Matrix calculus is usually good for a stunning attack if you go fast enough, but you want to avoid things like the holiday photos from R’lyeh (Feh. No sunny days there anyhow. 2/5, would not recommend). Stunned telepaths are only normally dangerous when they get un-stunned, but driven-insane telepaths are on a whole new level of dangerous once they get past the initial shock.
That said, once they’re good and solid crazy they’re a lot more fun. Most telepaths are kind of boring. I guess normalcy kind of rubs off on them after a while.
Can confirm, crazy telepaths are definitely more fun.
I have a D&D character who is a slightly mad goblin telepath, and he’s a blast to play as. He’s caught up in trying to be a good (ish) person, but struggles because he had a traumatic upbringing being abused in goblin / hobgoblin / bugbear society, and then his latent powers manifested and he suddenly could make his tormentors’ heads explode, so… yeah… he’s a bit conflicted.
As a player, I love that he constantly manages to surprise me – probably in large part, because he’s constantly surprising himself. If he was a more typical telepath, with a highly disciplined and controlled mind, he’d be way less interesting and fun.
Just memorize a few pages from a law textbook. You’ll bore any mind-reader to death, and that works better than visualizing gross imagery, because frankly, they’ve seen it all before.
I once read an sf piece with a fourth option: be unwittingly doped with a suggestibility drug, then be told a stunning and strategically vital series of complete lies. Then, dinner with the telepath! 😉
Larry Niven’s short story The Soft Weapon has a scene where a Kzinti (hence carnivorous) telepath is reading the protagonist’s mind. The target thinks of the taste of raw carrot. “Telepath sagged against a wall, utterly spent. He could still taste yellow root munched between flat-topped teeth.”
In the Zachary Nixon Johnson novels, the primary defense against telepaths is humming old sitcom theme songs and ad jingles. This stirs up enough childhood memories, subliminal advertising, and other random thoughts that it causes the telepaths to collapse crying and begging for mercy.
I was thinking of a spirited mental rendering of “Feelings . . . nothing more than feelings . . . trying to forgeeeet myyyy . . . feelings of looooove!” And so on. Panoptica would just keel over.
“Green Grow the Rushes”… It worked for Steed and Peel… IRL I am usually not far from “hearing” ‘I Got a Wife at Home’ “Got Our Dwarves Back”, or the Goon version of “Eat More Fruit”…
That would work too. She can’t be too anti-robot if she’s been treating the crew as people to be jailed rather than as things to be destroyed in order to keep things safe. ^_^
That is why I gave up on telepathy. If the people whose minds I am reading are smarter than me, I won’t understand their thoughts, and if they are not, what’s the point.
Well, she got the info out of his head.
Yes, she got the info out of his head.
Interview…interview.
She wants him to join them, she wants him, it’s sadly,
He can’t think of anything untrue.
And she got the info out of his head.
Yes, she got the info out of his head.
Hitherto…hitherto.
She’ll see through a warning,
His mind will forecast it,
He won’t see it’s useless to resist.
Got it out of his head, what to do?
Got it out of his head, what to do?
Out of his head, way to fight.
Fight the way to fight,
Impolite.
He must find a new way,
He must be smart.
He’s got to try.
Those other guys
Will tear them apart.
And she got the info out of his head.
Yes, she got the info out of his head.
Ah, good plan. That way any debris that finds its way into the duct (because somehow debris always finds its way in) can get trapped at the next grate, and over time can cause a serious air flow problem. Solid strategy indeed.
Seriously, though, there are ways to make entry into the air ducts more secure. And while it would still present a small potential for air blockage, bars inside the ducts would deter travel.
But when you consider her skills, there’s not much that would stop Nera. You could only hope to slow her down.
only 3 ways to handle a mind reader, think of nothing, think of too much too fast, or let your mind go places they don’t want to follow.
Matrix calculus is usually good for a stunning attack if you go fast enough, but you want to avoid things like the holiday photos from R’lyeh (Feh. No sunny days there anyhow. 2/5, would not recommend). Stunned telepaths are only normally dangerous when they get un-stunned, but driven-insane telepaths are on a whole new level of dangerous once they get past the initial shock.
That said, once they’re good and solid crazy they’re a lot more fun. Most telepaths are kind of boring. I guess normalcy kind of rubs off on them after a while.
Can confirm, crazy telepaths are definitely more fun.
I have a D&D character who is a slightly mad goblin telepath, and he’s a blast to play as. He’s caught up in trying to be a good (ish) person, but struggles because he had a traumatic upbringing being abused in goblin / hobgoblin / bugbear society, and then his latent powers manifested and he suddenly could make his tormentors’ heads explode, so… yeah… he’s a bit conflicted.
As a player, I love that he constantly manages to surprise me – probably in large part, because he’s constantly surprising himself. If he was a more typical telepath, with a highly disciplined and controlled mind, he’d be way less interesting and fun.
Just memorize a few pages from a law textbook. You’ll bore any mind-reader to death, and that works better than visualizing gross imagery, because frankly, they’ve seen it all before.
I once read an sf piece with a fourth option: be unwittingly doped with a suggestibility drug, then be told a stunning and strategically vital series of complete lies. Then, dinner with the telepath! 😉
Not telepathy per se, but have you ever read Pohl and Kormbluth’s “The Quaker Cannon?”
I read that one as well, then promptly forgot the title.
Jonah is actually really, really good at thinking of too much too fast.
Larry Niven’s short story The Soft Weapon has a scene where a Kzinti (hence carnivorous) telepath is reading the protagonist’s mind. The target thinks of the taste of raw carrot. “Telepath sagged against a wall, utterly spent. He could still taste yellow root munched between flat-topped teeth.”
Finally! A use for Cards Against Humanity’s Pixelated Bukake card!
In the Zachary Nixon Johnson novels, the primary defense against telepaths is humming old sitcom theme songs and ad jingles. This stirs up enough childhood memories, subliminal advertising, and other random thoughts that it causes the telepaths to collapse crying and begging for mercy.
I was thinking of a spirited mental rendering of “Feelings . . . nothing more than feelings . . . trying to forgeeeet myyyy . . . feelings of looooove!” And so on. Panoptica would just keel over.
Now that’s just mean.
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun, [riff]
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun. …
Very definitely so, judging by panel 3.
“Tenser, Said The Tensor” indeed.
“Green Grow the Rushes”… It worked for Steed and Peel… IRL I am usually not far from “hearing” ‘I Got a Wife at Home’ “Got Our Dwarves Back”, or the Goon version of “Eat More Fruit”…
Or just shoot them, if they are as villainous as this one.
Or imprisoned a few more people.
That would work too. She can’t be too anti-robot if she’s been treating the crew as people to be jailed rather than as things to be destroyed in order to keep things safe. ^_^
So is Miss Waters now giving out service bytes? o_O
I think she picked up a few bad habits from Unity while they were dating.
I believe Unity would say those are awesome habits.
Not only service. Joy.
Maybe you should have used your brain for thinking, instead of reading what others are thinking.
This. ^
That is why I gave up on telepathy. If the people whose minds I am reading are smarter than me, I won’t understand their thoughts, and if they are not, what’s the point.
Hmm, a robot lady bit you, I wonder what kind of were-creature you would turn into since you are already part goose?
Probably they’ve both had their shots…
Well, she got the info out of his head.
Yes, she got the info out of his head.
Interview…interview.
She wants him to join them, she wants him, it’s sadly,
He can’t think of anything untrue.
And she got the info out of his head.
Yes, she got the info out of his head.
Hitherto…hitherto.
She’ll see through a warning,
His mind will forecast it,
He won’t see it’s useless to resist.
Got it out of his head, what to do?
Got it out of his head, what to do?
Out of his head, way to fight.
Fight the way to fight,
Impolite.
He must find a new way,
He must be smart.
He’s got to try.
Those other guys
Will tear them apart.
And she got the info out of his head.
Yes, she got the info out of his head.
Out of his head, déjà vu.
Out of his head, déjà vu.
Out of his head, way to fight,
Fight the way to fight,
All right…
—from “Goin’ Out of My Head,” Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein / Little Anthony and the Imperials
Jonah, you’re not supposed to look so proud about that.
Now, while she’s distracted, hit her with the wrench!
Your way is not very sportsman-like.
That is exactly the scene I thought of when I read that comment!
Any mobile fortresses I build are having grating in the air ducts.
Ah, good plan. That way any debris that finds its way into the duct (because somehow debris always finds its way in) can get trapped at the next grate, and over time can cause a serious air flow problem. Solid strategy indeed.
Seriously, though, there are ways to make entry into the air ducts more secure. And while it would still present a small potential for air blockage, bars inside the ducts would deter travel.
But when you consider her skills, there’s not much that would stop Nera. You could only hope to slow her down.