A Psychic Species

[SckizoBoy]

Imagine the world if all humans were mind-readers...

...

Now, I'm going to that corner to freak out... -_-

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Ok... lets think about this for a moment. What is the best real world example of the inner thoughts of the world.

Imagine having every person of facebook in your mind, every message they send, every status they write, every picture they take all goes into your head as thoughts in real time.


and thats just 32% of the world who has internet access
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

 

[Casual Shinji]

Wouldn't we simply become a giant hive mind and live the rest of our existence as ants?

EDIT: Or better yet; pod people?

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I thought this topic was going to be about Pokemon.
I'm disappointed.

OT: I don't imagine it would be a fun thing. To be able to read the minds of others without any filters.
I suppose we wouldn't have to ever wonder what people really think about us, but do we really want to know?

 

[Whitbane]

Depends, could we hone our skills to block out other people and pointless thoughts? If not, I would assume every headache medication on the planet would soar in price overnight as billions people rushed out to purchase them.

Ok... lets think about this for a moment. What is the best real world example of the inner thoughts of the world.

Imagine having every person of facebook in your mind, every message they send, every status they write, every picture they take all goes into your head as thoughts in real time.


and thats just 32% of the world who has internet access
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

This is the worst case scenario and it is terrifying.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I wouldn't rule out a degree of telepathy already existing. We haven't identified the phenomenon but if you watch crowd behavior and sporting events as well as the way people interact, it seems possible given some imagination.

 

[Vegosiux]

Imagine the world if all humans were mind-readers...

Well I'm pretty sure the world supplies of bleach, hard alcohol and happy pills would be exhausted before you can say "Boy, that escalated quickly".

Or, to shamelessly use my favorite webcomic again, I suppose the majority of people would feel like that last panel:

 

[Scarim Coral]

They probably make a law or make some kind of filter so that we can't read anyone mind at will or maybe we somehow create a new plain of thought that no one can read by youself only.
Either that or we will become more honest people as I doubt we can still function when keeping secret from others in our mind.

 

[RedFeather1975]

The pressure would be excruciating.

 

[Heronblade]

Really depends on what form we are talking about. The term psychic covers everything from simple communication to directed mind reading and/or random insight to largely uncontrollable reception of thoughts.

The last category most likely leads to mass insanity. We are not built to be a hive mind, and having the thoughts and/or memories of hundreds or thousands of others would very quickly drive an individual mad.

Simple communication could be nice, at least so long as there was some control. Imagine if people who don't like you started mentally spamming you all the time, for instance singing annoying songs while you are trying to concentrate.

I wouldn't rule out a degree of telepathy already existing. We haven't identified the phenomenon but if you watch crowd behavior and sporting events as well as the way people interact, it seems possible given some imagination.

empathy of that sort is quite explainable by deep rooted subconscious instinct (yes, instinct, we do still have a few of those), no need to read more into it unless given information that doesn't fit that profile.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I've actually written a story about a world completely inhabited by psychics.

They live in a world parallel to our own, but despite obvious paranoia, it is 1000 years more advance than our modern world, and 90% of the population thrives on peace, prosperity, and social and technical progress. The other 10% are obviously those that abuse their psychic powers and cause trouble, but less than 1% is actually considered a threat.

In terms of reading people's minds, it not really an issue for the inhabitants of this world. Children are taught when they are young to carefully shield their minds from anyone who wishes to probe it, and only those who are experts in hacking one's mind or are psychics of a higher order can actually read minds with ease.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I wouldn't rule out a degree of telepathy already existing. We haven't identified the phenomenon but if you watch crowd behavior and sporting events as well as the way people interact, it seems possible given some imagination.

empathy of that sort is quite explainable by deep rooted subconscious instinct (yes, instinct, we do still have a few of those), no need to read more into it unless given information that doesn't fit that profile.

I don't believe in instinct. Everything we do is instinct, from eating to talking about the latest Batman movie. It's a 19th century concept, very much outdated.

 

[Heronblade]

I wouldn't rule out a degree of telepathy already existing. We haven't identified the phenomenon but if you watch crowd behavior and sporting events as well as the way people interact, it seems possible given some imagination.

empathy of that sort is quite explainable by deep rooted subconscious instinct (yes, instinct, we do still have a few of those), no need to read more into it unless given information that doesn't fit that profile.

I don't believe in instinct. Everything we do is instinct, from eating to talking about the latest Batman movie. It's a 19th century concept, very much outdated.

Interesting. the line between pre-programmed and learned behavior has blurred somewhat in recent decades, but last I checked, theorems on the nature of instinct still play a major role in related fields. To my knowledge, there is no denial of it as a factor of human and animal behavior from any significant portion of the involved researchers.

EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify. The term instinct itself is somewhat in disfavor for no good reasons that I have heard. However the unwieldy term "fixed action patterns" embraces the same concepts. I don't tend to care about changes in jargon that are both inconvenient and pointless.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I wouldn't rule out a degree of telepathy already existing. We haven't identified the phenomenon but if you watch crowd behavior and sporting events as well as the way people interact, it seems possible given some imagination.

empathy of that sort is quite explainable by deep rooted subconscious instinct (yes, instinct, we do still have a few of those), no need to read more into it unless given information that doesn't fit that profile.

I don't believe in instinct. Everything we do is instinct, from eating to talking about the latest Batman movie. It's a 19th century concept, very much outdated.

Interesting. the line between pre-programmed and learned behavior has blurred somewhat in recent decades, but last I checked, theorems on the nature of instinct still play a major role in related fields. To my knowledge, there is no denial of it as a factor of human and animal behavior from any significant portion of the involved researchers.

EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify. The term instinct itself is somewhat in disfavor for no good reasons that I have heard. However the unwieldy term "fixed action patterns" embraces the same concepts. I don't tend to care about changes in jargon that are both inconvenient and pointless.

I'm not asking what the "involved researchers" think, I'm asking what you think. I was hoping to have a discussion but if you want to throw around big words and phrases like "fixed action patterns", we have nothing to discuss.

 

[Heronblade]

I'm not asking what the "involved researchers" think, I'm asking what you think. I was hoping to have a discussion but if you want to throw around big words and phrases like "fixed action patterns", we have nothing to discuss.

Uh, that was the point of that last paragraph, I don't like or use the phrase in spite of it being more accurate as far as the scientific community is concerned, it is an unnecessary complication of a simple concept.

As to what I think, I have worked closely with a wide variety of animals in the past, and have personally seen examples of unconscious and unlearned responses in dozens of different species over the years, and seen their parallels in humanity as well. Whether you choose to call it instinct or something else, pre-programmed behavior is very much an aspect of our lives.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I'm not asking what the "involved researchers" think, I'm asking what you think. I was hoping to have a discussion but if you want to throw around big words and phrases like "fixed action patterns", we have nothing to discuss.

Uh, that was the point of that last paragraph, I don't like or use the phrase in spite of it being more accurate as far as the scientific community is concerned, it is an unnecessary complication of a simple concept.

As to what I think, I have worked closely with a wide variety of animals in the past, and have personally seen examples of unconscious and unlearned responses in dozens of different species over the years, and seen their parallels in humanity as well. Whether you choose to call it instinct or something else, pre-programmed behavior is very much an aspect of our lives.

I don't doubt that, but if what you call 'conscious behavior' is driven or influenced at a primordial level by a kind of pre-programmed instinct, then there is no point drawing a distinction between conscious and unconscious behavior.

 

[The_Great_Galendo]

If all humans were literal mind readers, things would be a lot different. At the very least, crime would be virtually nonexistent, and people as a whole would be probably be a lot nicer. You could pick up hitchhikers or bring home homeless people for a night without worry, for instance, and a million other things as well. You'd have no privacy -- but you'd also never do anything of which you were ashamed, either. And a bunch of things that seem strange or perverted now would become socially acceptable once people realized that everyone has a few harmless fetishes.

I'm not saying it'd be an absolute utopia, but it'd probably be a lot better than the world we have now.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

If all humans were literal mind readers, things would be a lot different. At the very least, crime would be virtually nonexistent, and people as a whole would be probably be a lot nicer. You could pick up hitchhikers or bring home homeless people for a night without worry, for instance, and a million other things as well. You'd have no privacy -- but you'd also never do anything of which you were ashamed, either. And a bunch of things that seem strange or perverted now would become socially acceptable once people realized that everyone has a few harmless fetishes.

I'm not saying it'd be an absolute utopia, but it'd probably be a lot better than the world we have now.

Pretty much this, though there'd also be a ton of negatives. Some very, very dangerous secrets could easily be circulated for instance.

Of course, it would again be a different matter entirely if only some people were like this rather than all.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I'm thinking relationships would be much more boring. Safer, but boring. You would lose out on the "learning" aspect. Now that I think about it, everything from sports to debates would likely be safer, but less exciting. xD

Politics would be super dooper hard

 

[Keoul]

Just so we clarify this.
Do you mean thought-reading or mind-reading? two different things in my books. Mind reading would be to go into someone's mind and actually read every single memory and experience, thought-reading would just be to hear what people are thinking at the time.

Either way though, It would suck big time. I expect a large amount of conflict.