A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe • Hacker News Board

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#21

Post by ChuckMcM » Fri, Jan 13, 2017, 6:48 PM UTC

mmjaa wrote: post #5

I would love for the species to develop Telepathy. Since I was a child I've dreamed of the day (sci-fi drove me there), and I feel that we inch closer and closer as the Internet grows by day ..

Which it no doubt will. The only question for me is whether it will use wires to route the signal into your brain directly, magnetically 'beam' it in (by inducing neuron activity), or sent chemically through additional specialized neurons grown on your brain for that purpose.

My father (and no doubt me at some point) has hearing aids that have bluetooth in them. He can answer the phone and talk on it without an additional earpiece. Cochlear implants can be augmented to use it[1]. So at some point understanding how to inject sound into your head will become so well understood it will simply be a matter of how much you're willing to spend.

[1] http://www.medel.com/us/bluetooth-wireless-connectivity-and-...

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#22

Post by ivanhoe » Fri, Jan 13, 2017, 6:57 PM UTC

Our thoughts, as we experience them, are usually in a form of an inner monologue, and very much like talking it's always in some particular language. Based on that I'd suspect, if telepathy was possible, that it would still be very closely bound to the language that you use to verbalize your thoughts.

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#23

Post by gliese1337 » Fri, Jan 13, 2017, 8:40 PM UTC

ivanhoe wrote: post #22

Our thoughts, as we experience them, are usually in a form of an inner monologue, and very much like talking it's always in some particular language. Based on that I'd suspect, if telepathy was possible, that it would still be very closely bound to the language that you use to verbalize your thoughts.

Not for everyone.

People who "think in language" tend to be more common, but there are "people who think in language" and people who just don't. And people in either camp tend to assume that that's just how everyone is, until they are shown different. But since the "think in language" camp is larger, it is a lot easier to go through life not ever realizing that there are people who are different, to the point that many people even refuse to belief that non-linguistic thinkers exist even when presented with examples, which leads to a great deal of misinformation being spread in discussions of psycholinguistics.

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#24

Post by GauntletWizard » Fri, Jan 13, 2017, 9:02 PM UTC

SCHiM wrote: post #10

Let's not forget that speaking/talking is telepathy, right people? Speech crosses all the boxes: -- It's invisible, travels via 'waves' -- The 'waves' I use to speak can cause your brain to show you images -- It can convey emotions, thoughts, images. -- It can be used to persuade others, change the way they think about a subject. -- **tree**. Did it work? Did you see a tree? Of course recognising that speech really d…

Reminds me of "The Realm of Rough Telepathy"[1]; a spoof of ICANN history by presenting the organization in the guise of an order of mages with secret rituals and cabbalistic rites, which fit surprisingly well with real proceedings and RFC reviews, etc.

[1]http://grimoire.computer/

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#25

Post by diyseguy » Fri, Jan 13, 2017, 10:05 PM UTC

mmjaa wrote: post #5

I would love for the species to develop Telepathy. Since I was a child I've dreamed of the day (sci-fi drove me there), and I feel that we inch closer and closer as the Internet grows by day ..

Here's an unpopular point of view. I believe we have telepathy already - but we repress it consciously or unconsciously for the simple reason that down that road lies madness. Let's say for example that people can telepath. How do you turn it on or off? Maybe you can't turn it off: that is the definition of insanity. You hear voices talking to you and they never shut up. Or, you have an argument with someone, but they are telepathic. When they leave the room, you still hear them shouting at you - the argument goes on and on even though physically you are no longer in the same place. Definition of insanity right there. Who would want that? No one really. Telepathic ability is repressed for good and logical reasons. Why would you want telepathy? So you can know what people are thinking without asking them? Wouldn't that be a huge invasion of privacy? Would you want people finding out your thoughts without your permission? Another nightmare scenario. If you think about it long enough - telepathy is a truly bad idea.

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#26

Post by SAI_Peregrinus » Sat, Jan 14, 2017, 2:44 AM UTC

ivanhoe wrote: post #22

Our thoughts, as we experience them, are usually in a form of an inner monologue, and very much like talking it's always in some particular language. Based on that I'd suspect, if telepathy was possible, that it would still be very closely bound to the language that you use to verbalize your thoughts.

Your thoughts may always be in a language. I tend to have images more than words.

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#27

Post by Terr_ » Sat, Jan 14, 2017, 3:00 AM UTC

p1esk wrote: post #18

SCHiM wrote: post #10

Let's not forget that speaking/talking is telepathy, right people? Speech crosses all the boxes: -- It's invisible, travels via 'waves' -- The 'waves' I use to speak can cause your brain to show you images -- It can convey emotions, thoughts, images. -- It can be used to persuade others, change the way they think about a subject. -- **tree**. Did it work? Did you see a tree? Of course recognising that speech really d…

Yes, but the "real" telepathy is when you can picture, in your head, the exact tree I'm picturing in my head, without me doing anything to help you. Sounds pretty sci-fi, until you read about recent brain to brain communication experiments.

I don't think that's possible because the first person never really has a complete tree picture to begin with. Instead you have a while bunch of sub-impressions which your brain dynamically invents from old experiences as your attention wanders.

Even if you transfer all the input-requirements, the other person's procedural generator will give a different set of outputs to satisfy them.

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#28

Post by Thrillington » Sat, Jan 14, 2017, 6:39 PM UTC

fallingfrog wrote: post #15

I can't believe the claim, since telepathy has never been demonstrated- however! I think I have to admit that there isn't any law of physics that says telepathy is impossible, theoretically. It would certainly be possible over short distances if humans had specialized organs for transmitting and receiving electrical signals, like an electric eel does. Since we don't have that organ, the signals a human brain can prod…

If that was true there would be some record from the thousands and thousands of years of written history from before humans harnessed the electron.

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#29

Post by fallingfrog » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 2:25 AM UTC

Thrillington wrote: post #28

fallingfrog wrote: post #15

I can't believe the claim, since telepathy has never been demonstrated- however! I think I have to admit that there isn't any law of physics that says telepathy is impossible, theoretically. It would certainly be possible over short distances if humans had specialized organs for transmitting and receiving electrical signals, like an electric eel does. Since we don't have that organ, the signals a human brain can prod…

If that was true there would be some record from the thousands and thousands of years of written history from before humans harnessed the electron.

That's a good point!

Re: A Forgotten Adventure with a Telepathic Tribe

#30

Post by p1esk » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 8:55 PM UTC

Terr_ wrote: post #27

p1esk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the "real" telepathy is when you can picture, in your head, the exact tree I'm picturing in my head, without me doing anything to help you. Sounds pretty sci-fi, until you read about recent brain to brain communication experiments.

I don't think that's possible because the first person never really has a complete tree picture to begin with. Instead you have a while bunch of sub-impressions which your brain dynamically invents from old experiences as your attention wanders. Even if you transfer all the input-requirements, the other person's procedural generator will give a different set of outputs to satisfy them.

You're right, but those experiments are still pretty impressive.