There are those that claim telepathic communcation is possible? Are they telling the truth? There are those who say that potentially any human being has the capacity for doing it. Are they telling the truth? There are even those who, almost paradoxically, say on one hand that this 'ability' has been dormant in most modern homo sapiens, but was a means of essential communication that our ancestors may have needed, while others will tell you that being ablle to communicate in this way, it is a sign of our evolution as a species, the next change, if you will. I personally come to the subject with an open mind. I have not studied the subject at length before. I have not studied any tests that may have been done on claims. But on this thread, I hope to do that, while hearing others views on this. Thanks Jack [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo0gyXZQv0o"]Rupert Sheldrake - The Extended Mind - Telepathy. Pt 1/3 - YouTube[/ame]
Many years ago I remember reading a book on that subject. It also claimed that as we only use about 10 to 15 % of our brain that telepathic communication is possible as well as levitation. I only wish that I could remember the title of that book.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Have you ever heard a doctor say, "He was shot in the head but luckily he was shot in the 90% that we don't use so he'll be fine."
I haven't studied any of this, but I've always been curious about those who can "hear" who's calling on the phone (apart from cell phones' chosen individual rings, I mean). I think there are a lot of folks who hear the phone ring and think/say, "That's Aunt Susan," and they're right. Opinions?
Anything is possible but as far as I'm aware, there is zero concrete evidence supporting the existence of any kind of true psychic abilities nor any clearly defined mechanism as to how such a thing would be possible. There is a major problem in this kind of area with kooks of charlatans making claims that definitively aren't true (whether they're aware of that or not) and magicians knowingly using tricks but in an environment of secrecy about them. Any serious studies would have to cut through all of that, starting from first principals but work at that level carries not real benefits even if it did discover something significant. That must make it difficult to fund such work from anything other than those with vested interests (typically in a specific positive result). Any subject that has more soft TV shows about it that serious scientific studies has a fundamental problem.
I tend to agree with you. but history has shown us that whatever the mind can conceive, it can accomplish. Who really knows what the future has in store for us.
I'm afraid that this is a myth, a popular one, but a myth none the less. The fact is we use all of our brain, although it may not seem that way, with some! It would be intriguing to think that this means of communication was some residual skill, left over by our ancestors. However, I believe that to be unlikely. It is more likely that our ancestors, before they evolved to use what we would recognise as verbal language, would have communicated in a similar way to that of say modern chimps. I think it is more plausible that this is something we may evolve to, either naturally, or naturally and artifically. Some scientists argue that our species has reached the end of the line, in terms of it's evolutionary process. Others argue that the process could be on going. I would incline toward the latter camp. In evolutionary terms, change happens small, and change happens over a long period of time. It may begin with a small % among a species. Then, over time, it is likely that the entire species takes on the new development. Perhaps that process is already in place, perhaps the people who make genuine claim to this ability, perhaps they are the 'small percentage'? I did say 'natural and artificial', which may sound a contradiciton in terms. What I mean by that is that we have so many more ways to communicate a message than we did, even 30 yrs ago. Technology has brought this about. It is not going to stand still, so is it such a leap of faith to suggest that in another 30 yrs, technology will permit us to communicate, over great distances, large amounts of data, 'mentally'..? I don't think it is such a leap of faith.
Perhaps they are good at anticpating things? Perhaps they do not have many people that would ring them, thus narrowing the outcome? Perhaps people tend to remember the times they call it right, and forget the times they call it wrong? All just thoughts. Here's a thing though. Have you ever went to speak, and just at the same moment, the other person says the precise same thing? Mathematically, of all the things that you could say, and they are nearly infinite, I wonder what the odds would be on two people actually doing that, saying the same thing, at exactly the same time..
Would you concur that what a true scientist is meant to do is literally study the unknown? I resent the fact that in scientific circles there is an arrogance every bit as bad as any religous hierarchy. Very well qualified scientists who have wanted to study anything which is not considered 'serious science', they are often every bit as castigated as the questioning mind would be to the religous fundie.
No. I'd suggest true scientists study the known in an attempt to reach conclusions about the unknown. That's why I talked about a clearly defined mechanism. As I see it, there are two ways to study claims of psychic abilities. One is to study the outcomes - controlled experiments where people predict random events for example. The problem with this is that there are always other possible explanations for any positive results (sub-conscious influences, flawed experiment design, luck, fraud etc.). The second method is to study a mechanism. For example, if the claim was that there is a special "psychic energy" generated by the human brain, you seek methods to detect and measure that energy. If you were able to get repeatable positive results from such an experiment, you'd be a long way towards proving the phenomena. As far as I'm aware though, no such mechanism has been clearly defined by any of the proponents of psychic abilities (certainly none that have been able to be independently detected and measured). While that is the case, the options for serious scientific study are greatly reduced. Well, they've got human beings in common but I don't feel an equal comparison is fair. For all the arrogance and stubbornness that exists in scientific fields, there remains much more scope for accepting new concepts or ideas and, more significantly, updating or correcting existing ones than in areas of religion of faith. The new ideas do need to be presented in a legitimate scientific structure though.
We seem to be blurring the lines between those that claim psychic ability, and those that claim telepathic communication is possible. I don't believe them to be one and the same. Now, of course, it may be worth looking at what experiments have been done on those that claim to be able to communciate using a form of telepathy. I will look around the net, there are sure to be some, but I expect the results to be inconclusive. Of course, it is also true that sometimes a culmination of conditions needs to be just right, in order for a given thing to occur. It may well be that any previous test were done in conditions that did not always lend itself to said conditions. Just trying to see from all sides.
Thought this was interesting Futurists think that brain-computer interfaces may make telepathy possible. There has already been progress in connecting brains with machines, and a man-machine-man bridge is considered very possible. And if man-machine-man bridges can be made, then such a link can be achieved over great distances using Internet. Technologically enabled telepathy is also called "techlepathy," "synthetic telepathy," or "psychotronics." Some people, occasionally referred to by themselves or others as "transhumanists", believe that technologically enabled telepathy is a technology that humans should pursue in order to improve themselves. Kevin Warwick of the University of Reading, England is one of the leading proponents of this view and has based all of his recent cybernetics research around developing technology for directly connecting human nervous systems together with computers and with each other. He believes techno-enabled telepathy will in the future become the primary form of human communication http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy
I believe that anything is possible. Just because it hasn't been done or proven to or not to exist before doesn't mean that will not change on the morrow. Just take a look at where we were just one hundred years ago and where we are today with technology. The things that we now take for granted were considered to be poppycock back then. Remember this, if man were ment to fly he would have been born with wings. How many of you now take flying to different places for granted today?
Oh heck...like evidence? I'm just thinking....look at how the world was in the 1500's.....compared to now. Could you imagine the computer if living in a medeival time? I call it a good guess that our technology will be such that an archeologist 1000 years from now will have more then just mud covered artifacts. Think good thoughts now folks....it will look good for you later.
Funnily enough, I have often thought of the impact of a society from a bygone century, seeing some modern piece of tech from 2011. How would they respond to it? With wonderment and fear, I would imagine. Especially among the religous, who would have seen it as a sign of 'satanic works''.
