The term "extrasensory perception" (ESP) can encapsulate many abilities, but the main one I'd like to discuss is telepathy. Telepathy is
frequently seen in science fiction and is often viewed as the next stage in
human evolution. One of my favorite
shows of all time, Babylon 5,
featured telepaths. In Star Trek, we see telepathic races such
as the people of Betazed. We see Deanna
Troi, who has empathic abilities.
Having the power to read someone’s mind comes with all sorts
of problems. Concerns about privacy
inevitably arise. How can you keep
secrets from someone who can simply reach into your mind to look for the
answers? Governments may wish to use
those with telepathic abilities for their own purposes. In Babylon
5, telepaths are forced to choose between joining the Psi Corps, taking
drugs to suppress their abilities, or go to prison. The freedoms of telepaths are strictly curtailed
in order to protect the general population (that’s what people are told,
anyway). In the Star Trek Voyager episode “Counterpoint,” telepaths are put into
labor camps to keep them isolated.
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Which right should take precedence: the right of a person to
have their private thoughts protected from intrusion, or the right of the
telepath to have autonomy? There isn’t
an easy question to answer, though one can hardly help but cringe at some of
the rigid restrictions some fictional governments have placed upon people with
telepathic abilities. What kind of
restrictions would be appropriate? How
do you prevent government entities aimed at policing telepaths from using them
merely as tools? Is it possible that, as
humans evolve, we might have to answer these questions one day?
Telepathy is one of the powers many people wish they had but not everybody looks at what that entails in a wider society. I think that is why science fiction is so important, it plays with scenarios that could happen.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough one, as people we all deserve rights but when you have to make rules for two very different types of people... I'm not sure what the right thing to do would be.
The dirtier or guiltier the mind, the more fear of telepaths. I'd become wary of people trying to eliminate telepaths alrogether...
ReplyDeleteYikes - questions I've never asked ... or even thought to ask.
ReplyDeleteI think there's an assumption that a telepath would always WANT to know what other people are thinking. Personally, I think that someone who couldn't block out others' thoughts would go insane from the noise. For that matter, who says that non-telepaths couldn't block from their side? :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Enjoyed the post, I feel a telepathic connection to people sometimes I sense they will call or know what they will say, I do believe there might at some point be even a tech enhanced telepathic side to humans.Stopping by #a2zchallenge. I went with D for Daring to Dream and E for Egret my fave Birds ... swing by if you get a chance http://4covert2overt.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteTelepathy's always an interesting subject. The best way would be if telepaths could choose whose mind to read, so that they're not hearing everyone all at once, but non-telepaths should be able to put shields up in their minds.
ReplyDeleteI really like your A to Z theme! Great idea! I have read quite a few books with telepaths and I have often wondered these things. Seems like most authors either put in a natural method to protect the mind or they go all the way to "dystopian" type societies which force compliance on the telepaths by surgical or other means. Some just don't deal with the question, I guess.
ReplyDeletejetgirlcos visiting via Forty, c'est Fantastique
Wow! You ask great and very complicated questions. I guess with every 'evolution' or 'mutation' there's always the risk that these new evolved individuals will try to use their abilities against the rest of the people. There's always a bad person but in general, I think most people just want to live their lives happily without others intervening. My guess would be that most of those individuals would actually do their best to stay out of everybody's hairs, without need for camps or forceful segregation.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite books was the Demolished Man, that the character was able to figure out how to block his mind from being read, to prevent his intention of killing someone a secret. All he had to do was get a song stuck in his head.
ReplyDeleteIt begs to question, how does telepathy work? Is it about seeing what is in someones head, or just reading their immediate thought?
I think it's possible that our natural spiritual state communicates with the mind anyway. Perhaps our pure states don't think those evil thoughts that are caused by being in a body, and so the thoughts that would naturally be read by a telepath (one who is closer to their natural state) would be thoughts people wouldn't mind hiding anyway. At least, that's a more fun way to think about it. Anything else would be too frightening (for the telepaths).
ReplyDeleteRandom Musings from the KristenHead — E is for 'Elementary' (and Elephants)