What if you could sense and read the thoughts of other people?

I would read everyone’s. Always wanting to have that edge.

Then would eventually go insane.

@Cruiser If it were just me… I’d probably do it, end up ruling the world, end up searching for the second foundation.

@ChazMaz I have been thinking the same thing since I asked this question…makes my head spin considering the eventuality of it! Fun for probably 10 minutes max!

@roundsquare Don’t do it unless you have that telepathic blocker!

I think the despair of absolutely knowing that no one is ever totally honest would put me over the edge.
Somethings are better not knowing. :-)

I always thought that other people already had that ability and I was the only one who lacked it. Then I learned I had Aspergers Syndrome. I wouldn’t want that ability now, wouldn’t know how to use it. I prefer things as they are now, everybody keeping their innermost thoughts to themselves.

No thanks.My plan for world domination doesn’t require ESP;)

@lucillelucillelucille – You do have that gift. ;-)

If I had this ability, I think I would most definitely use it but i don’t know how often. I think it could cause chaos and be a blessing in certain circumstances and you’d have to use good judgement when using it. I’m not sure who I’d use it on mostly. I’d probably just spread it around being that variety is the spice of life.

It would be horrible – just horrible.

No thanks, not something I would want to be able to do.
I naively like to think everyone thinks good of me, and I don’t want to burst my own bubble.

@lucillelucillelucille I knew you were going to say that….and that…and….

@Cruiser A circle has no end…

Uh-uh. I’d have to buy a filter. I’m already a goddamn empath. I pick up on other people’s emotions, and if I’m not paying attention, suddenly I feel sad or something for seemingly no reason. Other people’s thoughts? No, no, no, no, no.

@aprilsimnel Me too!

I think the banality would drive me mad in hours or minutes, like being bombarded nonstop by animated cartoons or being forced to spend my life listening to the conversations of people on public transportation. My own uninspired thoughts are tedious enough that I ignore at least half of them, but they have the virtue of being comfortably familiar, like the clutter in the bottom of my purse compared with the shock of glimpsing the interior of someone else’s purse.

Every now and then I would give a great deal for a clear view into my husband’s mind, which is so different from mine that sometimes we clash out of sheer alienness and arrive at frustrating impasses. But if the cost were to hear all the static that is broadcast constantly on all sides (and over unlimited distances, I would presume), nothing would induce me to try it for more than about twelve seconds’ satisfaction of curiosity.

Much of the mystery of life would be lost; I would not want that.

Would I be able to shut it off at will? Otherwise, no. It’s bad enough having to hear most people when they speak.

If hearing a person’s thoughts would mean understanding them, I could see myself giving it a go. I would like a switch in my brain that would allow me full understanding of others; their actions, their thoughts. But I don’t see how merely hearing a person’s thoughts could give you any better insight.

I would like to understand the thoughts of my son when he’s having a tantrum, so I could end it faster or at least ignore it better.

I would make a fortune playing championship poker. :-)

Jeruba’s * sigh *

@zenele Does zen_again know you have a crush on Jeruba?

I don’t really care about what other people think now. I don’t think that would be change if I would read minds.