Telepathy in Different Species

[WarpTenLizard]

For a franchise that features telepaths so heavily, I'm disappointed that "Star Trek" rarely goes into detail about what telepaths actually experience, with their telepathy coming up almost exclusively for plot devices. And since we rarely have more than one telepath in the main cast of a "Star Trek" series, we also haven't had much of a chance to see how these different telepathic species might interact with each other.

We did have Tuvok mentoring Kes in "Voyager," but that quickly veered off into a focus on Kes's telekenesis. The only time I recall her telepathy coming up in their sessions is when he taught her how to eavesdrop on her shipmates' thoughts. Can Vulcans normally do that too? Or was Tuvok simply making guesswork as he guided Kes through expanding the abilities he already knew that she had?

There's also the question of why Kes, Tuvok and other telepaths are so often as fooled as everyone else onboard by Seska, Jonas, and the average manipulative villain-of-the-week.

In this thread, we speculate on the exact abilities of different species, and how they'd interact with each other.

To get the brainstorming going, I'll just chuck a few facts and questions out here:

Vulcans: It seems that for telepathy takes effort for Vulcans, at least compared to some other telepaths. They don't normally have mental conversations like the Ocampa might. Mind-melds require training. However, it seems they can sense extremely strong thoughts or emotions, as Spock sensed the deaths of a full ship of Vulcan's from afar.

Romulans: Supposedly lack their Vulcan cousins' telepathy; but certain individuals, with training, apparently can master things like mind-melds. Can any Romulan accomplish this if she just trains hard enough? Or does one need to be born with a fluke of a telepathic gene, leftover from their Vulcan ancestry?

Betazoid: Deanna Troi is only "empathic" because she's half human. Full-blooded Betazoids are, at least sometimes, fully telepathic. Troi's mother commented to someone once that, "If this were a telepathic conversation, it would've been over minutes ago!" So in a sense, it seems that Betazoid telepathy is even stronger than Vulcans.' Can a Betazoid train to perform a Vulcan-like mind-meld? Or is that only possible with a Vulcan brain?

Ocampa: They can think conversations to each other as easily as speaking, but apparently can't do this with non-telepaths. This is shown in "Caretaker," when Kes scolds Topcat (or whatever his name was), "They can't speak telepathically, you have to voice your thoughts out loud." So apparently, Ocampans can't read the thoughts of non-telepaths (or maybe even non-Ocampa). That explains why Kes never caught on to Seska or Jonas. Yet, with training from Tuvok, she's able to hear the thoughts of various shipmates from decks away. Was that just showing how incredibly far Kes had progressed from the rest of her people, after training with Tuvok?

Aenar: One of my favorite races...and I can barely remember the episode that featured them. (Gotta re-watch that one I guess.) According to Memory Alpha, these guys can mentally project their thoughts across vast distances. Presumably, if they can think-speak across lightyears, they can also hold telepathic conversations at home, like Betazoids and Ocampa. But can they only do this with other Aenar, or can they do it with any other species?

Trill Telepaths: For those who don't know or forgot, a small segment of the Trill population is telepathic. They are the "Guardians," tasked with tending the un-joined symbionts in the Holy Slug Caves.... but are not eligible to be joined with them. Um, what? The people that can directly communicate with the symbionts are the ones that can't be joined to them? Why? Will their combined minds be too powerful to be contained in one body, and explode or something?

There's also no explanation (that I recall) as to what these Trills' "telepathy" actually entails. They can act as a conduit to transfer a past-host's memories from the joined Trill, into a temporary host, for the zhian'tara ritual; and they can think-talk to the unjoined slugs in the pools of Mek'ala.

Can any telepath fill the role that a Trill Guardian does? And can a Trill Guardian speak telepathically with an Ocampa, or learn how to perform a mind-meld like a Vulcan? Or does their telepathy only manifest between them and the slugs?

Are Trill telepaths born "telepathic?" Or are these just volunteers that are chosen to undergo some kind of process with the symbionts to gain these powers?

Other thoughts, questions or theories? Go crazy!

 

[Timo]

It seems to me that Vulcan telepathy at least is a matter of quantifiable transfer of a paranormal substance, in this case called "katra". Basically, Vulcans get access to minds by letting mind juices flow - either in realtime from finger to face and vice versa, or then across a distance by depositing a droplet of themselves within the other guy or gal. Depositing all of it in a jug allows a mind to survive the death of the body, even if not quite entirely. And one doesn't run out of juice merely by donating: it replenishes itself far faster than blood. Although pouring it into a body that already has plenty is likely to cause major overflow problems.

it really ought to be possible to put together a box with flashing lights and a meter with a needle that indicates katra flow for those who aren't compatible with this souliquid transfer. Although those are apparently few, there being some of that ectoplasma in living rocks and machines, too.

We never heard of a non-telepathic Vulcan. Could be the Surakian wars were all about purging the soulless non-telepaths from the society (the Vulcan point of view) or condemning the dangerous telepathic monsters to an eternity on a desert-hellhole prison planet (the Romulan point of view). But the average Romulan could quite well be just as telepathic as the average Vulcan. The two societies are totalitarian in different ways: while Vulcans may consider telepathy a private thing (as it obviously is a great sex aid even if not utterly vital for the act itself), Romulans would abhor the idea of an interrogation procedure that bares the mind of the interrogator to that of his or her victim in full, even if said victim has little hope of seeing the next dawn. The camera would seldom encounter a Vulcan in the act of telepathy, if not for the fact that cameras love to peep. But the camera will never see a Romulan caught in the act, because Romulans live in fear of getting caught.

Bajoran telepathy might involve mind juices, too, them simply choosing access through the ear even though the exact spot really makes no difference. They just haven't fully comprehended or exploited the property. Perhaps because they have these wonderful crutches in the Tears of the Prophets?

Trill telepathy introduces liquids of a more literal and physical sort; drawing a connection to katra/pagh is easy, although it's quite possible that the mind-ectoplasm comes in different flavors for different species. A degree of compatibility is found in all, though.

Non-contact telepaths may in fact be much lesser creatures, being able to exhange mere words rather than the entirety of the soul. The reduced bandwidth makes them more versatile in certain situations, though, and possibly great mediators across species, even though their ability to project is very limited, and they concentrate on sniffing the fumes of the mindjuices of nearby people. The great concentration it requires to read words by mindscent, comparable to a blind and deaf human learning to cope, is further of help in deciphering the thoughts of those people the non-contact telepaths can't actually sense at all: with that much effort and experience put to it, the faces of the victims are an open book to Betazoids. Although some of them have better noses than others, and can indeed smell minds (and sometimes also more than just words or emotions) across hundreds of kilometers, such as Tam Elbrun reading a Romulan in a passing starship in "Tin Man".

Is it just a matter of training, then? Do all species have mindjuice in them, and can all learn to at least smell the words out of it at a distance, if not to taste the whole soul? We never learn of a human who would have become fully telepathic all by him- or herself simply by studying, but Riker seemed to have become capable of limited two-way exchange with Deanna Troi by following her instructions and doing exercises. Possibly meticulous study would allow Picard to fence with Lwaxana Troi on a more even mental piste?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Orphalesion]

I wish I could say I find the Betazoids interesting. But in seven seasons and four movies of Troi being a main character, they gave us absolutely nothing about them that wasn't a joke about Lwaxana wanting to bang Picard. Even the planet being conquered by the Dominion was a background event that was never even mentioned again.
You'd think a culture of telepaths that are in constant, mental rapport with each other would be interesting, but the shows gave only the tiniest hints (such as the conversation mentioned by WarpTenLizard, Tam Elbrun and the mention that Troi's maternal grandfather refused to talk out loud) should be. Haven even shows that Deanna can communicate telepathically with other Betazoids (and the pilot also shows she can form telepathic bonds with humans), but nothing is ever made of that.
They managed to make a culture that should be very alien and strange almost completely pedestrian.

So I'm gonna have to say I find the Ocampa the most interesting, if only because of how much potential their ESP abilities seemed to have. Not just telepathy, but telekinesis, fire-starting, manipulation of life force... If Voyager had only explored that more!

As a close second I'm gonna name telepathic humans as they were introduced in TOS, and then all but forgotten about in the rest of Trek. Miranda Jones was an interesting character in so much that she had to train with Vulcans in order to turn her telepathy of; that sounds similar to Tam Elbrun and there was also the fact that she was blind...was that connected to her telepathy in any way?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Vulcans, being (mostly) touch-telepaths fascinate me the most. Imagine having sex, and you not only feel what you feel but what your partner does too, and vice-versa?

Followed by Betazoids. Did Troi know when someone was getting laid or taking care of their own buisness down on deck 39, while she's chilling on the bridge? Sometimes I wonder if even terminally-horny Gene Roddenberry thought through the consequences of the powers he betowed upon his characters.

Apologies for the horny reply. It's been awhile.

 

[Timo]

Oh, I love the intimacy angle - and I could see the telepaths themselves turning that into a bit of a joke, to distance themselves from the intensity of it all.

Vulcans/Romulans as a species and a culture would make great sense if they feared their extraordinary ability to share. I would love to learn more of the Romulans, presumably through PIC, from the telepathy angle: being secretive way beyond the point of being paranoid would merely come naturally to them, there being no real alternative. Essentially, a telepath would have to learn to lie to himself in order to keep secrets, and Vulcans are supposed to be experts in that...

But getting more Aenar is also a good thing, and apparently Strange New Worlds will provide!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I would imagine that the first person to create a Telepathy Jamming Field would be very popular and everybody who isn't a Telepath would have Jammers on their person.

Same with Cybernetic Telepathy that lets you use Telepathy through an electronic device.

 

[Mojochi]

So in a sense, it seems that Betazoid telepathy is even stronger than Vulcans.' Can a Betazoid train to perform a Vulcan-like mind-meld? Or is that only possible with a Vulcan brain?

I get the impression that Betazoid telepathy isn't anywhere near as intrusive as Vulcan. Betazoids seem to merely partake in mind-to-mind contact/communication, which brings with it an awareness of emotional state as well, albeit a widespread activity of it, in doing so on any number of individuals within their vicinity... perhaps simultaneously.

Whereas, Vulcans are virtually imprinting themselves permanently into one another's consciousnesses, the very least of which is a temprorary convergence of those 2 beings, a "Mind meld" that leaves an imprint of that person forever, potentially altering who they are in some ways. The pinnacle of it being actual transference of a whole consciousness into some other body (Katra)

Frankly, if a race could learn to adapt their telepathy, I'd think it more likely that Vulcans could adapt to partake more like Betazoids, than the other way around. I'd suspect they could even already have the ability if they wanted, but probably would find it vulgar or something. I mean Sarek's assistant Sakkath seemed mighty well in tune with Sarek's innerworkings during Data's concert, without contact. He's more so than Troi for sure, & probably more so than any other Betazoid. He's literally using his own mind to aid Sarek in control of his own

Non-contact telepaths may in fact be much lesser creatures, being able to exhange mere words rather than the entirety of the soul.

Exactly. I think the Ocampans are rather interesting for what we know, but I'm voting other because the ones that intrigue me the most are the Ullians from TNG's Violations, who seem to be doing a fair sight more than what the Betazoids are up to, a much less regulated version of what Vulcans do.

It's perhaps why this disciplined way of life Vulcans have makes a lot of sense. We have a literal example of what unchecked telepathy at that level can result in. Those people described whole eras of people doing the awful mind stuff, & either Betazoids aren't that powerful, or they might've been, but came away from being like that in preference of a more casual way.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Considering that the Kzinti are supposed to be telepathic, and Vulcan was a major power for nearly a century before the Federation came into being, was the Treaty of Sirius negotiated telepathically between Vulcans and Kzinti?

If any Romulans have telepathy, then it makes me wonder what’s going one with their treatment of the Remans, who are also revealed to be telepathic? One telepathic species subjugating another telepathic species – how on earth does that work?

Betazoids are just a family friendly version of the Deltans, and their telepathy is only interesting when their empathy is also taken into account.

Ocampans just aren’t interesting to me. The telekinetic abilities of Kes were the most interesting she ever was.

The Aenar are interesting. The idea that the Romulans looked to telepathic species in the Remans and Aenar to make up their military (at least in the 22nd century) is an angle that should have been explored more.

Maybe there’s a connection to Trill telepathy and those Trills in TNG (i.e the TNG Trills lack telepathy compared to the Trills seen in DS9, possibly due to having that ability surgically removed).

 

[Timo]

Vulcans seem to avoid using telepathy if possible, at least in public. Negotiating treaties with it would appear unlikely then. And with the Kzinti, who read minds at a (modest) distance, the Vulcan negotiators might in fact refuse to come to the same tables or indeed the same building with their feline counterparts. We know that loose lips sink ships, but telepaths would simply expand that agade to their greater range of senses, by those means available to them.

No blocking technology, but possibly plenty of blocking techniques. The Kzinti could be thwarted by thinking of carrots...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JesterFace]

I find it kind of odd that a telepath from a completely different species can read the mind of someone from a different planet, there's no direct connection between them. Well, maybe emotions are something so universal and obvious it works as well it does.
Then there's the background from TNG and 'The Chase'. All our brains are from the same origin.

 

[Timo]

I don't see the mind-reading itself as an issue. Our eyes would see the writing or gesturing of every species on every planet with equal ease, and our ears would hear the noises they make regardless of the location. Light is light, sound is sound, and quite possibly thought is thought, there being nothing about it that would be specific to its source.

It's the comprehension bit that amazes me. I could read Martian on Mars if they carved some on the stone of those underground temples of theirs. I could then write it down in my notebook. But I'd need some working knowledge of the people and the language in order to understand what I was reading and writing. The same with hearing. Why is thought different from light and sound there?

Or is it? Everybody understands every language in Trek anyway, quite regardless of whether they stumble upon it by sight, hearing or telepathy. Supposedly, the Universal Translator is key to understanding the spoken and written word. So it would only seem natural for it to also interpret thought. That is, in order to work at all, the UT would have to reside somewhere in the brain, rather than in the ear or the eye, intercepting signals from our senses and translating them before they hit the language processing parts of our brain. And if the UT stands guard at the language centers, feed from the telepathic organs would be handled just the same way as feed from our eyes and ears.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kor]

And some telepaths can even sense the "thoughts" or emotions of non-biological machines.
Remember Spock mind-melding with Nomad and also V'Ger. And Troi sensing emotions from Data.

Kor

 

[Turtletrekker]

How about human telepaths, such as Doctor Miranda Jones?

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Miranda_Jones