I think it's a very simple concept to comprehend without getting all weirded up.
 |
| Ansonlobo [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons |
Telepathy is the ability to communicate between two or more minds without written or oral communication; mind-to-mind communication. The dictionary definition refers to "known senses".
A typical telepathy test would consist of two subjects purporting to be telepathic and an observer. The subjects are not able to see, hear, or "knowingly sense" each other. "Subject A" looks at a randomly selected card with a shape on it. They communicate what they see telepathically to "Subject B", and "Subject B" describes the shape. The observer, well, they observe. They see the card that "Subject A" saw and they validate that "Subject B" describes it accurately. A 100% consistent pass rate over multiple repetitions means that it's possible. Goof it up and it's not possible.
Some argue it's possible. Others argue it's not. Both cohorts will be able to prove their agenda.
Here's the thing...
When people talk about telepathy, what they really mean is "organic-telepathy". The ability of two organic beasties to communicate together. Doesn't have to be humans.
That's the same definition, only I added "organic" to the mix... so you know what's coming up next, right?
Let's talk about "digital-telepathy" for a moment.
Whoa! What!? Digital telepathy!? Pfft.
Okay, okay, wild, I know... wait up though... let's talk about, radio. Let's talk about WiFi. How about Bluetooth? The list goes on.
Yeah, yeah, I hear you definition-sticklers out there... there's no "magic" in this supposed "digital-telepathy" because it's "known" senses. It's clever stuff that has taken a lot of clever minds to master and get to the point we're at now with digital communication.
So if it's not hard to comprehend digital devices communicating without any physical contact potentially across millions of miles (think space stuff floating around out there talking back to Earth) without a problem, then why is it so hard to comprehend that this is not possible to do organically?
Fact: We know there is a lot about our bodies that we don't fully understand yet.
Fact: We know we have body parts that we can't really explain the purpose of (the appendix for example).
Fact: We even have new organs being discovered that we've so far missed (the interstitium for example... for real!)
Fact: We know some people have different physical attributes than others... we're all very similar; we're not the same though, and that's one of the things that makes us all interesting and beautiful in our own ways.
So, how hard is it to imagine that some people may possess the ability to communicate thoughts (data) through a similar method to those that our digital creations already can?
Imagine some people have a "thing" in their body that allows telepathy that others don't. Imagine that we all do, only we don't know that they're there. Imagine that some us know how to use the "thing" and others don't.
It's not that far fetched.
Based on the facts above we could legitimately come to the conclusion it would be nonsense to suggest that it is simply not possible.
Now here's where it can get really interesting...
Imagine that organic-telepathy is possible between species. In a digital-telepathy world, a smartphone happily communicates with a TV or a sound system, or even a printer (really people?! printers... still!?) not just other smartphones.
Imagine an augmented-telepathy world where we've not really mastered or realised organic-telepathy so we augment our bodies with a digital capability to provide digitally-synthesised-telepathy.
Stop! Let's take a moment to marvel at the name "digitally-synthesised-telepathy". Okay, move along...
Shock horror... we're almost there folks! The smart devices that are emerging today are not too distant from digitally-synthesised-telepathy. We can control digital devices through thought - controlling a mouse cursor on a screen through thought alone is practically old hat now. We can communicate through an array of digital technologies. That's so old it's almost dull. We have digitally enhanced experiences all around us. So really, what I'm suggesting, is that we just need to glue a few clever things together and digitally-synthesised-telepathy will be a thing.
Still got an appetite for something even more interesting to ponder over?
Imagine a world where digitally-synthesised-telepathy is here... okay, here goes...
How do we retain our right to privacy?
How do we ensure our thoughts are not hacked?
How do we differentiate between thought and communication? The voice in your head when you read... that's a thing... would digitally-synthesised-telepathy know the difference?
How do we legislate?
How do we avoid pop-up-thoughts becoming a thing, like the pop-up-ads of today?
How do we avoid DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) style attacks on our inbound comms? Imagine the noise that would create in your mind. Are people suffering from particular mental illnesses actually organic-telepaths that are experiencing a form of organic-telepathy hacking? Those unexplained head-voices might just be a filter-door swinging on the hinges, or being forced open.
It all sounds so very useful and exciting until you start asking the tricky questions.
Concept (c) 2019 letsbuildathing.com
No comments:
Post a Comment