Psience Quest: parapsychology and consciousness forums

Welcome to Psience Quest, forums for exploring the science of psi, the mysteries of consciousness, and the frontiers of reality. Whether you're a curious thinker, a seasoned researcher, or a considered skeptic, you'll find respectful, in-depth conversations on everything from near-death experiences to metaphysics.


Enter the Psience Quest forums

Our thoughtful conversations span science and psi, metaphysics and mind, spirituality and survival, and ontology and origins.

Our community of creative and critical thinkers values skeptical open-mindedness, empirical evidence, and reasoned argument, plus a good debate!

Core focus: a parapsychology forum

As suggested by "psience", a portmanteau of "psi" and "science", our core is the scientific exploration of psi and survival. Psience Quest is, then, at its heart a parapsychology forum, but it is also so much more.

Broader scope

Through dialogue and debate, we explore the implications of parapsychological findings — and related disciplines — for the nature of consciousness, life, spirituality, and reality.

Questions we explore include:

  • Is consciousness non-local or extended? What does that mean?
  • What happens when we die? Is there life after death?
  • Which ontology is best supported by the evidence for psi and survival?
  • Is it some version of dualism, panpsychism, or idealism, or something else?
  • How does quantum physics intersect with consciousness?
  • Can materialism explain mind, or is a post-materialist paradigm emerging?
  • Is the universe fine-tuned for conscious life?
  • Can science and spirituality be reconciled?

In support of such questions closely-related to its core focus, Psience Quest also hosts:

Consensus and debates

We have largely moved on from asking:

  • Are psychic abilities real?
  • Has telepathy been proven?
  • Is there scientific evidence for ESP?

Our majority view is that there is sufficient evidence to answer yes. Nevertheless, our skeptic vs. proponent discussion forum welcomes critical debate on these and related topics like mind-brain identity (deeper debates on consciousness can be had in our aforementioned philosophy of mind forum).

The liminal zone

Between psi research and metaphysics lies a liminal space of broadly paranormal topics. We host:

Our parapsychology forums

Dedicated parapsychology spaces include our:

Start reading

Explore some thought-provoking discussions:

  • Indridi Indridason's contact with Emil Jensen

    Indridi Indridason's mediumistic contact in Iceland with Emil Jensen who described a fire then currently raging in Copenhagen is "the perfect case". Or is it? There were conventional means by which Indridi could have acquired information about the fire. Or were there? Thread participants dig into the sources and get to the truth of the matter.

  • Are psi and the paranormal a priori plausible?

    Resource thread: The a priori case for the paranormal?
    Discussion thread: Companion discussion thread

    Some skeptics consider the prior probability of the paranormal to be so low that almost no empirical evidence can convince them of its existence, but should they? Are psi and the paranormal, instead, conceptually reasonable, not fringe or “extraordinary” in any dismissive sense? Consider forum member Sciborg_S_Patel's philosophically grounded case to that effect, and then join the thoughtful dialogue in the accompanying discussion thread.

  • Dualism or idealist monism as the best model for survival after death data

    The in-depth debate in this thread covers arguments and evidence supporting each perspective. It's a nuanced discussion on the nature of consciousness.

  • Is the human self nonexistent?

    Don't be put off by the scathing commentary on academic philosophy in the first post: this thread is a fascinating exploration of the nature of the self and how the human self relates to any putative higher self, or, in other words, whether or not the self and soul are meaningfully distinct.

Getting personal

We welcome personal accounts too. Visit our:

We also occasionally publish interviews with researchers in our Psience Quest interviews forum.

History

Psience Quest began in 2017 out of a lineage of havens for inquiring minds who felt underserved by both mainstream and fringe communities. It continues today as a respectful space for open-minded exploration.

Join us

If Psience Quest sounds like your kind of place, then register for free and join the conversation. All you need is an email address. Then go ahead and introduce yourself.

Register

We welcome the public and professionals alike, from independent thinkers to academic parapsychologists. Come and share your insights, explore the unknown, and question deeply held assumptions in good company.

More info

Curious to better understand whether Psience Quest is right for you? Have a read of this:

Why Psience Quest is a unique space for exploring mind, psi, and science