Talk: Telepathy

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Mechanics of telepathy?[]

I've heard how telepathy in ST works, but what I don't get is how it works over subspace channels, or why it couldn't just be 'muted' to prevent Troi from telling Picard yet again that somebody "is hiding something" – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.245.29.229

Betazoid Send and Receive non-Betazoid Thoughts?[]

I am currently fleshing out the article on the episode "Tin Man" and in it, Tam Elbrun sends the thoughts of danger and a warning to Gomtuu, so does this contradict the claim from "Encounter at Farpoint" that Betazoids can only receive, not send, thoughts to non-betazoid aliens? Lestatdelc 08:36, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Surely we have seen examples of communication between Deanna and other species telepathically. What about those aliens that kept telling her "one moon circles"? – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.141.179.47

Rather, I believe she just received thoughts from those aliens. Now, she managed to convey a message to them, but that could have been read from her mind by the aliens. --Fraek 21:00, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

But in Encounter at Farpoint she communicates with Will, asking "Can you still sense my thoughts Imzadi?" and Will can, so she can communicate with non-telepathic species. – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.74.222.17

Quite true, but could it perhaps be that Riker was so tuned into her feelings that she could transmit her thoughts to him? Humans can develop telepathic abilities, after all. --Fraek 22:56, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Usually the telepathy of these half-breeds, without extensive training, is limited to communication with other empaths or telepaths and full telepathic contact with emotionally very close persons (Imzadi).

I guess we have our answer!--Fraek 22:09, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Misplaced attribution[]

You put the attribution for the Charlie Evens reference to "Where No Man Has Gone Before". I believe it should be moved a few sentences to where you are discussing Gary Mitchell at the galactic barrier. Then attribute Charlie Evans the "Charlie X" TOS episode. Salud!--Marianware 23:30, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

Appearances Section[]

I just added the appearances section and wanted to explain some things so other editors can change things as they see fit. I tried to stick to a more strict interpretation of telepathy, but that quickly became difficult. This list is mostly just Humans or aliens speaking to each other telepathically, reading someone's thoughts, or reading the images and memories of someone's mind. Which is a pretty strict interpretation of telepathy. However, in the TOS episodes of "The Man Trap" and "Shore Leave," its not as clear.

In "The Man Trap" the salt-sucking creature reads the mind of someone and then changes their appearance to fit someone they know. That seemed like a straight forward example of telepathy, but it's implied not explicitly stated. Same for "Shore Leave"; the planet reads the minds of the away team and creates images that are familiar to them. But again that's implied, not explicitly stated. Also for the TNG episode "The Bonding," the alien reads the mind of the child and changes herself to look like his mother and then changes his quarters to look like his home. It's implied telepathy. But these 3 examples are of varying degrees of obviousness. One episode might require the viewer to think a little bit more than another episode for the viewer to realize that implied telepathy is happening.

I included all 3 of these episodes in the appearances list, but if other editors would like to use a more strict interpretation of telepathy and wants to remove those episodes: they may do so. I honestly don't care either way.

I also tried to stick to biological telepathy. For example: a biological being reads the mind of another biological being. Because if Data (a NON-biological being) is in communication with another non-biological being (like he did with the nanites in the TNG episode "Evolution"), that could be considered one computer sending a message to another. And sending an email is not really telepathy. So I did not include the "Evolution" TNG episode. I ran into the same issue with the Borg: they're partially biological but they hear each other's thoughts through technology. They can severed from the hive mind by removing their transceiver. So I didn't count the borg because their hive mind is technical not biological. However, if other editors disagree and would like to broaden the definition of telepathy by including "Evolution" and Borg episodes: they may do so. I don't really care either way.

I also did NOT include episodes that had empathy and telekinesis. Even though, empathy and telekinesis are both forms of telepathy, they have their own memory alpha articles and lists of their appearances already appear on their articles respectively. RexxiA (talk) 04:17, October 6, 2019 (UTC)