A Research Laboratory
OtherMinds is an early-stage research lab investigating what intelligence and consciousness actually are, where they come from, and how we might recognize them in forms of life beyond Earth.
OtherMinds is organized around two research programs approaching the same deep question from opposite directions: what would it take to recognize a mind that isn't ours? Outer Minds asks it by searching outward. Inner Minds asks it by studying awareness itself.
SETI & Astrobiology
Led by Caleb Strom, PhD
Outer Minds develops detection methods for signatures of life and intelligence beyond Earth, centered on an in-house instrument for identifying biosignatures on other worlds. The program extends beyond the lab bench through observation time on radio telescopes, participation in optical SETI programs, and involvement in planetary missions studying ocean worlds like Europa and Enceladus.
Neurotech & Cognitive Science
Led by Skylar Smith
Inner Minds studies the mind through neurotech and cognitive science — neurophenomenology, contemplative neuroscience, and predictive processing — applying the same signal-detection approach inward, to brain activity, physiological signals, and rigorous first-person report. Research spans neural recording, perceptual experiments, and structured phenomenological interviews with experienced contemplative practitioners.
OtherMinds is led by two researcher-builders who bring complementary expertise to each side of the lab.
Co-Lead, Outer Minds
Caleb holds a PhD in Planetary Sciences from the University of North Dakota and spent two years as a Research Scientist Intern at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Caleb's doctoral research modeled subsurface oceans on the Uranian moons Miranda and Ariel — work that extends to better-known ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus. Caleb is the inventor of Xenarch, an in-house detection instrument built to search for signatures of life and intelligence beyond Earth.
Co-Lead, Inner Minds
Skylar is an independent builder working at the intersection of signal processing and computational research — lead developer of MolGen, a computational drug-discovery platform, and builder of audio AI tools including Transmuter and the MCP Audio Server. A background in digital signal processing and spectral analysis underpins Inner Minds' approach to reading brain activity, biofeedback, and physiological signals through neurotech and cognitive science.
Consciousness and intelligence remain two of the least understood phenomena in science. OtherMinds exists to study them rigorously — drawing on neuroscience, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, and astrobiology — with the goal of building frameworks that could one day help us recognize intelligence in forms radically unlike our own, including those that may exist beyond our planet.
We are currently in our research phase, building the foundational questions, collaborations, and methods that will guide our work in the years ahead.
Our research agenda is designed to align with the scientific scope of leading institutions and funding programs across astrobiology, SETI, and neurotech and cognitive science.
24-Hour Research Laboratory
The Other Minds Laboratory is a dedicated research space for questions that don't live inside a single discipline — where neurotech and cognitive science, SETI, astrobiology, neuroscience, signal processing, and artificial intelligence are treated as different instruments pointed at the same underlying mystery. It exists so that research can continue, at any hour, without interruption.
Laboratory Location
Frontier Tower
15th Floor, San Francisco, California
37.7749° N, 122.4194° W
Open to members, 24 hours a day.
The laboratory supports interdisciplinary research across neurotech and cognitive science, SETI, neuroscience, computation, signal processing, artificial intelligence, and human perception — disciplines we treat as connected rather than separate.
Members have access to shared workstations, computational resources, and scientific instrumentation built to support real experimentation — not just discussion.
Researchers, engineers, founders, philosophers, students, artists, and scientists work side by side, across traditional disciplinary boundaries, on problems that reward more than one way of thinking.
The laboratory exists to bring together people who are genuinely curious, who enjoy difficult questions, and who do their best thinking in the company of others who take those questions seriously.
Several evenings each year, the laboratory opens its doors for guest lectures, visiting scientists, research presentations, workshops, and cross-disciplinary discussions — often in partnership with universities, research labs, and space institutions. These evenings are curated, infrequent, and always announced well in advance. Research continues on every other day: the laboratory is a working research environment first, before, during, and after any event.
Membership means joining a small, ambitious research community — not renting a desk. Members receive:
Equipment and instrumentation in the laboratory are organized under our two research divisions.
Astronomy / Astrobiology / SETI
Neuroscience / Human Measurement
Our public programming pairs scientists, philosophers, and contemplatives through recurring talks, observation nights, and hands-on workshops.
Details on our next talk or community event will be posted here — check back soon, or join the mailing list below to hear first.
Our second community gathering, hosted at Frontier Tower SF's Alien Lounge. We continued our discussion across two tracks — Inner Minds Lab (consciousness and neurophenomenology) and Outer Minds Lab (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence).
View event details (opens in a new tab) →Join the mailing list for updates on our findings, talks, and events.
Every map begins with a place willing to explore the unknown. The Other Minds Laboratory is that place.
Email us at thespacekyd@gmail.com or calebstrom5@gmail.com