Forums » Smalltalk » Thought Experiment: what if humans were telepathic

that sounds awesome, smaller groups are better, what if you could choose the people you are connected too?

Oooo...yes. I agree. Would be super cool. *Adds sense8 to the list of things I want watch or read* lol

Totally. Would make a good short story too

You are so cool

*swoon*

I would prefer strangers. Way more interesting. I already know just about everything about everyone I know, so, I'd prefer to be connected to like a strangers all around the world I wouldn't have known otherwise and eventually become like family.

It's a show on Netflix, it's very LGBTQ. Most of the characters are gay/lesbian/bi and even transgender.

yeah…strangers and me don't mix well (anxiety) but I can see why people might prefer that

I get it. I have anxiety too. I think it helped me watching sense8 and seeing how helpful, and amazing eight strangers meeting each other that way was. They met their literal soulmates and kicked butt, addiction, and saved the world pretty much so. I think despite my anxiety I'd rather get a chance of a lifetime because my anxiety already stripped me of most of my childhood and teenhood and experiences. I don't want it to take anything else from me. x.x

Aww - NO, YOU ARE!!!

I'd love it haha, I'd be able to stick my nose in everyone's business, my thirst for gossip; slaked

Thought crimes would be actual crimes, perhaps?

Oooh, I like! These ideas have to stop, otherwise I'm gonna end up writing a story

Ants. If this was not a new thing, but the way we had simply developed, we'd have the same kind of communal behavior as ants, because everyone would already know everyone else's troubles and everyone would basically share pain. The concept of privacy would have never developed, so no, no one would be worried about it. There might not even be any sense of personal identity.

The big question is: what would happen to the mentally ill? Would they, too, be cared for? Or would they somehow be ejected or executed? Or, would we have evolved to be more resistant to some, while the connection itself prevents others?

What would even count as mental illness, considering that current definitions sometimes depend on the assumption that others can't understand and accommodate without a label to signify what's needed? For example if someone had ADHD, everyone would intrinsically understand what they needed to do their best and would be accommodated as naturally as anyone else.

Art would probably also be a very different thing.

This is all assuming a perpetual connection, of course. Things would develop differently for different types/levels. If we can only hear thoughts that a sender intentionally shares, for example, it would be little different from what we have now. If we have any control over sending or receiving, different groups would no doubt have developed different thought etiquette. If we don't have control, it would depend on what the trigger is.