History Main / ElectronicTelepathy

* This is how the MISAKA clones maintain their HiveMind in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', using their inherent [[ShockAndAwe electricity-manipulation powers]] to act as living radio transceivers. While Mikoto (who they were cloned from) is theoretically able to do it as well since she is stronger and has far greater control than them, she doesn't have the proper training to be able to interface with the network.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

* In ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'', implants are put into the girls' "speech centers" so that even after their InvoluntaryTransformation and losing their ability to speak, they can communicate via radio. Usually, it's just like speaking out loud, but when they reach hard enough, they have mental projections of their human bodies meeting in a BlankWhiteVoid. They do not trust that they aren't being overheard, so they try to make little use of it.

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* In ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'' this is one of the many advantages of having a cyberbrain. Characters can communicate with each other without physically speaking, which is useful if you are trying to keep quiet to avoid detection or eavesdroppers. Of course, wirelessly broadcast connections are open to being spied on, so for very important conversations cyborgs sometimes directly connect to one another using cables. In one episode of ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]'', Batou and the Major even keep a conversation hidden from the Tachikomas by hiding their cyber-telepathic communication and using their actual lips to have a completely different conversation -- at the same time!
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' and its many sequels has the Psycommu ("'''Psy'''chic '''Commu'''nicator") system, a machine designed to pick up the psychic emanations from Newtypes and use them as a means of communication. This allows a Newtype to control a properly equipped machine by thought alone, and is usually used to explain how the pilots are able to control the various kinds of AttackDrones.

* Steve Dayton of ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' developed a helmet that granted him telepathic and telekinetic abilities to become the superhero Mento. The helmet initially had negative effects.
* Early iterations of ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' had a "mental radio" that allowed Diana to communicate telepathically with the Amazons on Paradise Island. As shown repeatedly in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'', Di could make "calls" without a radio due to her own mild telepathy, but with the radio even normal humans like Etta Candy and Steve Trevor could use telepathic communications, so long as whoever they were contacting picked up on their own mental radio.

* ''Fanfic/ACertainDrollHivemind'': How the titular HiveMind communicates.
* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. Captain Janeway and Tech Lieutenant [=TuV'k=] use the Martian ''melding-of-minds'' to form a MindMeld with Nee'Lix [[UniversalTranslator as they lack a common language]]. As [=TuV'k=] is the only [[TelepathicSpacemen Martian]] of the three, he uses a portable [[Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle encephalo-adjuster]] wired to copper skullcaps placed on everyone's heads.

* ''Film/DemolitionMan'': In the future, people use this for having sex. The idea of doing it the normal way disgusts them (partly out of prudishness, and partly because there were apparently numerous additional HIV-type outbreaks in the intervening decades).

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' the Chee, a race of alien androids, basically have their own private internet so that they can communicate with each other over distances. This proves useful in book #27 when they're all paralyzed at once, since Erek can at least tell the Animorphs what the others know about the situation.
* The soldiers in ''Literature/OldMansWar'' have a computer embedded in their brain which lets them do this.
* This form of telepathy is used in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' novel series by [[TheCracker cybreakers]] to enter the mind of another person via implants that everyone has in their brains. They can read thoughts, conduct MindRape, and even fry the victim's brain. Actual {{telepathy}} exists in this [[TheVerse 'verse]] but is natural only to the {{Insect|oidAliens}} race. Certain brain scanners are also able to translate EEG scans into roughly-approximated thoughts based on a chart developed for all humans.
* In ''Literature/HeartOfSteel'', Alistair Mechanus has a mental link with his robots and his computer network through his cybernetic implants.
* In ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'', when entering Dr. Sam's mind thanks to drugs and virtual reality, Lauren and Kristen communicate with each other using digital telepathy, thanks to nanobots reading their brain activity by sending wireless signals when entering inside dilated brain vessels acting therefore like mini MRI machines.
* ''Literature/{{Eldraeverse}}'': The {{Precursors}} genetically engineered the [[SpaceElves eldrae]] to have organic radio transmitters in their brains.

* In ''Literature/TheEmpressGame'', Dolan's specialty using technology to replicate, enhance, and deploy Wyrd telepathy. The things he did with it, though, caused him to be stripped of his own psi powers and exiled. [[spoiler:They didn't seem to consider that his technology might allow him to regain his powers]].

* ''Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries'' by Creator/AlastairReynolds: The Conjoiners have this. In an early war against unaltered humans, they would forcibly implant the equipment into their prisoners, who generally thought "I am everyone! I know everything! Awesome!"
* In ''Literature/TheMazeRunner'' series, Thomas, Teresa, Rachel and Aris acquired their telepathic abilities via devices which were implanted in their brains (along with the devices which WICKED use to control their subjects and wipe their memories) when they were pre-adolescents.
* ''Literature/TheMurderbotDiaries'': This is effectively a feature of the ubiquitous communication implants that let people transmit multimedia messages directly; and collectively this background communication field is referred to as "the feed". It's actually one of the least-defined parts of the world, but ever-present (much like how a story set in the modern day would not stop to explain the underpinning of smartphones), with the characters or narrator never stopping to explain it, but occasionally discussing it's limitations, such as the inability to deliver software or remotely hack bots over the feed. Messages in the feed are usually akin to text messages or emails, but Murderbot once drops a complex decision tree into its conversation partners' feeds for debate, leaving them squinting. Murderbot also discusses how humans and bots use the feed differently, with humans sub-vocalizing spoken words and "speaking" in the feed, but bots use images and strings of text data to communicate.
* In ''Literature/MyTeacherIsAnAlien,'' Kreeblim captures Duncan and paralyzes him with some sort of force field, then puts a machine on his head that allows her to hear his thoughts. Shortly after, he's able to communicate with Peter (who chose to StayWithTheAliens) while he's also using alien technology.
* Radio telepathy in ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'' is this. Implants are put into the girls' "speech centers" so that even after their InvoluntaryTransformation and losing their ability to speak they can communicate. Usually it's just like speaking out loud, but when they reach hard enough they have mental projections of their human bodies meeting in a BlankWhiteVoid. They do not trust that they aren't being overheard, so they try to make little use of it.

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', the team creates a device to let them access the mind of someone to get some critical information. Harry later modifies it so he can transmit his thoughts and feelings about his late wife to their daughter, since he's notoriously bad regarding talking about his emotions.
* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', the Rossum Corporation developed a breed of HiveMind-ed {{Super Soldier}}s who communicated this way. However, the hive mind had a weakness in that [[spoiler:if someone else could tap into it, they could royally screw up the mental communication between soldiers]].
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In the episode "Living Hell", a doctor saves a wounded man's life by implanting an experimental neutral transmitter in his brain. A side effect of this is that he can now see the thoughts of an elusive serial killer who was given the same implant and had faked his own death afterwards.

** Technomancers have a mind that access the Matrix naturally, and hence can do everything that a link or deck does, and much more. They also have the ability to upgrade their powers to interact with other devices with a touch, and hence communicate "electroically" through skin-on-skin contact with other technos with the skinlink ability. They can also get an ability to have a true, one-way telepathic link to other technos, which can be used in the opposite direction for a full telepathic link.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Mindjammer}}'' has a whole list of "technopsi" abilities that are used through the Mindscape.

* Usage of the Codec has become as such by the time of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', speaking in a {{nanomachine|s}}-based language while appearing to be silent. On multiple occasions, Raiden uses nanocommunication to speak to others and prevent the {{Big Bad}} and his {{mook}}s from listening in.

* Shows up in ''VisualNovel/BaldrSky'' as a form of communication that many characters use (referred to as chanting) when they don't want others hearing what they have to say or when in a situation where they don't want to make too much noise.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* It's never spelled out, but this appears to be how the Martians' collective consciousness works in ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience'': [[SubspaceAnsible faster-than-light communications gear]] (which may or may not be the same thing as the radio communication demonstrated on numerous occasions) incorporated into the [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotech]] that suffuses their bodies.
* One of the "upgrades" that CORE soldiers in ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' can get. The "standard" [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20090908.html cochlear implant]] requires the user to speak audibly, but the experimental nanotech implants Tessa's squad received don't have that limitation.

** One of the relatively minor characters is from a species that evolved a natural form of this, specifically an organic radio transmitter/receiver. The one shown has a single consciousness split across two bodies, and with a little added hardware to enable communication via [[SubspaceAnsible hyperspace nodes]] his range is extended to the point where he can pilot two separate tanks simultaneously with a level of tactical co-ordination that normally only an AI can manage.

* In ''Webcomic/AGirlAndHerFed'', Agents can communicate this way via their [[BrainComputerInterface implant]].
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': Referenced when Annie [[PaperThinDisguise impersonates]] a robot to infiltrate a robot-run administration centre and has a [[https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=212 conversation]] with the receptionist:
--> '''Receptionist:''' You realize I could have told you all this in about 1/25[[superscript:th]] of a second if you'd had a communications port installed.

* In ''Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers'', Dragonstorm has an entire "thought network" which is exactly this. [[TheMole Mole]] Shelton brings some of the chips for the main characters to use.
* In ''Literature/{{Starsnatcher}}'', this is the dominant form of communication among [[StarfishAliens The Seizers]] (prior, they used touch-based communication). It is accomplished through microcomputers in their brains that transmit radio signals. When Lucas got on their moon, they had to trap him for several days to get enough MRI scans for a version calibrated to the human brain.

* The Mindnet device in ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers''. It was used mostly to crank up the abilities of existing psychics (The Queen and Niko), but was used by Nimrod during "Battle of the Bandits" to stupefy an audience already ensnared by ThePowerOfRock.
* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' the five lions that form voltorn are explicitly said to be able to link with their pilot's minds allowing for more fluid control and the ability for the pilot to see through their lion's eyes.

This form of telepathy is different from others in that it does not allow MindReading, since a person must be actively transmitting a signal in order for another to receive it. However, it is possible for an enterprising cyborg to "mind hack" another user of an implant and monitor their thoughts without their permission, similar to infecting a computer with spyware.

* Electric Anime/{{Pokemon}} are sometimes shown to communicate this way, such as [[Anime/Pokemon2000 Pikachu and Zapdos]], or Pikachu and Dedenne.

** Since Akira has a BioAugmentation wireless BrainComputerInterface, he frequently does telepathy with his A.I. VirtualSidekick Alpha. Akira uses his equivalent of BulletTime for talking to her super fast this way. Images and video are also occasionally sent (Alpha one time ImagineSpotting). The two's chatter is sometimes overheard. Akira eventually does this with another DifferentlyPoweredIndividual of the same type, the PlayfulHacker Shirou, whom he sets up a PsychicLink allowing for NeuralImplanting and SeeingThroughAnothersEyes.

* Early iterations of Franchise/WonderWoman had a "mental radio" that allowed Diana to communicate telepathically with the Amazons on Paradise Island. As shown repeatedly in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'' Di could make "calls" without a radio due to her own mild telepathy, but with the radio even normal humans like ComicBook/EttaCandy and ComicBook/SteveTrevor could use telepathic communications, so long as whoever they were contacting picked up on their own mental radio.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

* ''Film/FlashGordon1980'' had devices that allowed for long-distance telepathic communication.
* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': [[spoiler:Apex uses this to allow Ren Serizawa to control Mechagodzilla, via a satellite broadcasting array connected to the last surviving head of '''''King Ghidorah'''''. Ghidorah [[HijackedByGanon hijacks this link]] in the finale, so that he can fight Godzilla]].

* In ''Series/Supergirl2015'' episode [[Recap/Supergirl2015S3E10LegionOfSuperHeroes "Legion of Super-Heroes"]], a piece of 31st century technology is used to allow Brainiac 5 to enter [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]]'s mind. He's even able to do that while far from Kara's physical location.

* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', the Rossum Corporation developed a breed of HiveMind-ed {{Super Soldier}}s who communicated this way. However, the hive mind had a weakness in that [[spoiler: if someone else could tap into it, they could royally screw up the mental communication between soldiers.]]
* While being interrogated in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' series, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E7TheSpaceMuseum The Space Museum]]", the Doctor is put up against [[MentalPictureProjector a device that can transmit his thoughts onto a screen]]. The intent is to get answers based on what the Doctor thinks when asked a question, regardless of what he says out loud. It fails, as the Doctor just transmits images of random things such as an old-style big-wheeled bicycle when asked how he got there.

* One of the "upgrades" that CORE soldiers in ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' can get.

* This is how the MISAKA clones maintain their HiveMind in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', using their inherent [[ShockAndAwe electricity-manipulation powers]] to act as living radio transceivers. While Mikoto (who they were cloned from) is theoretically able to do it as well since she is stronger and has far greater control than them, she doesn't have the proper training to be able to interface with the network.

* Early iterations of Franchise/WonderWoman had a "mental radio" that allowed Diana to communicate telepathically with the Amazons on Paradise Island. As shown repeatedly in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'' Di could make "calls" without a radio due to her own mild telepathy, but with the radio even normal humans like [[Characters/WonderWomanEttaCandy Etta Candy]] and ComicBook/SteveTrevor could use telepathic communications, so long as whoever they were contacting picked up on their own mental radio.

* Early iterations of Franchise/WonderWoman had a "mental radio" that allowed Diana to communicate telepathically with the Amazons on Paradise Island. As shown repeatedly in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'' Di could make "calls" without a radio due to her own mild telepathy, but with the radio even normal humans like [[Characters/WonderWomanEttaCandy Etta Candy]] and [[Characters/WonderWomanSteveTrevor Steve Trevor]] could use telepathic communications, so long as whoever they were contacting picked up on their own mental radio.

* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' this is one of the many advantages of having a cyberbrain. Characters can communicate with each other without physically speaking, which is useful if you are trying to keep quiet to avoid detection or eavesdroppers. Of course, wirelessly broadcast connections are open to being spied on, so for very important conversations cyborgs sometimes directly connect to one another using cables. In one episode of ''Stand Alone Complex'', Batou and the Major even keep a conversation hidden from the Tachikomas by hiding their cyber-telepathic communication and using their actual lips to have a completely different conversation -- at the same time!

* Early iterations of Franchise/WonderWoman had a "mental radio" that allowed Diana to communicate telepathically with the Amazons on Paradise Island. As shown repeatedly in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'' Di could make "calls" without a radio due to her own mild telepathy, but with the radio even normal humans like Etta Candy and ComicBook/SteveTrevor could use telepathic communications, so long as whoever they were contacting picked up on their own mental radio.

* This form of telepathy is used in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' novel series by [[TheCracker cybreakers]] to enter the mind of another person via implants that everyone has in their brains. They can read thoughts, conduct MindRape, and even fry the victim's brain. Actual [[PsychicPowers telepathy]] exists in this [[TheVerse 'verse]] but is natural only to the [[BugWar Insect]] race. Certain brain scanners are also able to translate EEG scans into roughly-approximated thoughts based on a chart developed for all humans.

* In ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'', when entering Dr. Sam's mind thanks to drugs and Virtual Reality, Lauren and Kristen communicates with each other using digital telepathy, thanks to nanobots reading their brain activity by sending wireless signals when entering inside dilated brain vessels acting therefore like mini MRI machines.

* In ''Literature/AncillaryJustice'', this is used to link the cybernetic ancillaries to their ship’s HiveMind and used in a similar manner by the emporer, who is a HiveMind of linked clones. To a lesser extent, Radchaai ships and station can also use this to read the perceptions and emotions sent by implants in their human inhabitants, and ability Breq keeps from her time as a ship.
* In ''Literature/TheEmpressGame'', Dolan's speciality using technology to replicate, enhance, and deploy Wyrd telepathy. The things he did with it, though, caused him to be stripped of his own psi powers and exiled. [[spoiler:They didn't seem to consider that his technology might allow him to regain his powers]].

* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', the Rossum Corporation developed a breed of HiveMind-ed {{supersoldier}}s who communicated this way. However, the hive mind had a weakness in that [[spoiler: if someone else could tap into it, they could royally screw up the mental communication between soldiers.]]
* While being interrogated in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' series, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E7TheSpaceMuseum The Space Museum]]", the Doctor is put up against a device that can transmit his thoughts onto a screen. The intent is to get answers based on what the Doctor thinks when asked a question, regardless of what he says out loud. It fails, as the Doctor just transmits images of random things such as an old-style big-wheeled bicycle when asked how he got there.

* Usage of the Codec has become as such by the time of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', speaking in a {{nanomachine}}-based language while appearing to be silent. On multiple occasions, Raiden uses nanocommunication to speak to others and prevent the {{Big Bad}} and his {{mook}}s from listening in.

* It's never spelled out, but this appears to be how the Martians' collective consciousness works in ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience'': faster-than-light communications gear (which may or may not be the same thing as the radio communication demonstrated on numerous occasions) incorporated into the [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotech]] that suffuses their bodies.

--> '''Receptionist:''' You realize I could have told you all this in about 1/25[[superscript:th]] of a second if You'd had a communications port installed.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. Captain Janeway and Tech Lieutenant [=TuV'k=] use the Martian ''melding-of-minds'' to form a MindMeld with Nee'Lix [[UniversalTranslator as they lack a common language]]. As [=TuV'k=] is the only [[TelepathicSpacemen Martian]] of the three, he uses a portable [[Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle encephalo-adjuster]].

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. Captain Janeway and Tech Lieutenant [=TuV'k=] use the Martian ''melding-of-minds'' to form a MindMeld with Nee'Lix [[UniversalTranslator as they lack a common language]]. As [=TuV'k=] is the only TelepathicSpaceman of the three, he uses a portable [[Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle encephalo-adjuster]].

Electronic Telepathy, or ''e-telepathy'', is a sub-trope of {{Telepathy}}. In most cases, characters using telepathic powers will do so by using some kind of supernatural force or a highly evolved biological mechanism that comes thanks to being a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien. However, in some cases, a character will have no natural or supernatural telepathic ability and instead use a NeuralInterface to gain this power. In this form of telepathy, thoughts are converted from impulses in the brain (electric activity produced by neuron reaction potentials) into digital signals that can then be broadcast artificially to another e-telepath using radio waves or some other form of wireless communication. Obviously, this can lead to MentalFusion or even a HiveMind, just as non-technological telepathy can.

* Steve Dayton developed a helmet that granted him telepathic and telekinetic abilities to become the superhero Mento. The helmet initially had negative effects.

* Shows up in ''VisualNovel/BaldrSky'' as a form of commination that many characters use when they don't want others hearing what they have to say or when in a situation where they don't want to make too much noise.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun]]'' has had this roughly since 4th edition onwards.

*** Implanted links and decks are considered [[AwesomeButImpractical cool in concept, but stupid in practice]], both in and out of the universe. It renders the hardware virtually inaccessible, meaning each time you need a repair or a routine upgrade (roughly every one or two years), you need to get brain surgery, a risky and distasteful proposition even with the advanced medicine in the cyberpunk future. It might be an acceptable tradeoff for the average working joe, but for shadowrunners who need to replace and repair gear regularly, this is incredibly impractical. There are workarounds, though. Repair nanites can be used as an addon, but can get expensive. Additionally, they can by incorporated into a cybernetic skull or half-skull, keeping the connections to the brain, but allowing easier access to the hardware for repair or replacing.

* One of the relatively minor characters in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' is from a species that evolved a natural form of this, specifically an organic radio transmitter/receiver. The one shown has a single consciousness split across two bodies, and with a little added hardware to enable communication via [[SubspaceAnsible hyperspace nodes]] his range is extended to the point where he can pilot two separate tanks simultaneously with a level of tactical co-ordination that normally only an AI can manage.

* Early iterations of Wonder Woman had a "mental radio" that allowed Diana to communicate telepathically with the Amazons on Paradise Island.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' this is how "thought-speak" works for everyone but the Leerans, whose psychic abilities are strong enough that they MindRead anyone nearby.
** The Chee, a race of alien androids, basically have their own private internet so that they can communicate with each other over distances. This proves useful in book #27 when they're all paralyzed at once, since Erek can at least tell the Animorphs what the others know about the situation.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' the main characters can send thought messages when they're in morph. The cube that gave them the morphing power apparently gives this ability to anyone who uses it.

* ''Literature/TheMurderbotDiaries'': This is effectively a feature of the ubiquitous communication implants that let people transmit multimedia messages directly. They're usually akin to text messages or emails, but the title character once drops a complex decision tree into its conversation partners' feeds for debate, leaving them squinting.