Telekinesis: Pseudoscience Or Psychic Ability?

Telekinesis, or psychokinesis, defines a physical ability with which the human being would be able to move physical objects, alter them or affect them through the mind. Science fiction? Pseudoscience and superstition, as dear Carl Sagan would say? Maybe yes.

This argument inevitably leads us to think of the Jedi from Star Wars , the character of Carrie White from the Stephen King novel or the character of Eleven in Stranger Things . Beyond this, however, there is an important detail that we need to take into account.

Telekinesis began to attract the attention of scientists during the Cold War, after more than thirty years of studies of all kinds through which it was possible to gather evidence that the mind has power over matter. 

With the development of current neurotechnologies, figures like Elon Musk show us that in a short time the human being will be able to interact with different devices through the mind and an interface. As Arthur C. Clarke said, sometimes “magic is a science we have not yet understood.”

What do we know about telekinesis?

The term “telekinesis” was coined in 1914, but it was only in 1934 that the parapsychologist JB Rhine began to study the phenomenon from an experimental point of view. Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to prove that the human being is really capable of moving objects or influencing external events with the power of the mind, that is, without the use of physical energies.

It is true that the phenomenon of telekinesis, or psychogenesis, has aroused some interest. Still, the pinnacle of research on this topic was reached during the Cold War.

Thus, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States in the 1980s conducted the most interesting study in this regard at the request of the United States Army Research Institute. The conclusions reached are the same on which experts are based today. Let’s talk about it in detail.

Why is telekinesis not a psychic ability that is neither sustainable nor valid?

One of the figures who has studied telekinesis the most is the British physicist John G. Taylor. According to this scholar, there are currently no physical mechanisms that make psychokinesis possible, and this because of the reasons that we see below.

The curious case of Nina Kulagina

Nina Kulagina was one of the best known and most studied figures in the field of telekinesis. Born in Russia in 1926, at the age of 14 she enlisted in the Red Army and during the Second World War she joined the tank regiment. During the postwar period, now a housewife, she began to notice something out of the ordinary.

Nina was able to move objects without having to touch them. It thus became the subject of study by a committee of Soviet experts who subjected it to an infinite number of tests and experiments. His case was one of the best known of the Cold War era; we also have curious black and white recordings in which she can be seen separating yolks from albumen and immersing them in water, but also moving matches with the mind.

According to his statements, this ability seemed to acquire intensity when he got angry. After these experiences, she also reported feeling exhausted and experiencing pain in the spine and eyes. Finally, he claimed to have lost this gift due to thunderstorms, whose electrical phenomena compromised what appeared to be an extraordinary ability.

But was Nina really a person with extraordinary telekinetic powers? The suspicion is that it was the Soviet Union that made it popular and manipulated the woman’s abilities for propaganda purposes.

Telekinesis will be possible in the future (but via other mechanisms)

If we said at this moment that telekinesis will be a reality in the near future, many would laugh at it. How can we not do it if for decades we have been trying to prove that this ability is unlikely and that it challenges physics as we know it?

Well, very recently Elon Musk introduced us to the Neuralink Corporation, an organization dedicated to none other than the development of technologies that could create bridges between the brain and machines. For what purpose? Especially medical: treating blindness, motility problems, neurodegenerative diseases.

Now, the aim is to go further and, of course, question a lot of the data we take for granted. One of these could be to create autonomous cars that you can manage with your mind. This form of telepathy would be mediated by small interface devices that would make communication between us and the on-board computer possible.

Apparently, the psychological and biological world lacked only the alliance with technology to make something real that humans have dreamed of for decades.