AVANTI SHRIKUMAR – SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WITHIN THE PARANORMAL PHENOMENA
Saturday, 6 September 2025
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Club Burwood
97 Burwood Road
Burwood, NSW (map)
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Consciousness, UFOs, and the Evidence that Scientists Are Ignoring
Several lines of evidence suggest that the UFO phenomenon involves a physics of consciousness that we are only beginning to explore. Contrary to widespread misconception, there is substantial scientific evidence that consciousness may not be produced by the brain, but rather tunes into it — much like a virtual reality headset “worn” by something like a soul.
As a scientist by training (PhD in computational genomics, Stanford; B.S., MIT), I will review the surprisingly and strong evidence for this paradigm (1-4 below) and examine why the common objection that these phenomena ‘contradicts science’ is misplaced — in fact, they appear to align with unresolved problems in physics and neuroscience. I will then show how this framework may help us better understand the possibility of an extraterrestrial presence.
We’ll also consider the psychological dynamics that drive both scientific skepticism and UFO-community dogmatism — in particular, how contempt and emotional rigidity distort our capacity to evaluate evidence fairly. My hope is to show, how this community, can avoid repeating the mistakes of mainstream science, by committing to rigorous, yet open-minded evaluation of competing theories.
Finally, I will share some of my experiences as a millennial entrant to the UFO community, and suggest how older members might embrace their role as guides for a generation struggling to make sense of a life-altering revelation that it grew up believing was impossible.
[1] “Near-Death Experiences: Evidence for Their Reality” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.
[2] “The experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena: A review” https://pubmed.ncbi.
[3] “Quantum aspects of the brain-mind relationship: A hypothesis with supporting evidence” https://www.
[4] “Ian Stevenson’s Case for the Afterlife: Are We ‘Skeptics’ Really Just Cynics?” (discusses the thousands of cases of verified past-life recall gathered by the University of Virginia) https://www.
Burwood Road, Burwood
Admission: Members $15 / Non- members $20 – cash only at the door
Directions ( also see map below):
Train: Exit right from Burwood Station and Club Burwood is on the opposite corner.
Car: Wilson Parking at 36 George Street in Burwood offers weekend parking until 9pm at a flat rate of $5.
We will have our Annual General Meeting ahead of the talk and time permitting a recent doco after Avanti’s presentation.
Look forward, as always, to your company.
Kind regards
UFOR Committee and Support Team, Maree, Leslie, Paul, Rudi, Skye, Steve and Attila .