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Psionics are a group of psychic abilities which use the mind to induce paranormal phenomena, including telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, electrokinesis and others. Alleged practitioners of psionics are called psychics, and sometimes refer to themselves as psions. Parapsychology, considered by the scientific community to be a pseudoscience begun around 1889, aims to study psionic and other supernatural claims.

Psionics appear regularly in fantasy fiction, such as in the novel The Dead Zone by Stephen King. A large industry exists whereby psychics provide advice and counsel to clients.

Despite over a century of research, there is no evidence that psionic abilities exist.

Etymology

B. P. Wiesner and Robert H. Thouless first proposed the term "psi" in 1942 as a more general term to include both extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. The original terminology proposal divided psi into psi-gamma, for cases of cognition, and psi-kappa, for cases of action. These terms were later modified into "passive psi" and "active psi".

In 1952, John W. Campbell proposed the term "psionics", from psi (‘psyche’) and the ending -onics from electronics (machine), which implied that the paranormal powers of the mind could be made to work reliably.

Psionics as a practice

Some religions teach that psionic gifts can be given to worthy practitioners, deities, saints, and apostles in order to assist in following their religious dictates, including proselytizing.

Many communities exist on the internet claiming to be psychic and to be able to instruct their members in the ways of psychokinesis and ESP, the first of which being Psi Palatium in 1997.

Fiction

Psionic abilities appear frequently in science fiction, where the genre is sometimes referred to as "psience fiction", "psi fiction", or simply "psi-fi". The treatment of psionics in fiction varies dramatically, similar to magic in fiction, and it is often deeply entwined with other paranormal phenomena.

In science fiction settings, the term psionic is often used as a substitute for magic, providing characters with abilities normally seen in the fantasy genre. Consequently, psionics usually appear in contemporary or futuristic settings in literature, and sometimes in medieval fantasy settings in role-playing games.

The most widely utilized psionic ability in fiction is telepathy, which is often attributed cultures which are either magical or technologically advanced. In this respect, the Vulcans from Star Trek were given limited telepathic abilities in order to make them appear more otherworldly. Psionic abilities are sometimes displayed by literary characters who are in process of transcending their physical existence, such as in the science fiction classic Childhood's End.

Psionics appear in fantasy and science fiction video games, including XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Sins of a Solar Empire, StarCraft and System Shock 2. They also appear in movies and television, including Star Wars, Resident Evil: Extinction and Babylon 5, novels, including Stranger in a Strange Land and many of H.P. Lovecraft and James H. Schmitz's stories, comics and anime, including Judge Dredd and manga, and tabletop games, such as Warhammer 40,000 and Dungeons and Dragons.

Psionics are a popular device in role-playing games, video games, board games, and other forms of gaming, often as a substitute for magic. In Tolkienesque fantasy games, where a magic system is already in place, psionics are often introduced to provide an alternative system that functions differently from existing magic systems. The first role-playing game to use the term psionics was Traveller, published by GDW in 1977.

See also

• List of psychic abilities
• List of superhuman features and abilities in fiction
• Psionics (role-playing games)

References

1. Melton, J. G. (1996). Parapsychology. In Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-9487-2.
2. Matthew Nisbet (May–June 1998). "Psychic telephone networks profit on yearning, gullibility". Skeptical Inquirer.
3. Cordón, Luis A. (2005). Popular psychology: an encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 182. ISBN 0-313-32457-3. The essential problem is that a large portion of the scientific community, including most research psychologists, regards parapsychology as a pseudoscience, due largely to its failure to move beyond null results in the way science usually does. Ordinarily, when experimental evidence fails repeatedly to support a hypothesis, that hypothesis is abandoned. Within parapsychology, however, more than a century of experimentation has failed even to conclusively demonstrate the mere existence of paranormal phenomenon, yet parapsychologists continue to pursue that elusive goal.
4. "Glossary of Psi (Parapsychological) Terms (L-R)". Parapsych.org. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
5. "The History of Psi". Forums.vsociety.net. 2005-06-23. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
6. "Psionics". Davidszondy.com. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
7. "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
8. "Psionics Institute". Psionics Institute. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
9. "Basic Construct Design and Programming « Psion Guild". Psionguild.org. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
10. "Article Abstracts: #60 (Special Section: Hard Science Fiction)". Depauw.edu. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
11. Poul Anderson. "Fantasy in the Age of Science", p 270, Fantasy ISBN 48-51518

• Paranormal terminology
• Psychic powers