CREATIVE ADVENTURES — 13

Imagine You Can Use Telepathy

How Would You Use This Superpower?

Telepathy is the ability to read the minds of others. The word telepathy comes from the Greek: ‘Tele’ means ‘distant’ and ‘patheia’ means ‘feeling’ or ‘perception’. So, telepathy is the direct transmission of information from one person to another without using any sensory channels or physical interaction.

There is no convincing scientific evidence yet that telepathy exists. However, telepathy has always been a super-power sought by spiritualists, psychologists, mentalists, and magicians. For example, magicians like Oz Pearlman are famous for (seemingly) reading the thoughts of their subjects and they make enormous amounts of money by showcasing this unique talent. Whether these shows are genuine cases of telepathy is much disputed as they seem to combine a set of skills such as trickery, distraction, empathy, manipulation, staging, and guesswork.

A panel commissioned by the US National Research Council concluded: “Despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such (paranormal) matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or ‘mind over matter’ exercises.”

For the purposes of this exercise, however, let’s imagine that you do have this unique superpower: Telepathy.

Please respond to the following questions:

1. As you sit in a cafe, choose a person to observe and focus on. Try to read into their minds using your imagination. Write a story about it.
2. When you are walking on the street, look at the back of the head of a person walking in front of you. Be calm. Keep a distance of 7 meters or more. Visualize the person in front of you turning their head towards you. Have a strong and vivid mental picture. Realize how powerful your thoughts can be. You might even witness that person looking back at you and this creepy experiment might prove the power of your thoughts and imagination. I know some of my friends can use this scary mental power. Be careful not to annoy or scare other people while you do this experiment.
3. Would you like to use this power of telepathy? Explain why or why not. In what circumstances would you use it? How would you make sure that you use this power ethically?
4. Imagine that you have the opportunity to read the minds of just three people who are alive. Who would these be? Why? Feel free to choose famous people.
5. Imagine that you can enter a famous person’s mind through a portal, just like what happens in the movie ‘Being John Malkovich’. Who would you choose? Why? What happens next? Write a story on this topic.
6. Let’s say you have used this chance and traveled into the mind of that famous person. Think of the unexpected consequences of this action and write a story illustrating these surprises.
7. Imagine that you can alter or manipulate the perceptions and the memories of someone. In other words, you can hack into their brain. Write a story where you are using this wicked power. Make yourself the villain in this story (although I know that this might be really hard). What happens next?
8. We are already sending messages from one brain to another using language, speech, gestures, videos, storytelling, and mobile phones. What do you think will be the next stage in sending messages directly from one brain to another? Think of the technological innovations and devices that could make this happen. With technological advancements like Elon Musk’s Neuralink on the horizon, it is time we seriously think about the implications of these technologies.
9. Think of a world where telepathy is possible and widespread. What are the implications? How would we continue our lives in such a world? How will the future Internet be like when people can upload and share the contents of their brains? Think about the nature of future social media platforms where humans open up and share their brains and thoughts with the world. What are the implications of this new renaissance? What are the biggest dangers and risks in such a world? How would you ensure your individual freedom and privacy in such a world?
10. Imagine you can get a glimpse of the brains and mental universes of geniuses such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or J. K. Rowling. If you could choose one person alive, who would this be? Why? Write a story where you go on a journey of deep exploration of the brain of this person. Incorporate some surprises into your story.
11. Imagine that you have forgotten to censor yourself or use privacy settings when you use this new technology of telepathy. Imagine you share your raw thoughts with the world without any filtering. Write a Black Mirror episode where this scenario becomes real and this is your biggest nightmare.
12. Create your own questions and imagination experiments using this theme and its variations.

Fahri Karakas is the author of the Self-making Studio. You can explore more here.