Can telepathy exist?
Thanks to the new series Legion, on FOX, starring Dan Stevens, everybody is talking about the subject.
We know what you're thinking. Telepathy is something that should be kept for twins, Professor Xavier and in-tune striking partnerships. But bear with us: the idea of reading someone else's thoughts might not be as far-fetched as you think. There are countless unexplained - some would say inexplicable - incidences of two people thinking exactly the same thing at the same time at the most opportune moment, not to mention a real scientific breakthrough that indicates that it might yet be possible.
Credit: Legion/FOX
Certainly history is filled with examples of supposed mind-reading and shared thoughts. Twins often feature highly in incidences of telepathy: take the case of James Springer and James Lewis. Two identical twins who grew up in separate foster families and did not meet until well into adulthood, but who both married and divorced women called Linda, before remarrying to women called Betty. They named their dogs the same name, were both avid carpenters, drove the same model of car, drank and smoked the same amount and would get headaches at the same time. As a fellow twin, I feel like my brother and I have been wasting our lives compared to the two Jameses, though they can keep the headaches.
James Springer and James Lewis, each flank. Credit: PA
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It isn't all good news, however. You don't have to have seen all the X-Men movies to know that having psychic powers can have its downsides, but in Turkey in 2006, both telepathy and telekinesis were linked with four murders. Neuropsychologist Nevzat Tarhan of Istanbul University made the claim following the apparent suicides of engineers who had been working on a weapons guidance system. Professor Tarhan said that telepathy could not be ruled out as a factor in the headaches that all four suffered before taking their own lives. He also claimed that brain waves could have been sent from around a mile away to induce pain on the men.
Brain waves are thought to be at the root of any supposed telepathy, and thus they have formed the bulk of the research that has been conducted on the subject. The science of studying them, electroencephalography, has been subject to enormous advances in recent years and seems to have finally found its big breakthrough. The University of Strasbourg has sent a message from its laboratory in the northeast of France halfway around the world to the southern Indian city of Kerala, using the Internet and brain waves.
Caption: Brain waves can be monitored. Credit: PA
Dr Michel Berg, one of the brains (excuse the pun) behind the project, sat in the university wearing a cap with electrical sensors that recorded his brainwaves, which were then transmitted over the Internet to Kerala, where the recipient was wearing a cap that could translate the brain waves into the electrical and magnetic stimuli necessary to create thoughts. In essence, a message was transmitted from France to India, over the Internet, using only thoughts. Real-life telepathy, verified by science.
Some organisations have long been convinced of the veracity of telepathy. TheLADbible spoke to Jake Bryson from Telepathy Realm, one of the leading online resources on the subject, and he was unequivocal: "Telepathy can absolutely exist. If there's any metaphysical or scientific way for two people to communicate with each other through their thoughts, then telepathy will be established." We asked him to explain the difference between the kind of telepathic communication that is often depicted in films and television and the sort that has been demonstrated by the scientists in Strasbourg.
"It depends on how you define real telepathy.
"Many people consider telepathy to be an inherently spiritual experience. So involving technology in it, and artificially creating it, doesn't count. However, that's not necessarily true, because science can help facilitate or improve a skill we already possess, which in this case could be telepathy. If we use technology to let two minds communicate with each other, is that real telepathy? Maybe not. But it's a step in the right direction."
Credit: Legion/FOX
The truth behind telepathic communication is perhaps as malleable as Jake says. While it might be a stretch to suggest the psychic powers shown by Professor Xavier in X-Men or in the FOX smash Legion exists, science has proven the potential to transmit messages using brain waves rather than vocal or written communication. If you had asked someone in the early 19th century if it were possible to communicate with someone on the other side of the world they would have said no, until the telephone made it possible. Perhaps, in the future, we will think the same way about telepathy.
Credit: Legion/FOX
Legion is on Thursday nights at 9pm on FOX. Sky channel 124, Virgin channel 157, TalkTalk 422 and on NOW TV. Catch up on demand now.
Featured Image Credit: Legion/FOX