Is telepathy scientifically possible?

[Mord]

Originally Posted by Shrink

No possibility that it was the acid that led you to believe you experienced telepathy, right?

Pretty much, have experienced the effect myself and I've always assumed it was just a case of empathic synesthesia whereby ones perceptions of body language trigger the linguistic representation of what that body language represents.

From one's own perspective, while tripping absolute balls one can glance at a friend and literally hear a voice, much like their own internal monolog that corresponds to how one perceives them to be thinking much like one can look at an object that one associates with a colour and observe that colour bloom around it like a halo.

Nothing really supernatural about it really.

Originally Posted by Orange Crane

Derp. It was a joke, lighten up. "rolleyes", lol

heh, well, joke or not it's still a thing that many often experience.

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by CalBoy

Not true.

It is impossible to travel faster than light.

It's impossible to propel something faster than the speed of light, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to travel at FTL speeds.

It's how the alcubierre drives I've been having nerdgasms about recently work. It can move a ship through space beyond the speed of light because it's not actually moving the ship at all. It's moving the universe around it.

...yeah.

[TedM]

Didn't they just make devices that interpret brain waves to move prosthetic limbs? If thats already done its only a matter of time I feel.

[iJohnHenry]

Originally Posted by Shrink

OMG...I despair for science education in this country!!

I despair for future generation who have a WiFi chip in their brain stem, the better for Big Brother to control your very thoughts.

Originally Posted by Shrink

The lack of knowledge of scientific method is appalling.

What is that?

I saw a sign outside a church today: "Believing is seeing."

What in Hell ..............

[macs4nw]

Originally Posted by Eclipse278

I sensed someone had resurrected this thread from 2008 and I was right! It must be possible!

Telepathy can quite possibly be explained with Multiverses and Quantum Mechanics, some time in the future. Although I have some thoughts on it, I'm not going to attempt to try my hand at explaining it.

[EricNau]

Originally Posted by Huntn

Let's say no scientist has seen anyone who has telepathic abilities. Does that prove it is impossible? I'd say no. The best you can say is that there is no evidence and have an opinion that it is unlikely.

Exactly right. You can't prove a negative; e.g. you can't prove that unicorns do not exist, but given the absence of evidence of their existence, you have no compelling reason to believe in their existence.

The same is true of telepathy... no evidence = no reason to suspect it's real.

But if you can demonstrate telepathic powers, you get $1,000,000 from James Randi.

[iJohnHenry]

Originally Posted by EricNau

But if you can demonstrate telepathic powers, you get $1,000,000 from James Randi[/URL].

But then you risk people trying to kill you because of your power, or kidnap you for their nefarious use. (al la Firestarter)

[Huntn]

Originally Posted by iJohnHenry

But then you risk people trying to kill you because of your power, or kidnap you for their nefarious use. (al la Firestarter)

Although I suspect some humor is involved in your statement, this could be a real concern.

[iJohnHenry]

Originally Posted by Huntn

Although I suspect some humor is involved in your statement, this could be a real concern.

I try to infuse my posts with some sweet and sour sauce.

Life has imitated Art before. I have seen in with Science Fiction writing.

[bjm2660]

Call me maybe (telepathically)

[APlotdevice]

Originally Posted by Huntn

Although I suspect some humor is involved in your statement, this could be a real concern.

On the plus side you can burn people at the end.

[elistan]

Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

[MasterHowl]

Originally Posted by balofagus

Not true.

It is impossible for anything that travels at less than c to reach or exceed that limit. However, it is not impossible for something to exceed c at all times.

eg. a tachyon

[RSL]

Originally Posted by EricNau

There's very little that is, in theory, technically or mathematically impossible.

Actually, the opposite is true. There are rules which govern the universe, yet one could come up with endless hypothetical statements that contradict those rules.

Of course, science is all about approximating those rules without actually ever getting there...

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by EricNau

Most definitely! Knowledge isn't limited to brain capacity. For example, our brain capacity isn't any larger than the ancient Roman's, yet we've certainly made a few advancements since their time.

If you want to go even farther than that, the human brain is exactly the same now as it was during the pleistocene, when our early ancestors hunted the woolly mammoth to extinction. In other words, there are no differences between some random hunter gatherer from back in the day and Stephen Hawking. Both possess the same mental capacity. One just has a greater store of knowledge to build upon, and utilizes it better than the other.

[niuniu]

Reading these discussions gives me the caveman creep.

There's a whole universe of 'impossibles' that are only a discovery or evolutionary leap away. Perhaps whole universes full of laws of physics that don't apply to our own.

Bog yourself down with current knowledge by all means. But never assume it's all correct or anywhere near the limit of understanding.

[eric/]

Originally Posted by niuniu

Reading these discussions gives me the caveman creep.

There's a whole universe of 'impossibles' that are only a discovery or evolutionary leap away. Perhaps whole universes full of laws of physics that don't apply to our own.

Bog yourself down with current knowledge by all means. But never assume it's all correct or anywhere near the limit of understanding.

This

[Huntn]

Originally Posted by elistan

Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

What I really like about this outlook is that is puts a question mark on those who limit themselves to what can be proven. In the case of Atheists, this sometimes appears to be a wall. I would not expect anyone to believe in the proverbial purple dragon, but intellectually they should be on the lookout for one or something similiar.

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by niuniu

Reading these discussions gives me the caveman creep.

There's a whole universe of 'impossibles' that are only a discovery or evolutionary leap away. Perhaps whole universes full of laws of physics that don't apply to our own.

Bog yourself down with current knowledge by all means. But never assume it's all correct or anywhere near the limit of understanding.

Double This.

Hard as this it is to believe now, at the end of the 19th century, a goodly portion of scientists believed that humanity was within a couple of decades of knowing everything there is to know about the physical universe.

A couple decades pass, and it was discovered that we've only scratched the bare surface.

What we know of the universe now isn't the hard set definition thereof. It's the current working model based on what we do know, of which we're attempting to define without even having a unified set of mathematics capable of describing it all. There's always more to learn, more to prove, and more proof that disproves previous proofs.

[.Matt]

Telepathy is very possible and very real,

It's surely not easy though.

So, i have belived in the idea of telepathy for many years. Today, i expirimented with my brother. I tried very hard to send him very specific information . It takes very deep concentration. Sending information such as sentences, words, or letters are very hard to recive.

Things such as number, colors, or shapes are much easier. At first its very hard to send or recive info. But as u continue to try u start to get better and better. We practiced for about 4 hours. He got 6 things i was thinking off right in a row.

It amazed me. But after word, we both had very bad migrans for about 30 minutes.

Try it..

[iBlue]

Originally Posted by Mord

Pretty much, have experienced the effect myself and I've always assumed it was just a case of empathic synesthesia whereby ones perceptions of body language trigger the linguistic representation of what that body language represents.

From one's own perspective, while tripping absolute balls one can glance at a friend and literally hear a voice, much like their own internal monolog that corresponds to how one perceives them to be thinking much like one can look at an object that one associates with a colour and observe that colour bloom around it like a halo.

Nothing really supernatural about it really.

Excellent explanation of this phenomenon, LSD or not.

[Gutwrench]

With a single glance from my wife I leap into action to empty the garbage or an array of other chores. It might not be telepathy but it's wildly effective.

I've experimented by trying to use 'the look' on her only to receive a #^**!!! message in return. Nothing said but it was loud and clear. Heck, even the dog has the power.

[TedM]

rats were in the news the other day as being able to talk to each other through implants in their brains...

[elistan]

Originally Posted by TedM

rats were in the news the other day as being able to talk to each other through implants in their brains...

And mice were in the news the other day as being significantly more intelligent when their brains were injected with a certain kind of human brain cell...

I for one welcome our new telepathic implanted human-hybrid rodent overlords.

[Squilly]

Originally Posted by CalBoy

Not true.

It is impossible to travel faster than light.

Who says?