Mind reading

We usually don’t really know for sure what other people think of us. After all, we don’t have the power of mind reading.

In my life there have been people whom I was quite sure did not like me. Only later did I find out that they were quite fond of me.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I can think of people who were consistently pleasant to me. Eventually, I learned that it was just an act, and that they didn’t really like me at all.

I suspect you have had similar experiences. We just can’t know what is going on in the head of another person.

I wonder how much life would change if there were a way to know, with certainty, what other people really thought of us. Maybe this could be achieved by some sort of future glasses with built-in A.I.

Would that lead to something positive? Or would we all just end up killing each other?

2 thoughts on “Mind reading”

  1. I don’t think it will end up killing each other but a boring, but unified army for culture inheritance.

    Every coin has two sides: In the book The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past Book 1), aliens from the three-body planet communicate by reading minds, the diversity of the culture may finally converge into a united mind. The development may be fast initially, but approaching linear while human culture is developing exponentially due to the diversity.

  2. Hm, once we got over the initial shock, it might be quite liberating to have someone see what you are right away and vice-versa. Imagine how many vices would lose interest if the shadows receded, and how many dreams could be realized? We’d all essentially be naked, but we might better ourselves if we think others will be able to see everything. It’s difficult to imagine, though – would we keep switching things up if we thought someone noticed? What would happen to the self-conscious ego? And how would we try to control or influence each other? Are we defined by the current thought or emotion we may be having? Would we try to straight-jacket our thoughts, and would that lead to obsessive thinking? Most things come to light eventually anyway, in time, but can light be seen if thoughts exceed the speed of light? Still, I think a lot of human relationships could be preserved and enhanced, and judgement reduced, if we could make it safely past the initial exposure.

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