short enough that we don’t expect minds to play a fundamental role.
Why would minds need to play a fundamental role in how the universe works for psi to be real? Somebody who has never seen a radio might protest that they are too big to be fundamental to reality, but it wouldn’t matter: radios do work. Of course, it turns out that the part of a radio that invisibly communicates with other pieces of technology at a distance of several miles is tiny and mathematically simple. But then, couldn’t there be a similar explanation for psi?
This argument holds a lot more water for some types of psi than for others. Humans being able to read other humans’ thoughts at a very low resolution seems semi-plausible to me; humans being able to lift objects off the ground without touching them seems much less plausible. There is a gap in my knowledge that affects the mind-reading comment, though: I have no idea how sure we are that we’ve identified all of the different signals-that-can-be-sent-through-the-air (like sound waves and radio waves).
I don’t think the “dream” explanation covers much ground. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that most believers in psi came to believe in it after having a real experience (even if that experience didn’t actually justify believing in psi).
Such empathic abilities as detecting by smell whether another being is in heat do exist, I suppose. With some stretching, we can even imagine that all human brains represent the same concepts the same way, and neural patterns create some aetheric pertubation that can resonate in another brain at global distance.
I keep getting psi powers when I’m dreaming, even though I am culturally more exposed to other magic systems. Slow forward upright flight, telekinesis with somatic components, and similar reality warping. Not usually deliberate extrasensory abilities, but dreams are sure known for giving you knowledge without telling you where it came from.
Why would minds need to play a fundamental role in how the universe works for psi to be real? Somebody who has never seen a radio might protest that they are too big to be fundamental to reality, but it wouldn’t matter: radios do work. Of course, it turns out that the part of a radio that invisibly communicates with other pieces of technology at a distance of several miles is tiny and mathematically simple. But then, couldn’t there be a similar explanation for psi?
This argument holds a lot more water for some types of psi than for others. Humans being able to read other humans’ thoughts at a very low resolution seems semi-plausible to me; humans being able to lift objects off the ground without touching them seems much less plausible. There is a gap in my knowledge that affects the mind-reading comment, though: I have no idea how sure we are that we’ve identified all of the different signals-that-can-be-sent-through-the-air (like sound waves and radio waves).
I don’t think the “dream” explanation covers much ground. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that most believers in psi came to believe in it after having a real experience (even if that experience didn’t actually justify believing in psi).
Such empathic abilities as detecting by smell whether another being is in heat do exist, I suppose. With some stretching, we can even imagine that all human brains represent the same concepts the same way, and neural patterns create some aetheric pertubation that can resonate in another brain at global distance.
I keep getting psi powers when I’m dreaming, even though I am culturally more exposed to other magic systems. Slow forward upright flight, telekinesis with somatic components, and similar reality warping. Not usually deliberate extrasensory abilities, but dreams are sure known for giving you knowledge without telling you where it came from.