Lore: Telepathy and related fields. (Patreon)

This month's lore dump is about telepathy, I will have a new vote up for subjects in a week or so! The nanosurge and telepathy had been at the top of the poll, so it's soon time to make your voices heard again.

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Excerpt from a letter from Dr. F. Ljungstrand to Dr. A Jansen. 

12 March 1978

Re: Psionic Classification Suggestions

I've amended your suggestions, please take note. We don't want to muddle the waters any further.

1: Replace Psionic with Telepathic. Psionic is too wide, we need to narrow the definition. And yes, I am aware that it's not technically correct considering empathic talents, but do you want to have that discussion every time some idiot in charge wants to push telekinesis in there as well? We know what we're talking about. This is for others.

2: Fuse categories 4-7 into "other." It will be a cleaner overview if we use the 4a, 4b system instead of adding numbers. It's too diverse to imagine we'll ever find an end to possible variations.

3: Rename "Empathy," "Telepathy," and "Intuitive," as suggested below. It makes for clearer classifications.

Amended classification below:

Stem: Telepathy

Roots: 1: Emotional 2: Rational 3: Subconscious 4: Other

Branches: 5: Project 6: Receive 7: Influence 8: Control 9: Other

The advantage of this system will be that we can easily define overall talents in shorthand or in words for the idiots that want results. For example, I am a T23567 or, as I would put it to others: A telepath able to project, receive and influence rational and subconscious thoughts.

Sidenote: I am still not happy with the term "rational," but my only alternative is "verbal," and that doesn't really give the right feel for what it is. If you have any suggestions, let me know. We have until Monday to figure out how to present this.

/Fredrik

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Excerpt from a letter from Dr. A Jansen to Dr. F. Ljungstrand. 

2 January 1979

Subject: I think I'm on to something big.

I need to pick your brain about something, but first, let me know if you think this title sounds too insecure? I know you always say we don't need to give the doubters ammunition, but I'm not comfortable giving an answer. There's still too much we don't know.

Psychic Sensitivity -  An Attempt At An Explanation.

Anyway, I expect you to shoot me down, but please be gentle.

I'm thinking of rewriting the entire piece after the data you sent me. Yes, I know I can't use you as a reference, military secrets and all that, but you see it too, don't you? It's not just telepathic boosts, but other, unrelated powers. I've got a subject here with the ability to control electricity who can interface with the psionic control systems you designed for testing. No telepathic powers, but they can control the hand. I know what you're going to say, electricity can possibly be used in a similar manner if you've got a fine control, don't remind me of our argument about technopaths. I still think you're wrong there. But, yesterday, I had a subject who could interface directly with the hand, with near-perfect control. And his powers were regenerative in nature. 

I am starting to see similarities to the direct neural connection used for powered armors and weapons. Yes, I know that's mods, but the C8 neural interface produces similar results on the brain scans. Could it be that certain boosts require a heightened neural load? And that a certain psionic sensitivity might be the result? It's worth looking into, but is it worth delaying the article for? I need that funding, and you know how much they look at published articles and citations before they approve.

In either case, I think we can say for certain that the psionic interface technology might have a lot wider applications than we originally envisioned. I'm tempted to put a few normal test subjects in the program as well, as a control group, of course, but I do wonder if we might not start seeing results for them as well. What if this is something that's latent in many people? Not to be superstitious, but it would explain past stories of psychics and mediums.

Guess I won't put that in my official report though, they'd cut my funding faster than I could ruin their precious reputation. 

Happy new year, and don't antagonize them, alright?

/Love, Anna

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Excerpt of disciplinary hearings with Dr. F. Ljungstrand. 

17 August 1989

Dr. Ljungstrand's final speech, right before his escape.

I think you misunderstand what I came here to do, gentlemen. I was tasked with solving your problem, that's all. You wanted me to make your soldiers better, smarter, and more suited to the modern battlefield. When I came here, your methods were crude and ill-suited to the task at hand. You lost 30% of your volunteers to Modification Dysmorphia, and now the figure stands at less than 5%. You were unable to perform majority body transplants without risking a full personality breakdown, and look at where we are now!

You train soldiers here. You break them down and build them up, mentally and physically. I've seen what happens in basic training, and some methods used there are inspired and far more "cruel" than anything I have done to them. You are just afraid because you don't understand what is happening, so I will try to explain one final time.

Memories are not real. They do not need to be connected to events that actually happened. If you went back to your own childhood, you might be surprised to find that between a third and half of your memories of those years have very little to do with reality. Please don't misunderstand me here. I am not saying they are not real. They are, to you. They informed what person you have become. They feel real. They are important.

What I do is simply take advantage of this process. If I implant a memory in the right way and let it take root, it can, together with some gentle reinforcement, become as real as any lived experience. The same goes for removing unwanted memories, or as you might call them, trauma. If I do it early enough in the process, they will not have had time to scar, and it is a simple, clean procedure much more efficient than therapy sessions. If the trauma is deeply embedded, there will be severe neural scarring, and I do acknowledge my mistake there. I went too far and underestimated how embedded pain could be inside a mind. That being said, if I had been able to continue working with Lieutenant Sharpe I am sure it could have been overcome. Such a shame that he killed himself; death is something I have no cure for. Yet.

So yes, I am guilty of overconfidence and not seeing the signs that my patient was unstable. But to use one mistake as an excuse to shut down the entire program is simply scientific waste. Think of all the people I might be able to help in the future! Or do you truly think that this is as far as we are able to go? Do you think that now that you have my methods and programs in place, you don't need my expertise anymore? You still have no idea of what I am truly capable of.

And yes, with that, let me briefly touch on the accusations of reading people's minds without permission. I am no more guilty of that than overhearing conversations happening in the same room. Some people are loud, in thoughts as well as voices, and if anybody should complain about that, it's me. It's exhausting. Why do you think I prefer to do most of my work at night when there are fewer people around? If the staff was to go through the psychic defense training program that I designed, everybody would be happier. But for some reason, they don't trust me.

Trust. I had not planned on touching on the final allegations, as absurd as they are. Planting thoughts in non-volunteers minds? Influencing their decision-making? Erasing their memories? Surely you see how absurd those accusations are. If I truly had done that, would I be standing here? No, I would be an employee of the month, and everybody would love me. This is simply fear, prejudice, and jealousy. Exactly what made me leave the Academic world. I had hoped that you, gentlemen, would have an open mind and see to results rather than rumors.

From what I can see of your thoughts, it seems I was mistaken, and thus I reject your authority to impose judgment on me. Goodbye, we won't meet again. 

[The cameras show Dr. Ljungstrand leaving the hearing, the people present had fallen asleep.]

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Excerpt of a lecture at MIT by Dr. A. Jansen. 

8 October 1991

The full recording is missing; this is all we have managed to locate. I understand there was a fallout after this lecture series. Could they have scrubbed their records?

How can we define what we can't measure or understand?

What is a thought? Electric current? Neural signals? There are hundreds of lectures out there with people claiming to understand how the brain works, but the simple answer is that we have no idea. We can observe the effects of various stimuli, electrical currents, and chemical reactions in the brain, but in the end, we only understand what makes a mind work on the same basic level as our caveman ancestors understood that if you split rocks, you got tools.

For example, what is the difference between a thought and a feeling? Is there one? We instinctively feel that there is, and yet it's hard to prove in our current scientific paradigm. Feelings are easier to measure, particularly fear responses, due to the endocrine processes involved. However, with the emergent field of telepathic research, there does seem to be a distinction between telepaths and empaths, which is hard to justify if our current understanding is correct. It is tempting to blame this on the preferences of the boosted individuals themselves, but what if it is a sign that conscious thoughts are produced via different pathways in the brain than emotions? 

In this lecture, I will attempt to map these differences and bear in mind that I will from now on use the term 'the mind' rather than 'the brain' to separate my reasoning from the physical vessel. As you will see, if my theory is correct, the mind might not be tied entirely to the brain. Now, let's move to the second slide; what you see here is...

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An intercepted letter from Dr. Jansen to Dr. Ljungstrand

7 January 1992

Re: New opportunities

I'm not sure about this?

Yes, I'm in the freezer. They did not like the headlines about "university witchcraft" for sure. But upping my life to move to Nevada of all places? Is there even anything left out there? I know we just hear the horror stories, but living on a military base doesn't sound like a future I want.

You know very well that I think the limitations on boosts out here are ridiculous, and yes, of course, I would to continue this line of research because I truly think I'm on to something here, but not at any cost. What you're alluding to is...

I'm sorry, Fredrik, I really am. But I'll have to turn you down. Maybe I'll find my fortune elsewhere, I've had offers from GeniTech, but you need to find someone else.

Please believe that I wish you the best of luck.

/Anna

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6 March 1998

Notes recovered from the body of an unknown agent, stolen from Dr. F's laboratory. Most were destroyed with the body, but the parts that are legible are included here. They don't always make sense, I believe that Dr. F. made the notes to himself, not to anybody else. Should we schedule a meeting? I have concerns.

/Security Director Veer

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The subconscious is the key. Of course. Communication without interference. Does the blood-brain barrier matter more than we thought? Implant beneath is dangerous. Might be worth it. Or could we use the NTS? Possibly SN? Worked before, but not for permanent implants.

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I'm an idiot! Two halves. Two pathways. Competing and completing. It's not a whole, we were never whole. This explains everything.

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The decision-making process is still an issue. Actions prepared before the conscious decision to take them registers in the brain. Something else is at work here, the brain is just another receptor, not the source. Where is the source?

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Geometric resonance is bullshit, it has never worked outside of a test tube, proteins are not crystals. What am I missing? Running out of time.

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It's the folding. We can only see in three dimensions but can simulate in more. Seeing is believing. They don't understand.

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It could work. It WILL work.