FOR READERS/WRITERS
Today’s topic comes from QSFer Kethric Wilcox:
The issue of privacy in telepathic societies, do you prefer the open invasion style of Star Trek’s Betazoid style telepaths or the regimented only with a contract and permission style of Babylon 5’s PsiCorps style or is their a happy middle ground between the two?
Psychics are one of my fave paranormal abilities, along with wizardry. I would prefer a happy middle ground. I have a psych background (unfortunately, not psychIC), so think people’s thoughts should be respected just as much as any other aspects of a person are, so no invasions. But I’m not keen about the formality of contracting, so informal permission is ok. But I could see how that could be abused and result in the Babylon approach – after all, that’s how we in litigious USA fix issues … after first criminalizing the psychics, and of course there have been stories that portray that, too.