# How do you stop a telepath? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 27, 2001, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669 "2001-03-27T11:18:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669/41 "2001-03-29T15:45:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tommy the Cat \* > \*\*Sure, Magneto’s helmet was indeed “wonky” but, everyday the answer is proven time and time again, Aluminum Foil Hats. Yes, that’s the answer, Aluminum Foil Hats. > > However, they must be assembled correctly. They cannot cover only the top of the head, that’s just crazy. They must cover the whole head. Done properly, you protect yourself from telepathy, mind control beams, and alien abduction. Plus, they’re awfully stylish. \*\* No, aluminum foil won’t work! You must use [anti-static plastic](http://www.stopabductions.com/). 6 mil Velostat works best, you’ll need a minimum of 8 layers. You’ll also need lots of duct tape, too. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2001, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669/42 "2001-03-29T16:11:11Z")
Train a doberman to attack. BTW, if you haven’t noticed, the human body does have a small electrical current. ---
**Author:** ![dlb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@dlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlb)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669/43 "2001-03-29T16:26:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE Bo Diddly \* > \*\*Most comic-book, movie, or novel stories general give the impression that a telepath’s talents and precision increase with practice. > > In theory… a telepath could develop his skills so that he’s constantly monitoring the thoughts of every man, woman, and child on the planet. He’s just gotta have an efficient filing system in his brain.\*\* I’m afraid I must disagree. Consider the trouble you have dredging that thing out of your head that is just at the tip of your tongue. Now consider scanning and cross-referencing the contents of **six billion** minds. This is not a matter of “just gotta have an efficient filing system”. Information theory states that accessing the data associated with this many minds is simply more complex, on the order of (let us say we can organize it at least on a tree structure) two orders of magnitude complex. Not as bad as six billion, but not great. I would say that any such plot would use a triggered hypnosis, induced away from physical proximity, and then having a number of assassins who trigger when they are reasonably close, with hypnotic suggestion against telepathic control. Given sufficient training, it should give them enough time for one or two to get a shot off (remember that **controlling** a large number of minds is just as complex as listening to them.) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669/44 "2001-03-30T02:07:19Z")
Send Dan Quayle or George Dubya after him. 😃 As Boris Badenov of _Rocky and Bullwinkle_ once said, “No brain, no effect!” ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669/45 "2001-03-30T02:32:29Z")
If the telepath has so much control as to be able to distinctly read AND control all of the minds within a certain radius, the best way to stop him would be to kill him while he sleeps. If his area of effect is not large enough to account for the entire planet, a long range missle launched, or at least triggered to be launched, from out of his range should suffice, as would sending in an unmanned fighter plane controlled by someone out of his range. Even in this realm of imagination, I find it very hard to grasp any explanations as to how one person could command such power and control so as to be able to read EVERY mind all of the time. This telepath would have to be of alien origin or be some kind of altered human. No “normal” human could ever hope for that level of mastery. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669/46 "2001-03-30T14:56:05Z")
Roger Zelazny, in **Isle of the Dead** actually describes hand-to-hand combat with telepath Mike Shandon. In this case, the telepath could only sense, not control, and Zelazny makes the point that knowing that someone is trying to kill you is not much help if you can’t prevent it. By the way, the extension of telepathic communication to telepathic “mind control” is often made in SF, but IMHO is pretty unlikely. If it is compared to other forms of communication (which is arguable, I know) then telepathy would be no more coercive in your behavior than a persuasive speaker would be. Speaking of telepaths, I believe that Bester’s \*\* The Stars My Destination \*\* is the first to bring up the concept of someone who gets the unlucky half of the communications package and can only send, not receive. Gully Foyle actually finds a use for Robin’s abilities, but it’s pretty damn rare in the rest of SF. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-a-telepath/59669.md?page=2)