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Invade other peoples thoughts for monetary/material gain

66 (25.5%)

Invade other peoples thoughts to exploit their emotions

50 (19.3%)

Learn what other people think of you

70 (27%)

Just do it a little, to see what some selected people think of you

25 (9.7%)

I wouldnt read others minds, its rude

14 (5.4%)

use it for good and get into a law enforcement job to stop bad people/crimes

34 (13.1%)

Total Members Voted: 117

Voting closed: September 24, 2011, 02:28:26 am

[AntiAntiMatter]

I would probably exploit it in a semi-ethical manner for fun, profit, and other such personal benefit, as well as using it for the study of psychology. And, of course, I would milk it for all I could in the field of politics.   

[AllThingsLive]

I would hate to have mind reading powers, wouldn't it drive you insane?
a) Thoughts are conceptual, they aren't words most of the time and you wouldn't be able to understand them.
b) When you do think in words, they're just that, words. Sometimes they don't carry the true feeling. Like if I said "Do not think I want to kill someone" you already subvocalized that and thought it, but you still don't want to kill someone.
c) Listening to everyone's thoughts 24/7 would be literally maddening. I think that would drive anybody insane, but I guess that is something that can be changed, for instance it might be just white noise that you don't really hear until you want to, then you sort of focus in on that, then it wouldn't be so annoying.
If mind reading did just come out as words though, I think I wouldn't have the self restriction to NOT use is abusively, I think I'd end up using it to manipulate people and gain certain things. In the end, that in its own would be maddening, always having that temptation to read a mind and basically cheat yourself of your own personality and real human interaction.

[Itnetlolor]

Uh, I have some things I'm not allowed to do with mind control/reading/writing (compelling or implanting images/speaking/flashing images/etc. through minds) powers even I listed (SEE- What Bay-12ers can no longer do in a RPG thread).

That aside, I have no intention to invade people's minds. Kinda breaks a spiritual level of privacy. Plus, mind reading would be more like shared memory, kinda like how twins, like-minds, or the mythical soulmates can synchronize their thoughts, even when they're not aware they're even doing so. I would imagine that reading thoughts can be photographic (images coming to mind), words (literally reading thoughts, similar to photographic), and inner-speech (the most inside voice which is only audible in-mind (CAUTION: Minds tend to lack "inside voice". They could get loud. If reading or getting photo-flashes and etc. as a safety precaution, please bring with you at least several cc's of brain bleach.)).

If I had reader abilities, I would prefer it to be selective, and up to maybe a small crowd as a limit to retain sanity and comprehension. After all, by my definition, you're sharing minds, and you can only process so many sub-thoughts at the same time.

In any case, I like to encode my thoughts in a sense that I come up with my own language or context system (or make up a fantasy-like alien language; or learn to speak in tongues as a filter). Other times, I just run a crap-ton of random thoughts (marathons of TVTropes, SCP Foundation, and so on works wonders here). And sometimes, I would just think, after thinking randomly for long enough, scare a reader by thinking "I know you're reading my mind. Cut it out or face the consequences for trespassing.", by then I just consdense numerous thoughts at the same time or think up something so nonsensical, not even being high or tripping out would make any sense of it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

None of them have any meaning, but having others, if any, try to figure it out would be both funny to watch, as well as a way to pinpoint a reader. Confuse the hell out of them, and you'll find them.

I think if you were to read my mind if I were not in paranoia mode, my mind would be surfing the internet (or revisiting past visits) or you'll be hearing a bunch of music playing in my head as if I have an MP3 player going off. Or see me coming up with all sorts of random things that, provided the ability, I would want to do or add to certain games (or add to real life).

[eerr]

I would learn what people see.

Their view, if you will.

[lemon10]

It depends on how exactly your mind reading works. If you can only read surface thoughts, or if you can delve deep into their psyche and take whatever you want out. If you read everyone around you's mind constantly, or you have to consciously activate it.
In any case, first I would make money (enough to last me+family my whole life), then, if my mind reading power could delve deep enough, would try to better society (by which I mean the US first, then other countries later) in any way I could, which would presumably involve lots of blackmailing of politicians for votes in the senate, or using the knowledge I gained to reveal what those in power did (and thus get them kicked out).

[ChairmanPoo]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[TheBronzePickle]

I imagine that reading people's minds is sort of like any other sense, in that there could be plenty of 'noise' out there, and it might get loud, but you can learn to zone it out and pick out what you want to focus on, like hearing or seeing.

If a person could read minds, then I'm sure that you'd eventually learn to interpret everything you read, with your mind being able to pick out choice clues (like your name, angry thoughts, things you've never experienced before, etc.).

[Armok]

Most people already have this power. It works by electromagnetic radiation reflecting of the victims frontal head tissue. Everyone tends to use this power indiscriminately for all sorts of bad things, and it is generally considered OK. So if I had an even better version with less limitations presumably I'd do the same kinds of things, just more.

[Criptfeind]

Well that came out of nowhere. Although I have the sneaking suspicion that he might not be joking.

[TheBronzePickle]

You do realize that's just really fancy wording for 'looking at people's facial expressions," right?

[Darvi]

I was wondering when anybody was going to notice that.

[Criptfeind]

You do realize that's just really fancy wording for 'looking at people's facial expressions," right?

I do now.

[Leafsnail]

Well the issue is with invading into thoughts they want to keep private (wheras usually you're aware of the emotions you're expressing on your face).

[TheBronzePickle]

People can only effectively hold their faces for so long. A person's true emotions will eventually start to show through.

Even so, though, having the ability to read thoughts and not just emotions is a lot more valuable.

[Vector]

Dammit, Armok

You made my entire rocky chunk rotation.