An Objective Analysis of Telekinesis

Introduction

This is going to be an objective, pseudo-scientific analysis of
telekinesis and the whether it's possible or not. Of course, I'm going
to be using some sketchy and loosely--in fact, quite hoping logic
(which tends not to count for much), but it should be an interesting
thought experience anyway, right? My main ace will be my minimal
knowledge of quantum physics here, as I go through it.

Also, a disclaimer: If you're the type of person who would scream, shout, and say, "No! No! It's not possible!", then please don't read this. Especially, don't comment. I wouldn't want this blog to insult your delicate view of reality--and if you comment, I'll probably ignore you, because most of you are really, really annoying (as well as often pseudo-intellectual). Sorry.

Define!

First, what is telekinesis? Once again--let's define our terms (dictionary.com never fails!).

telekinesis

see psychokinesis

Uh, oops.

psychokinesis

1. the purported ability to move or deform inanimate objects, as metal spoons, through mental processes.

2. the production or control of motion, especially in inanimate and remote objects, purportedly by the exercise of psychic powers.

First, it would be wise to establish my views of telekinesis/psychokinesis, so you can see where I'm coming from. I'm tempted to say that telekinesis IS possible, and real (since I've had a little experience of it myself), but I will try to discuss it as objectively as possible.

Telekinesis

So, telekinesis! It's the ability to move stuff with your mind--or malform stuff (there is no spoon?). This is assumedly done by a kind of "psychic power"--we may pass it off as a pure mental energy ("psi", this will be a link once I have made a blog post about psi), a "supernatural" or "paranormal" force or a miracle, or a direct interaction between mind and object.

Of course, to begin, and for telekinesis to be possible at all, we have to assume that the individual and their mind do have an effect on the world around them. There's a lot of dispute and controversy over this topic. It can be proven, and it can be disproven. And it has been "disproven" and "proven", constantly. Please do not bring up Randi's $1 Million Paranormal Challenge--it's quite determined to do anything but give money to anybody who would enter.

There's plenty of videos on YouTube of telekinesis, especially the infamous paper-on-pin, or, "psi-wheel". What's a psi-wheel? This is a psi-wheel. Of course, why psi? I don't know. It moves like a wheel, and you balance it on a pin and try to get it to move using your mind. Some of the best videos are on PsiPog.net. They claim their videos to be real, but they also say that there's no way they can prove them over the internet, so they bid you to try yourself. PsiPog.net was one of the biggest psionics communities there ever were--until Peebrain (Sean Connelly, the owner) archived it to do some soul-searching. There are no forums anymore, unfortunately. PsiPog.net was one of the best because it was completely anti-fluff, no-bullshit. They could spot someone lying or faking a mile away--that levitating knife picture on the media page? They had a HUUUGE debate about whether it was photoshopped or not. If there's any site you can trust on psionics, it's PsiPog.

Well, back to telekinesis. I'm not going to be covering the controversy on it--I don't care about that. It's really not worth the time or effort. You can debate it amongst yourselves in comments if you want to, but I won't try to prove, disprove, defend, or attack anything (though I might pop in to clear up misunderstandings and misconceptions).

Potential Varieties of Telekinetic Power

Psi

First and foremost is "psi", a mental energy, in a nutshell. It's energy you create with your body. Nobody really knows what Psi is--but most psions say it's pure energy. Some people say it's pure energy, other people like to associate it with ideals (though categorizing it as "earth psi", "fire psi", or "chaos psi" sounds really, REALLY fluffy to me). Some hypothesize that it's created by the nervous system (one of the beginner methods for "generating" it is by intending to make a motion with your hand, but not, stopping yourself the instant before you do--kind of like just willing motion, without motion). However, Peebrain did a little study with some friends, showing that psi can affect a geiger counter.

Psi has some properties--it can all manner of things imaginable. It can feel hot, cold, even sometimes windy (though I highly doubt it's generating real wind, it makes it feel as if a breeze is playing on your hand sometimes). Psi can magnetically cause your hands to come together or stretch apart, depending on its size or power (of course, this could be attributed to the placebo effect). Other people can feel psi. I've heard tales of people blowing milk cartons up with psi, and blowing up a psi ball (basic newbie construct, simple ball made of psi) in their hands, giving them blisters. Psi can even be flared (turned somewhat visible)--but this supposably takes months, possibly years of experience--though I've heard the average is a month of constant practice. True or not? That's up to you.

I don't think psi can affect a physical body, unless you were to make it so solid that it could actually affect objects (there's a technique called a "force bubble" which is a mixture of advanced telekinesis and telepathy, and can apparently actually go onto your desk and roll around, knocking things over), or if you were to blow it up, which might affect a physical body, too.

However, none of this would be able to spin a psiwheel with such precision--or slowness. If one were actually able to affect a physical body with psi, it would simply spin it rapidly, chaotically, or just knock it off the pin (probably this one). The beginner, playing with a psiwheel, will make it shudder and twitch a lot.

Though, reviewing the geiger counter blog's comments--if that article can be trusted, it means that psi can affect subatomic particles, since geiger picks up radiation. A comment by Ancheron says: "Aside from atomic decay, that could be done from ionizing various atoms in the atmosphere into an energetic state." This is interesting to me, and I'll pick up on it later.

Supernatural, Paranormal Forces, or Miracles

There's not much to be said here; perhaps, a supernatural or paranormal force could cause telekinesis via magick, occult, demons or angels, or something of that sort. There's no remotely rational or scientific explanation for it, and begins to be even more crazy than psi. I have nothing much to say here; it's not objective here.

Direct Interaction Between Mind & Object

This would definitely use quantum physics. It's basically "uniting" with the object, and then moving it--through itself, yourself--or both of you. By quantum physics, it's a mathematical (though not widely accepted or even known) fact that everything is essentially one; every object, individually, is meaningless without something to relate to. A single thought is meaningless without something to relate to; everything is. Nothing can be separated or even properly observed alone--because even the observer is affecting the observed.

A recent book I read, called "Nothing I See Means Anything; Quantum Questions, Quantum Answers", says that all atoms have a "holographic structure" (I'm not entirely sure what that means in detail, even still), which continues to say that all atoms contain within them, the entire universe. How does this work? I'm not sure--this is a new concept to me, too. However, besides that, an experiment was done where two subatomic particles were fired at each other, causing them to somehow relate to one another. One of them was moved far, far away (farther than would be possible to be reached instantaneously by the speed of light), and then the other was turned. Amazingly, the other one also turned instantly. That means some form of communication between the two, if any actually transpired between the two, then it would be superluminal. Faster than the speed of light. Not only that, but the books I've read on it even went to go so far as to say that many instances of the same particle exist in different places at the exact same time. They are not different particles--they are one, single particle, in many places at once. I might be wrong, so please correct me if I am, but I think this is the "quantum entanglement" effect.

It boggles the mind!

So, my theory on this is that it's possible that somehow, the human mind is able to achieve a certain quantum entanglement effect with the object of desire, and then moves it--with will, somehow. I don't know any more past that. I've heard people say that when manipulating a psi-wheel, when comfortable, it feels almost like "moving an extra appendage". You might be incredibly curious as to just how we can affect something with our mind. I'll give you that much, and tell you about a very simple, basic, but profound law of quantum physics: Heisenburg's uncertainty principle. It's a law--not a defect of machinery, lack of human ingenuity, but a LAW--that the more you observe a subatomic particle's position, you cannot judge its momentum. The more you judge its momentum, you cannot judge its position. So, if you have observed a particle completely, you have NO IDEA how fast it is moving. If you know EXACTLY how fast it's moving--you have NO IDEA where it is. This in its own right shows that the human mind has an affect upon the world around us--just imagine how this works on a macroscopic scale.

If you want to do a bit of freelance research, look up Schrodinger's Cat. It's a thought experiment, which should teach you about the wave function and probability and that sort of stuff. It's quite amazing--and maddening!

Now, perhaps this is how it works. I find that psionics possibly generates and/or agitates subatomic particles into excited states, to the point that they can be picked up by a geiger counter. Perhaps it's a mixture of both "direct interaction" and "psionics"? Or are they the exact same thing, or just a blend of both?

Or is telekinesis just completely impossible anyway?

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