Telepathy question.

[J-Man5]

I've looked arround to see if telepathic sending and receiving are in a specific language. In other words do Faey send in Faey only or is it more thougth based? Do the humans with Jason send in English or whatever their primary birth language is? Seems like it would be thought/idea/feeling based. Tamika doesn't speak Faey yet she is telepathic.
If so then is telepathy a universal language base?

J-Man5

[Fel]

Yes, no, yes, no.

Let me explain.

Yes, telepathy is done so via language. Jyslin explains this to Jason in an earlier chapter...after all, without language, thought would be limited to emotions, images, and sensation. While these can be quite descriptive, they lack the fundamental substance of higher thought. Language is required as a basis of medium by which complex thought occurs.

Yes, I know, here comes 500 replies arguing this point with me, so let me cut that short: yes, you can think without language, but that thought will be limited by the lack of ability to convey complex or abstract concepts.

Try it yourself. Think without using words, and not simple stuff. Try to contemplate history or math or a science with nothing but images, feelings, and emotions.

Wasn't easy, was it?

Sending carries language. Jason and the others around him send in English, because for three of the five, it's their native language. It's the language they think in, and it's the language they send in.

BUT!!!!

This is where the "no" comes in. Since language is nothing but a medium of thought, and thought can be framed in any number of ways without altering its basic meaning, ANY telepath can pick up sending in another language and understand its meaning, based on the underlying meaning of the thought within the word. It won't by any terms be exact or precise, but the general gist of the sending will be understood. They understand because they can comprehend the meaning of the words, not the words themselves. By framing complex thought into words, that thought is conveyed, DESPITE the use of the words.

So, Jyslin and Symone send in Faey, because that is THEIR native language.

There is a limitation, however. If they want to convey a particularly complex meaning or train of thought, they specifically send in English, so the exact meaning of the sending isn't lost. But, since both of them speak English, and because Jason and Tim speak Faey, they understand those subtle nuances in which the other language's thoughts can be framed, and thusly are capable of understanding the complete meaning of a sending in the other language. The only odd woman out in this situation is Temika, who does not (yet) speak Faey (but that gets addressed in the next chapter, for Jyslin is going to implant Faey in all the resistance fighters). Because of this limitation, Symone tends to revert to framing her sending in English if she's trying to get something complex across.

And here's the kicker: you can't TELL what language a telapath is using when he/she sends, because telepaths don't hear "words" in sending, they only hear thought. They give that thought structure using language, but the structure of that thought is universally comprehensible, at least in a general sense. So, Jason always hears sendings in English, while Symone always hears them in Faey.

If a telepath who spoke not a word of English sent to a telepath who spoke not one word of Faey, they would have the equivalent communication ability of two 10-year olds. There is a pool of shared comprehension, but abstract or complex trains of thought which are unknown to 10-year olds is incomprehensible.

This pool of communal comprehension is itself governed by the general similarity of the minds sharing telepathic contact. Humans and Faey are very similar in genetics, culture, and mannerism, so the two races have a broader communal comprehension. But a human telapath trying to relate to a kizzik would have SERIOUS problems, because of the fundamentally different way that a kizzik thinks and a drastically different culture and society. There's just very little basis on which to form a communal understanding. Using the above example, the communal level of comprehension would be more on par with a pair of 2-year olds, only able to convey basic information due to a severely limited communal "vocabulary."

Now everyone take notice that I have never made ANY mention of the concept of language within sending. When Jason learned how to send, he just did it, without ever once stopping to consider just how he was doing it, or what language he was thinking in.

Well, now you know why.

So, yes, telepathy can be used as a universal communication tool, but only up to a point.

The language barrier usually isn't an issue between telepaths, however, since one will usually teach the other their language, and then they can communicate easily.

Now, I'm sure people are going to notice the paradox in that explanation: thought is formed by words, but words are nothing but thought. Yes, it's intentional, but if you sit down and think about it a while, it make sense. Thought needs words to shape it, while words are nothing but a meaning, and that meaning is naught but thought...which is formed by words. And so on and so on.

So, the simplest explanation of them all:

If the explanation was simple, it just wouldn't be me.

[Fiferguy]

Makes sense...

[Shadowhawk]

That reminds me of the problem of mind-to-mind communication (not really true telepathy btw) in the Gordon R. Dickson space-adventure novel "The Forever Man". Not only unknown ideas come out as *blanks*, but the more common ideas gets translated into "most similar" ideas... which means trouble with communication.

"(...) We seem to be able to talk to each other to limited extent, but wherever the concept behind our thought isn't known or understood by the listening party, nothing comes across. Instead, the listener hears what seems to be a blank (...)"

"(...) We aren't hearing what the other is saying at all. We're hearing the closest thing to it that our minds can find in their own experience and understanding."

I recommend this book.