Telepathy, semiotics and otherness: dream and terror of total communication
Abstract
Rescued from oblivion by Internet and neurosciences, telepathy once again raises the issue of thought-transmission. The hypothesis about communication without mediation —to date, never scientifically proven— contradicts the principles of semiotics of culture developed by the Tartu School, namely: the necessity of codes and interpretation; in brief: the inevitability of mediation. With the aim of probing this contradiction, this article shows how the presumed mind-to-mind communication presented itself as the wireless telegraph ghostly double, and secondly as the radio broadcasting double. It concludes that telepathy, epitome of barrier-free communication, can be understood as the symptom of an ancient cultural yearning for a full communion with the Other, mingled with fears to mind intrusion created by mass media and the Consciousness Industry.
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