by Annalisa Ventola, PA Executive Director
The 190th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), held in Denver, Colorado, was a powerful reminder of why the AAAS holds such a special place in the global scientific community. As a representative of the Parapsychological Association (PA), attending this meeting was a privilege and an opportunity to reflect on the enduring affiliation between the AAAS and the PA—a relationship built on a shared commitment to advancing scientific inquiry, even in areas that challenge conventional boundaries. The meeting theme, Toward Science Without Walls, explored the consequences of barriers that currently fragment the scientific community, such as discipline, approach, institution, nation, access, wealth, seniority, race, or gender.
The PA’s affiliation with the AAAS, established in 1969, was a landmark moment for parapsychology, offering the PA a seat at the workshop of science. Historically, the AAAS has provided a space for boundary-opening discussions, and this openness was essential in fostering early conversations about psi phenomena during the 1960s-1990s (Ventola, 2016). Although it’s been decades since the AAAS has hosted symposia on psi topics, attending the annual meetings allows us to stay connected with the scientific community and explore areas of potential collaboration.
The PA’s affiliation with the AAAS, established in 1969, was a landmark moment for parapsychology, offering the PA a seat at the workshop of science.
AI and the Future of Science
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was a hot topic encompassing many sessions at the meeting, and for good reason. It’s reshaping how science is done across the board, whether in healthcare, climate science, or the cognitive sciences. Machine learning is transforming diagnostics, drug discovery, and even personalized medicine. Seeing how AI models tackle these complex problems was a reminder of how far-reaching the impacts of this technology are—and the potential for parapsychology as our field begins to utilize it.
Much like healthcare, parapsychology often deals with vast amounts of data, some of it challenging to analyze. AI’s ability to sift through and identify patterns in this data could be invaluable, especially as we continue to explore areas such as presentiment or global consciousness. AI-themed sessions also raised important ethical questions about transparency, bias, and over-reliance on AI, issues we in parapsychology must be mindful of as well.
One of the most forward-thinking discussions was around generative AI in science. These systems, which generate hypotheses based on historical data, could help our own field investigate uncharted phenomena. Of course, AI has its limitations, especially when it comes to predicting rare or chaotic events, but it is fascinating to think about the possibilities.
Innovations Addressing Climate Change
Climate change was another key theme, with sessions emphasizing the urgency of addressing this global crisis through scientific innovation. Discussions ranged from AI’s role in simulating future climate scenarios to the development of clean energy technologies. The emphasis on AI’s potential to improve predictive modeling in climate science was particularly striking. These models allow faster and more accurate forecasts of extreme weather events and long-term climate patterns.
For parapsychology, which explores the interaction between human consciousness and the physical world, these advancements offer intriguing possibilities. For instance, could collective human intent influence environmental outcomes? While speculative, such questions reflect parapsychology’s interdisciplinary nature and its potential to contribute unique perspectives to the conversation on environmental sustainability. As science continues to explore new ways to mitigate climate change, integrating insights from both the material and consciousness realms could open new pathways for global cooperation and collective action.
Keith Yamamoto’s Presidential Address
One of the highlights of the meeting was Keith Yamamoto’s presidential address. His speech was a rallying cry for bold, creative scientific inquiry. He talked about the need to move beyond the “safe” science that often gets rewarded and embrace what he called “night science”—the kind of exploratory, uncertain research that leads to paradigm shifts.
Yamamoto didn’t mince words. “Frequent low-risk productivity is rewarded even if low impact, whereas failure of any kind, even ‘informative failure,’ is severely penalized,” he said. “That innate paradigm-busting, major discovery or problem-solving scientist in us is repressed. Mentors counsel trainees and colleagues counsel each other throughout entire careers to stay in-lane, to propose work that is low risk, highly feasible, to avoid anything that sniffs of failure.” This hit home for me. Researchers in parapsychology often – but not always – take risks that more conventional fields avoid.
Yamamoto’s metaphor of “day science” and “night science,” drawn from the Nobel Laureate François Jacob, is a powerful one. As Jacob wrote, “Day science calls into play arguments that mesh like gears, results that have the force of certainty… proud of its past, sure of its future, day science advances in light and glory.” But, he continued, “Night science wanders blind, it hesitates, stumbles, recoils… doubting everything… forever trying to find itself. Night science is a sort of workshop of the possible, where what will become the building material of science is worked out” (Yamamoto, 2024, p. 13).
This, to me, is where parapsychology lives—wandering through that creative, uncertain space where breakthroughs are possible but not guaranteed. Much of what we study doesn’t fit neatly into the framework of conventional science. We are, in a way, “night scientists,” operating in that workshop of the impossible, embracing the unknown and questioning the unexplained. Yamamoto’s call to keep pushing those boundaries was a timely reminder that even in the face of skepticism, speculative inquiry is a necessary part of scientific progress.
We are, in a way, “night scientists,” operating in that workshop of the impossible, embracing the unknown and questioning the unexplained.
Conclusion
The AAAS has been a crucial ally in our journey as “night scientists.” From our early symposia at AAAS meetings, where we were given the platform to present our work to a curious and open-minded audience, to today, the AAAS has shown a willingness to include parapsychology in its broader mission to advance scientific knowledge. This commitment to inclusivity and intellectual openness is something I deeply admire about the AAAS.
The 2024 AAAS Annual Meeting underscored the transformative potential of AI, the urgency of addressing climate change, and the importance of creativity and risk-taking in science. For the Parapsychological Association, these themes offer valuable insights. As we continue to explore the mysteries of human consciousness and its interaction with the physical world, the tools and ideas emerging from AAAS meetings may help us further push the boundaries of what is possible.
The 2025 AAAS Meeting will be held February 13-15 in Boston, Massachusetts, with the theme Science Shaping Tomorrow. Learn more and register at https://meetings.aaas.org.
Ventola, A., (2016). There is no gate: On the PA and the AAAS. Mindfield: The Bulletin of the Parapsychological Association, 8(2), 54-67.
Yamamoto, K. (2024). Presidential address 2024 annual meeting. American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In this second installment on the theme “Psi & Fiction” for Mindfield: The Bulletin of the Parapsychological Association, we are pleased to offer several open-access essays. These include an editorial examining the challenges of getting the message out there in the digital age by Anastasia Wasko and Jacob Glazier. Everton Maraldi contributes a Presidential Column …
by Annalisa Ventola, PA Executive Director
