December 07, 2006

Telepathy: The Nebulous Domain Of The Mystique

two men doing telepathyWhen we listen to the radio, see the TV or use a cellphone, do we ever give a damn why we need to resort to these gadgets to see or listen; when the informations, digital or analog is already there? Why do we need these tuners (devices) to 'hear or see' them? You may say, these gadgets help us tune and to decode the encrypted algorithm!

Some animals like dogs or birds can anticipate natural disasters like earthquakes beforehand. It is documented how the Jarwas of Andaman islands, India, sensed the tsunami (huge tidal waves of the sea due to undersea earthquakes), took shelter and saved themselves from extinction: they are already a dwindling tribe!

Analogy aside, we all have heard about ECG's , EEG's etc.. At different levels of brain activity (thinking, sleeping or dreaming) the brain does what is expected:-restarts after a dream (like defragmenting the acquired informations in scattered-chunks of memory and consolidating it in one contiguous and linked place: just as a computer does); hibernates in deep sleep and maintains just the minimum action such as breathing circulation; or opens new applications when in the awake state it hyperthreads:- relates to another program, which again relates to still another, as in a software process) as needed.

Since these are all electrical phenomena (electromagnetic, of ionic origin); they emanate electromagnetic emissions, which we so deftly capture in the form of EEG (EKG in the case of the heart) to our rapture. All electromagnetic radiations, as occurs in radio transmission, have to have some frequency. What we now need is a tuned circuit radio receiver, to get into the desired frequency, by resonance, for maximal transfer of energy.

Likewise, when a person thinks, due to the activity of the cerebral cortex, the frequency (EEG, for example) continuously varies as he emits the Electro-Magnetic waves. This can be intercepted by someone who happens to have the same frequency (smells like entanglement of quantum mechanics; though any quantum phenomenon at this distance is highly unlikely due to environmentally induced decoherence). But the prospect of a resonant energy transfer is much increased if the person is a yogi due to a streamlined and coherent thought process, so that the electro-magnetic emission could be like a pure sine wave.

Mono-zygotic (having a similar genetic make-up) twins raised in a common environment; women/mothers:- as in them the right hemisphere of the brain, responsible for arts and intuition, is more active (sixth sense) and logic is less active (in general); in lower primates (more intuition, less logic-->due to less well developed neocortex); tribals (more intuition, less logic); drugs like cannabis, mescaline (which depress the left brain more than the right) are some individuals who are more prone to pick up telepathic waves, albeit theoretically. It is presumed that persons with more intuitive (and having empathy) abilities will be able to receive or transmit these faint signal waves better. A logical person may try to 'overide' subconsciously any 'noise' that might affect his cortex.

Aldous Huxley, who wrote his famous book:'The Doors of perception' : about his experience on mescaline and Indian yogis who used these intoxicants for religious occasions (they probably did not fear the FBI), are some examples in point. Prospective study and retrospective study needs to be undertaken to validate these, as we can NOT rely on anecdotal evidences.

FUTURE PROSPECTS: Get ready for a thought reader or a foolproof lie detector in about a decade. PET scan, SPECT scan, magneto-encephalogram, human genome mapping, cloning, measurement of ions across biological membranes, are among the few we have in our armory now, to address the issue.
Disclaimer: The above represents my views, however unscientific they may seem.

Update on the power of thought: 1. Scientists have used electrocorticographic signals (electrocorticography is like EEG, only difference is that the electrodes are placed on the cortex rather than on the scalp) to manipulate accurately computer cursors accurately placed at a distance.

Ref: A brain–computer interface using electrocorticographic signals in humans. Eric C Leuthardt et al 2004 J. Neural Eng. cite_volume">1 63-71 doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/1/2/001 A female monkey in North Caolina,US, controlled a robot in Japan using only her brain activity.

Ref: Monkey’s Thoughts Propel Robot, a Step That May Help Humans

No comments: