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Psychic Lifeforms
Topic Started: Feb 23 2011, 03:08 PM (687 Views)
Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

On Earth psychic abilities are considered little more than myths or scams, but really they're not implausible. Sure things like telekinesis and pyrokinesis are crap, but reading a mind isn't impossible. All brains let off signals, we have technology that can detect and decode them. If you had some kind of antenna organ though, something designed to pick up these bio-electric signals, you have the framework for an interesting ecosystem.

Nothing on Earth has anything like this, but alien life might. Nothing so complex as hearing another beings thoughts, but maybe they could use it to communicate somehow. For instance herd animals might use it to warn the group of predators; one member of the herd sees a predator and the others sense the fear and become more alert. Predators might use it too, paralyzing prey with psychic terror like that snake from The Jungle Book.

What do you guys think? Why might organisms evolve such an organ? What else could they use it for?
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"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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T.Neo
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I seriously, seriously doubt it. For one, those "bio-electric signals" are quite weak and certainly not readable from a distance, and I seriously doubt you could "broadcast terror" with them.

Furthermore I doubt the possibility of an "antenna organ" for this purpose, both in biological and evoltionary terms (it is orders of magnitude easier to use pheremones or vocalisations, for example).
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Ànraich
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Has anybody ever told you that if you don't have something productive to say then don't say anything at all?
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

Though T.Neo is his characteristically acerbic self, he has a point. The type of information that detecting brainwaves could glean could be done with pheromones, at a greater range and with simpler detector organs.

In water ecology, electroception could potentially serve the same function.

Exploration into plausible psychic communication will most likely depend on breakthroughs in the scientific community to establish solid evidence of this new sense. Otherwise, speculative projects must necessarily take a step into science fiction, which is anathema to some community members.
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food for thought
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Holben
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A mind is millions and millions of neurons firing. The complexity of equipment required to pick up a useful signal is redoubtable.
Impressions of areas which are activated are far easier- more activity in the limbic system could denote anger, for example.
How to read it? I don't know, biologically.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

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T.Neo
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Parasky, as Empyreon said, I was being my usual acerbic self, but that's unfortunately just how I put my point across... What I had to say was very productive, it just wasn't blind support for the concept you were proposing.

Sorry about that. At least you didn't propose a fusion powered spacecraft that blows itself up the second you hit the 'on' switch. :ermm:

Quote:
 
How to read it? I don't know, biologically.


Indeed. I mean, even an EEG or ECG (I can't exactly remember the name, it's that procedure where electrodes are stuck onto the head) can only detect brainwaves, but it can't transmit or recieve thoughts or anything.
Edited by T.Neo, Feb 24 2011, 12:59 PM.
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colddigger
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Similar to what has been stated before in this thread but in a slightly different manner; it would be much easier for an organism to have a specialized signal and way of picking up said signal rather than relying on reading brain activity, it would still obviously be the result of brain activity e.g.: Deer sees cougar, deer registers cougar in brain and "decides" proper response, deer lifts tail to signal to other deer of danger, other deer register signal and respond to signal.

The signal of course could be anything really, a scream, a pheromone, a flash of colour or lack there of, running, or it could be something along the lines of a "high pitch" brainwave which the organism also has an organ used for picking up.
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Ànraich
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colddigger
Feb 24 2011, 01:58 PM
Similar to what has been stated before in this thread but in a slightly different manner; it would be much easier for an organism to have a specialized signal and way of picking up said signal rather than relying on reading brain activity, it would still obviously be the result of brain activity e.g.: Deer sees cougar, deer registers cougar in brain and "decides" proper response, deer lifts tail to signal to other deer of danger, other deer register signal and respond to signal.

The signal of course could be anything really, a scream, a pheromone, a flash of colour or lack there of, running, or it could be something along the lines of a "high pitch" brainwave which the organism also has an organ used for picking up.
That's exactly what I was proposing. I never said the communicated with it, transferring thoughts directly. They just pick up the increased activity in the brain. Some animals use it for defense, some have developed a way to use it for predation. And you took psychic terror too literally. I was thinking like a deer in headlights scenario, where the predator increases its own brain activity in order to confuse and paralyze the prey.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Kaa hypnotised the Bandar-Log through repeatedly coiling and slithering over himself, creating a shifting series of mesmerising patterns. Unless you're talking about that bastardised Disney vore-ophile that firmly embodies the deviant in deviantArt.

Otherwise, your suggestions are interesting. Though, I would agree with others on them needing to be in an aquatic solution of ions, such as the ocean. WOuld be useful for separating fish from bait balls.
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T.Neo
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Except... the case there, is that any one of the behaviours coldigger mentioned- such as using pheremones, or vocalisations, are orders of magnitude easier than picking up or transmitting brainwaves.

The electrical conductivity of air is low. Maybe it'd work better in water, but then you'd probably need some sort of specialised organ for it... like an interesting version of the electrical banks of an electric eel or the Lorenzini ampullae of a shark.
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SIngemeister
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Well, you'd need for the air to be ionised, preferably, and doing that would be a decent weapon in itself.
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T.Neo
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I doubt that would be possible for a biological organism, to be honest.
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SIngemeister
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Exactly. You need a substance with a charge and spare electrons to carry electricity. t or an absolutely massive voltage and incredible amounts of heat
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Holben
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If this is just psychic as in reading emotions and responses, we can do that pretty well already.
And we can sense things we don't know we're sensing, subliminally.

I mean, i can judge a dog's mood and what it will do, and to an extent the same for humans.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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