The Evolutionary Import of psi

Evolution proceeds by the natural selection of well-adapted individuals over a span of many generations. How might psi phenomena such as telepathy, levitation and psychokinesis bring evolutionary advantages to those who possess them? How might psi-persons and their offspring triumph over the psi-less in the remorseless fight for scarce resources?

Telepathy is the direct transmission of messages, emotions, or other subjective states from one person to another without the use of any sensory channel of communication. Telepathic psi-persons and their offspring would be expected to have distinct evolutionary advantages.

Levitation is the act or process of levitating; in particular, the rising or lifting of a person or thing by non-natural forces. An immediate advantage would accrue to levitating psi-persons. They could float about their business in 3 dimensions whilst the psi-less would be condemned to muddle along on a plane.

This would lead to increased punctuality at work, bringing the psi-person to the attention of the management and leading to rapid career advancement. This in turn would bring greater economic leverage to this group and significantly increase their chances of survival.

Psychokinesis refers to the ability to affect objects at a distance by means other than known physical forces or the apparent direct action of mind over matter. Psychokinetically endowed Psi-persons would be able to change TV channels without moving from the couch even when they have lost the remote control.

They could also transport sandwiches and beer from the fridge to the couch rather than having to go and fetch them.

Across many generations what physical changes could be expected to accompany these evolutionary advantages? The physical features associated with talking, hearing, manipulating objects and moving along the ground would be redundant and we can expect mouths, ears, legs, hands and arms to disappear. The evolutionarily successful psi-person may resemble a sphere, perhaps with an non-functional eye socket or two as a throwback to the time when food had to be discovered, dangers avoided and obstacles circumnavigated. If the psi-less did survive, then they would find it hard to compete with the psi-people.

However, they could at least amuse themselves by having the occasional game of football with a less than vigilant psi-person.