18 Jun 2026
Human Entities: Peter Bancel
Human Entities 2026: culture in the age of artificial intelligence
Tenth edition
Wed 27 May 2026, 6.30pm
Beyond the senses: science and the mystery of psychic phenomena
Peter Bancel
Senior Researcher at the Institut Métapsychique International, Paris (France) and Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, California (US)
Anomalies – the things that don’t fit our view of the world – are often the starting point of discoveries. As physicist Richard Feynman put it, “It’s the thing that doesn’t fit that is the most interesting.” A major challenge for science today is to understand consciousness. Theories abound, progress is being made, yet there is no consensus or even a clear path forward. In situations like this, anomalies can provide crucial direction for research. In this talk, we will look at the anomaly of psi phenomena – apparent capacities of consciousness such as telepathy and precognition – and explore the scientific evidence. If the reality of psychic phenomena is established, it may serve as a signpost toward understanding how and why we experience experience at all – the core of human consciousness. We will also consider what this would imply for science more broadly and how it invites us to understand the world.
Peter Bancel
Peter Bancel is a senior researcher at the Institut Métapsychique International (IMI) in Paris and a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California. In the early 2000s, he collaborated with the Global Consciousness Project based in Princeton (US) before joining the IMI in 2010. Alongside his scientific work, he is a long-time Buddhist practitioner and meditation teacher, with a longstanding interest in consciousness that bridges contemplative traditions and empirical research. Since joining the IMI, he has focused on how psychic phenomena – often called “psi” – can be studied using the methods of mainstream science. His work explores precognition, experimental design in psi studies, and possible connections with quantum physics. He holds a PhD in Experimental Physics from the University of Pennsylvania. After postdoctoral research at IBM, he moved to France, where he worked at the CNRS in Paris and later at the Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel at the University of Nantes.
https://www.imiresearch.fr (https://www.imiresearch.fr/)
This event is part of
Human Entities 2026: culture in the age of artificial intelligence
Tenth edition
Public talks, May – June 2026
Ficha Técnica/Credits
Organised by CADA (https://www.cada1.net/) in partnership with Lisbon Architecture Triennale (https://www.trienaldelisboa.com/)
Programmed by Jared Hawkey/Sofia Oliveira with guest programmers: Andrea Pavoni (https://dinamiacet.iscte-iul.pt/full-team/andrea-pavoni), Kaitlyn Davies (https://kaitlyndavi.es/), Zagalo Pereira.
CADA is funded by: República Portuguesa – Cultura, Juventude e Desporto / Direção-Geral das Artes
(https://www.dgartes.gov.pt/)ApoiosSupport: Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (https://www.lisboa.pt/), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia – NOVA LINCS (https://nova-lincs.di.fct.unl.pt/), Instituto Ciências Sociais (https://www.ics.ulisboa.pt/), Universidade de Lisboa; DINAMIA’CET (https://www.dinamiacet.iscte-iul.pt/) (ISCTE-IUL), Faculdade de Belas Artes, Universidade de Lisboa, Departamentos de Design de Comunicação e Arte Multimédia
Art direction + graphic design: Emir Karyo (https://www.instagram.com/safkan.tehlike)
Photography: Joana Linda (https://joanalinda.com/site/about/)
Sound: Diogo Melo (https://soundcloud.com/diogo_melo), Fernando Fadigas (https://www.fernandofadigas.pt/)
