[LMB] Uses for telepathy: Terrence Cee. revisited

[Jim Parish]

David McMillan wrote:
> 	You could have juries instructed *very* carefully in how much weight to 
> give the teep's testimony, but that's not infallible -- look at why 
> current-day "lie detectors" aren't allowed as evidence in court cases.
> 	Or at recent evidence that appears to show that "eyewitness testimony" 
> is far, far less trustworthy than most criminal justice systems have (in 
> all good faith) assumed for centuries.
> 	And then, we know that Terrence Cee's mode of telepathy only worked on 
> people who were "compatible," and even then only on that person's 
> surface thoughts -- no spelunking into witness's memories or 
> subconscious.  It's not beyond possibility that people might find ways 
> of deceiving such "surface scan" telepathy, the same way that "lie 
> detectors" can be beaten via biofeedback today.

The classic reference for this sort of thing is Alfred Bester's _The 
Demolished Man_. Bester has quite a bit to say about the impact of 
verifiable telepathy on society - not at the moment of its first 
emergence, but several generations down the line.

Jim Parish