Richard Nacamuli (headwave at access5.digex.net) wrote:
: On Mon, 10 Jul 1995, Andrew_R._Mitz wrote:
...
: >
: > Why would this be the only medium? What about modulated electric
: > fields (capacitive coupling), modulated magnatic fields (inductive
: > coupling), infrared communications (can we be telepathic with
: > a snake?), or even modulated gravitational radiation. None,
: > including EM, are likely, but aren't you faced with ruling out
: > each potential information transmission source?
: >
: > --
: > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
: > Andrew Mitz, Biomedical Eng., National Institutes | Opinions are mine alone
: > of Health Animal Center, Poolesville, MD | arm at helix.nih.gov: > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
: >
: I've already pretty much ruled out any mode other than radio.
How? I'd really like to hear about these experiments. Did they fail
as candidates because you couldn't demonstrate telepathy, by any chance?
: These other means that you mention seem impractical for various reasons.
And radio emissions are practical in your opinion?
: Capacitive and inductive coupling would be extremely limited in range
: for the energy available in the brain. There is a potential across the
How are brains going to detect these waves? Radios use antenna inductance.
: neural membrane and, in my opinion, the thickness of the membrane would
: be the order of magnitude for the influence of such effects. The influence
The membrane is around 10 nm (10 x 10^-9 meters). Radio waves, which
are only a part of a larger electromagnetic spectrum
(i.e. distinguished from light or heat by their wavelength only, not
by any other characteristic), are measured in centimeters and meters,
I believe. Their wavelengths are several orders of magnitude greater
than the thickness of the membrane. Also, neural signal processing is
restricted to frequencies well below 100 kHz. Radio waves are
measured in MHz.
I think that the fact that people are oblivious to very strong radio
emissions from conventional broadcasting devices (TV, radio, radar,
cell phone, etc) make it highly unlikeyly that they are going to be
receptive to signals too weak to detect by conventional receiving
devices.
: of the gravitational force of sub-cellular structures would be infinitesimal.
: Infrared energy of any reasonable power would simply not penetrate the
: skull. There is also the problem of providing a theoretical model for
: such mechanisms as applied to mental communication.
: On the other hand, mental communication by means of biologically
: derived radio waves could be quite readily accounted for by means already
: well-known and understood. Molecules can emit and be excited by radio waves.
: As far as snakes being telepathic, in my opinion they are not;
: precisely because of the proposed mode of communication. Fish, amphibians,
: and reptiles, being marine, aquatic or closely related to marine and aquatic
: animals could not have evolved this capacity. Water is a highly absorbtive
: medium for radio-frequency EM waves.
A rattle snake is no more closely related to a marine animal than you
or I. And anyway, the brains of all vertebrates are encased in a jug
of saline water (cerebro-spinal fluid) in addition to the saline
solution in the interstitial spaces. I expect our brains are more
thoroughly insulated than those of snakes.
: The distances to which this type of
: communication would be limited under water would make it of dubious value.
: Indeed, the cerebral cortex of these animals is visibly different from
: that of mammals and birds which I believe to possess a telepathic faculty.
: Yes, whales and dolphins do live in the sea but, they spend much time at
: the surface where neural radio communication could occur.
And even in a vacuum its going to fall off as the square of the
distance. If you have to use ultra-sensitive equipment at very close
range just to detect the emission of very weak radio waves from brains
then you will have a very difficult time convincing any rational
person that it is a viable medium of communication. I think you are
playing a loosing hand. Give it up.