. It sure seemed we were now "on our way" with this team. Call it the TTSA bus tour. However now, instead of the sights on this bus tour, I've become more interested in the bus itself as it appears be stopped by the roadside. What will get it going again? My speculation says what got it going in the first place: Gov't cooperation and money. These appear to be the focus with the slimming down of stigma related topics such as telepathy and alien talk and of course restarting the fundraising. We wait to see if there is a second act.

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    1. Hi Jim, thanks for your comments. Perhaps they need a new bus driver? I note they say they are looking for a replacement CEO. I note that some suggest that Jim Semivan may take on this role.

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  3. The study of that really entails a different approach than just only the exclusive use of only the scientific method.
    The development of enhanced perceptual and behavioral capacities will necessarily involve actually engaging in meditation and shamanic-type practices.
    We can go slow here. I know alot of people are in a rush for all to come out but we
    probably have some hard lessons to learn and some maturing to do in order for all of this to emerge as a natural part of our shared experience.

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    1. Hi Mike, your comments are most welcome. I have just been reading through all of Jacques Vallee's books, seeking his comments about the relationship between UFOs and consciousness. He has an interesting take on the subject.

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  4. Hi again, Keith, you have probably seen this video (link below) from TTSA, published August 19th, 2019, on TTSA´s web site. I thought a particular segment/scene is interesting, and may, or may not, be relevant to your article above, and comments related to it.
    The scene is the car scene with Mellon and Elizondo having a conversation about Mathis. What I found particularly intriguing is Mellon´s statement starting at around 5:40 min into the video:

    "He (Mathis) and several others (I cannot make out for sure what Mellon says) may have been involved with or touch parts of the phenomena we have not addressed yet as well."
    Credit to twitter user @The_Real_Klaatu for sharing the video yesterday, August 19th.
    https://dpo.tothestarsacademy.com/?goal=0_ce8f0054f1-757bb9a72c-262167469&mc_cid=757bb9a72c&mc_eid=b81d191c16#news

    Obvious question(s) is /are of course: 1) What has Mathis "touched parts" of the phenomena that TTSA seem to be knowledgeable about, but not yet have addressed? Addressed to senators? In TTSA´s work up until now? Working with, but not publicly? 2) How much does the former secretary of defense Mathis know about aspects of the UFO phenomena and /or about the big picture of the phenomena? 3) Who are the "several other people" that Mellon is referring to? 4) Did Mathis resignation have, in part, the same reason as Elizondo´s reason for leaving the DoD? 5) Are we entering a new phase of, what I call, a careful and selective disclosure process, and on what aspect of the phenomena will this phase focus on? Ultramaterials? (Vallée and Nolan soon to publish their results?).The consciousness aspect (I believe it is too early)? Well, the alternatives are many. Time will tell, and probably not too far into the future. I believe TTSA want to keep the momentum going.
    /Janne

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    1. Hi Janne, I have watched that video several times now, and like you have multiple questions I would like to ask TTSA. However, they will unfold their data in their own timeframe, not ours.

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  5. Yes, I think TTSA should stick to their strategy / timeframe. After all, TTSA has been clear and honest with that its mission is not to satisfy idle curiosity. I am ok with that.

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