# Would telepathy save us or destroy us? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 2, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804 "2013-09-02T15:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/41 "2013-09-07T15:49:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The psychic effects of annihilating several millions telepaths in an instant is another wild card. How so? Remember-in this scenario you can only read the mind of one person at a time, you have to be able to physically see that person, _and you have to want to do so at the time_. There is no psychic imprint if you don’t read the mind of the person you are killing, and the victim won’t know you intend do kill them unless they are reading _your_ mind at the time. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/42 "2013-09-07T17:22:19Z")
I would love to bullshit less in person than I have to now, and have everybody do the same ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/43 "2013-09-07T19:17:35Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I would love to bullshit less in person than I have to now, and have everybody do the same Yes…but there goes Monday Night Poker. 😉 I think chess matches would be _very_ interesting, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mnemnosyne](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mnemnosyne/32/3347_2.png) [@Mnemnosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnemnosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/44 "2013-09-07T21:05:01Z")
It’s the transition period I’m afraid of. I think society would be better off for it in the long-run, but I would very much fear a scenario like **Miller** posits above. However, an interesting question is how exactly the telepathy works. People think in different ways at different times, I’ve noticed (at least I do). Sometimes I think in words, other times in images, other times in whole concepts. How ‘deep’ is the telepathy, and how much of people’s thoughts can actually be read? Is it just the things we’re actively thinking at a particular moment, words and the like, or do we also read deeper things, like concepts and ideas that people find difficult to verbally express? I think, especially if the latter is included, then things would improve - after the transition period, which I fear might be very violent. We’d have a deep understanding of other people, why and how they feel the way they do - and they would have the same of ours. I wonder if we would stop expressing ourselves verbally. If I want to get something across to people, it would be a lot easier for them to read my mind so they know what I’m thinking without the misunderstandings that can creep into things by way of word choice and different understandings of the definition of a word. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/45 "2013-09-07T21:26:59Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I suspect children would tell a lie (as they do), but then learn that it doesn’t work. The first thing that came to mind seeing the thread title was the memory of the day I discovered my mother was a(n out of work) teacher, right after: Relative that looked ancient to kindergarten-aged me: “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Me: _shrug_ “Dunnow” She: “Would you like to be a teacher?” Me: “NO!” She: “Oh? Why not?” Me: “:mad: Teachers are all morons. :mad:” I didn’t change my mind about teacher being all morons for half a decade, but I sure never repeated it out loud… the last thing I would have needed was for Mom to realize that the revelation of her degree reinforced my opinion! ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/46 "2013-09-07T21:52:32Z")
I doubt that much would change. In some ways, knowing what everyone thinks about you is kinda like being famous. Even more so today in the age of twitter and mass media. If Tom Cruise, or Will Smith, or even the average marginal celebrity wants to know what people think/say about them, all they need to do is look on twitter, or google themselves. They can read about how they are shitty at their jobs, or secretly gay, etc. Most of them seem to deal with it okay, and more importantly, many don’t bother reading the stuff. Similarly, I am sure many people will just choose not to use their telepathy in most circumstances. Most people just don’t care that much what other people think. There would be no reason to bother reading the minds of people walking down the street beyond voyeurism. There is also the fact that one’s passing thoughts usually don’t translate to genuine motivations or actions. There would just be too much static in the signal to make telepathy that useful in terms of figuring out who people reply are, and what they will do. It would likely cut down on perfunctory bullshit interactions and customs, but it would do little to destroy society. It’s not like a rapist goes around town asking himself who he’s gonna rape tonight. Many criminals think they are doing good, and they rarely think ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/47 "2013-09-07T21:57:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > First off, huge spike in the homicide rate worldwide. Slightly smaller spike in the suicide rate. Domestic violence goes through the roof. > > Over the next few weeks, the national security of every nation on earth is thoroughly violated. Several wars break out, both as a result of secrets learned, and as a result of national governments not bing able adapt to the new paradigm and panicking. I expect military hierarchies to be as slow to adapt as the civilian governments, and history shows that using old tactics in new kinds of war leads to horrific slaughter. A wildcard here is how a normal human psyche reacts to reading the mind of a person they’re killing. You could make a plausible argument for anything from total catatonia to raving mania, but whatever it is, it can’t be healthy. > > At some point, it goes nuclear. Not Road Warrior nuclear, but several major population centers are wiped out. The psychic effects of annihilating several millions telepaths in an instant is another wild card. > > The infrastructure of society starts to breakdown. There are food riots globally. Global warming continues apace, possibly accelerated, and our ability to deal with its effects are severely hampered. Famine and flood take their toll. All told, maybe two to three billion deaths. Humanity is left a traumatized wreck, huddled in the shadows of their ruined cities. > > Their children, however, are going to be fucking _brilliant_. Except for the brilliant children, how is this so qualitatively different from what’s probably going to happen anyway? ---
**Author:** ![brettster55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brettster55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brettster55)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/48 "2013-09-11T22:40:21Z")
Good question, it would certainly destroy me. Although maybe it would force me to be really nice all the time to everyone ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/49 "2013-09-11T23:41:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > In this scenario, there is no way to tell if your mind is being read or not. The only way that works is if the person reading your mind is hiding in the bushes. If you can see them, you can read their mind, and the first thing you probably want to find out is if they are reading your mind. It would become reflex, to quickly check everyone in sight to see if they are reading you, the way you check your mirrors while driving. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/50 "2013-09-12T00:38:18Z")
> [@For You](#): > > The only way that works is if the person reading your mind is hiding in the bushes. If you can see them, you can read their mind, and the first thing you probably want to find out is if they are reading your mind. It would become reflex, to quickly check everyone in sight to see if they are reading you, the way you check your mirrors while driving. What are you going to do in a crowd and/or in a city-try to read everyone’s mind, one at a time? That’s going to grow old fast, but you may not-I think some may walk out into traffic succumbing to their paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![Farin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e79b87/32.png) [@Farin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/51 "2013-09-12T03:27:10Z")
I would see it as an initial panic, but information would homogenize across regions very quickly. Think about it: You can read someone’s mind and learn their knowledge. You could learn how to handle nuclear fuel through experience! All from reading someone’s mind that they don’t feel and don’t know it happened. If we can assume that the mind can hold all the information, emotions, and learned abilities that come from reading another’s mind (for instance, you read a sad painter’s mind and you become sad, learn how to paint, and find out that Mrs Sarnickey likes the color blue) information, abilities, and emotions would spread like wild fire. Society would probably restructure around this. Children wouldn’t need school and could learn from others experiences directly. Internet/TV news would be all but useless. I assume that the “Reading Centers” that children use would also be places for adults to co-mingle and share information of a societal nature. A person who witnessed a homicide wouldn’t need police, he could go to a “Reading Center” and share his experience with the people there, who could then disperse and spread the information to everyone else. Everyone in the area would know what that person saw. As for the murderer, if anyone sees him and just passively scanned him, he could immediately go “MURDERER!” and everyone in the vicinity could be used to apprehend him (having previously been given the “awesome at karate” instructional learning…video? mental video? meneo?) I could also see people being ferried around between “Reading Centers” to spread that information. A person would potentially live forever, as his/her experiences would be carried by everyone, everywhere. It could also be that humanity, in this form, begins to function as a semi-cohesive organism. Functional units would be “split off” from civilization to go learn something (“How many blades of grass are there in nebraska?”) and then return and the information would spread back to the standard mass. Heck, if we, as a species, all converged in the US’s land mass (roughly 712 people per square kilometer), you could conceivably completely do away with “privacy” and move towards a spread of knowledge as the knowledge happens, since everyone would be within eyesight of each other (or would be, soon). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/52 "2013-09-12T05:23:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What are you going to do in a crowd and/or in a city-try to read everyone’s mind, one at a time? That’s going to grow old fast, but you may not-I think some may walk out into traffic succumbing to their paranoia. Reading someone else’s mind cannot be a casual exercise, especially if you are studying it for specific or useful information. It would not be easier than reading a book, which takes a fair amount of effort. I would seriously doubt that you could not look at a person’s mien/posture and discern that they are seriously reading. Hence, you would not have to scan everyone, just the likely candidates. It would become second nature to most people, like walking a crowded sidewalk without colliding with others. But NHTSA would no longer require brake lights or turn signals 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804/53 "2013-09-12T05:28:26Z")
So, can you tap into someone’s storage of memories and knowledge, or just register whatever fleeting thoughts and images are going through their mind at that moment? Hang on… if it’s the latter, and everybody is constantly reading someone else’s mind, can you read the mind that that the other person is reading at that moment, once removed? Maybe one person starts reading the mind of their postman one morning, and that just starts echoing through every mind in the country? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-telepathy-save-us-or-destroy-us/667804.md?page=2)