Thomas Brophy

Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma CA, USA

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Introduction: A large number of experimental results over many decades validate the existence of psi phenomena. And yet dominant materialist perspectives in science prohibit incorporating them into our theories of reality. How can we situate the many decades of psi research results into a future ontology of science?

I propose that an existing theory of consciousness may be equipped to inform the required ontology. This perspective provides a way to address two hard problems of consciousness: qualia, the subjective experience of being, and agency or free will. To connect these properties with the physical world I propose the use of “quantum collapse.” The idea that quantum collapse could be microphysically relevant to conscious processes goes back to the founding of quantum mechanics. This is an interesting approach because it is through quantum collapse processes that nonlocal consciousness phenomena, like psi, could happen. Quantum collapse is a fundamentally mysterious process, even before we connect it with models of consciousness. It is the process by which quantum superpositions reduce to the classical physical world of everyday experience.

Quantum collapse has been plausibly related to consciousness in two ways: In consciousness causes collapse models, consciousness disrupts quantum superposition, causing collapse. In collapse generates consciousness models, as in Roger Penrose’s approach, fluctuations in quantum gravity cause collapse events that generate proto-conscious experiences. Stuart Hameroff supplied plausible microstructures in the brain that can supply scaffolding for Penrose-type quantum gravity collapse events. In these models, the collapse events supply a noncomputable process that can supply a locus for connecting biophysics with nonphysical-metaphysical processes, such as Platonic Ideals. This negates the widely held belief that the physical universe must be causally closed, which is the primary reason why many scientists believe that parapsychological phenomena are impossible.

Proposed Ontology: This presentation discusses an ongoing project to develop a meta-theory that can sustain the existence of conscious agency, called Actual-Theory (A-Theory). Steps include: 1) incorporate the non-causal-closure of the physical world through quantum collapse; 2) connect macroscopic processes to the Born Rule interpretation for quantum wave function collapse; 3) connect with esoteric metaphysical systems’ descriptions of conscious entities that act causally into the physical domain.

I situate the Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) model within the A-theory paradigm, and examine Penrose’s model of three interactive reality domains (physical, mental, Platonic). This presentation introduces a fundamental property of the phenomenal world that instantiates conscious experience and generates fields in the consciousness domain that can act causally with agency into the physical domain. This property could be called “noetic charge” — an ontic property of matter that instantiates experience of being.

Summary: A tripartite ontology proposed as a possible model of consciousness can also accommodate psi phenomena. A scientifically complete description of this ontology will require the introduction of a new property or properties that operate in a domain of reality identified by Penrose as the Platonic World, which coexists with the physical domain, is not empirically manifest, is not subjectively manifest either, but does interact causally with the physical and the conscious-experiential domains.

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Thomas Brophy is a researcher at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, CA, focusing on the intersection of quantum physics, consciousness theory, and parapsychology, with particular interest in developing ontological frameworks that accommodate psi phenomena.

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The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. The primary objective of the PA is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.

Follow the PA: https://linktr.ee/parapsychologicalassociation

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Published on April 30, 2026