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Message no. 1
From: Jai Tao <jdfalk@****.CAIS.COM>
Subject: PSI: Origins
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 14:32:01 -0400
On Tue, 12 Jul 1994, Robert A. Hayden forwarded Tim Skirvin's writings:

> Also, how are Psi's going to be introduced? Another concept, or is
> it going to be just grafted on, and assumed to always exist? The latter
> is just too far against how SRun already works...I'd assume that, instead,
> they were always just casting spells in a slightly different ways. Maybe
> it could just be another discipline, like hermetic or shamanic, for that
> matter...

HISTORY OF PSIONICS IN THE SIXTH WORLD (draft)

By 2050, thermaturgical scientists had finally finished proving
that magic exists according to laws which conventional scientists did not
totally understand. Though this was considered a major breakthrough and
received a lot of media coverage, it still did not answer the underlying
question of how magic _acutally_ works to the satisfaction of the largely
mundane (non-magical) general scientific community.
At this point, a small number of papers were released which
showed something even more confusing. While testing large numbers of
people who had proven themselves to be magically active, researchers at
MIT&T had discovered that not all "mages" used the same -- or even
similar -- methods to acheive similar effects.
Much of this could be explained by the differences between
hermetic and shamanic practices, so they removed all shamanic mages from
the test group and tried again. And again. And again.
After some time, it was found that the majority of the so-called
hermetic mages worked according to well-known and mostly understood
formulae, gathering their energy from the Astral plane. But some neither
followed these formulae _or_ used Astral energy. As if that wasn't
enough of a surprise, it was found that the more powerful of this type
could access and travel through Astral space just like any other mage!
Through continued research, a new magic-like discipline was
discovered, which is called Psionics becuase the energy seems to come
mainly from the persons' own mind. There are very few people, human or
metahuman, with Psionic abilities -- though some of the figures may be
attributed to general ignorance of the differences between Hermetic magic
and Psionic abilities, it is generally thought that the development of
Psionics is unrelated to The Awakening, and has actually been an ongoing
process throughout the history of mankind.
Message no. 2
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: PSI: Origins
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 14:51:59 +0100
[...draft deleted to save space...]

Needs to talk about the missing 90% of consciousness
Psionics is much more 'scientific' than magic and can be much easierly
documented.
Generally just needs more detail :-)

Otherwise, kool.

____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@******.mankato.msus.edu
\ /__ -=-=-=-=- <=> -=-=-=-=-
\/ / Finger for Geek Code Info <=> I do not necessarily speak for the
\/ Finger for PGP Public Key <=> City of Mankato or Blue Earth County
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
(GEEK CODE 1.0.1) GAT d- -p+(---) c++(++++) l++ u++ e+/* m++(*)@ s-/++
n-(---) h+(*) f+ g+ w++ t++ r++ y+(*)
Message no. 3
From: Ivy Ryan <ivyryan@***.EFN.ORG>
Subject: Re: PSI: Origins
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 14:31:15 -0700
Jai Tao, That "History of the Discovery of Psionics" was great!

Ivy
Message no. 4
From: Jai Tao <jdfalk@****.CAIS.COM>
Subject: Re: PSI: Origins
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 18:00:12 -0400
On Tue, 12 Jul 1994, Robert A. Hayden wrote:

> Needs to talk about the missing 90% of consciousness
I've always had a pet theory that the other 90% of the human
brainpower is really just grape jello.

> Psionics is much more 'scientific' than magic and can be much easierly
> documented.
> Generally just needs more detail :-)
Agreed...thus, take my draft as an extremely rough if
well-intentioned draft, and let's have everybody pick it apart and
re-write it in such a way that nobody is totally satisfied.

"We all agree that your theory is mad. /-----------------\
The problem which divides us is this: | J.D. Falk |
is it sufficiently crazy to be right?" | jdfalk@****.com |
-Dr. Neils Bohr \-----------------/
Message no. 5
From: Jai Tao <jdfalk@****.CAIS.COM>
Subject: PSI: Origins (fwd)
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 1994 01:12:01 -0400
Just in case it doesn't quite fit in with any new ideas we've
had, here's my original history message again. I feel honored that it
seems to have been taken verbatim by everybody -- there's got to be
_something_ wrong with it besides needing more detail in a few areas!
So, lets pick it apart, and come up with a better draft.

"So, suck on a little J.D., buddy!"
--Tom Servo, MST3K "King Dinosaur"

J.D. Falk <jdfalk@****.com>
(Excuse me if I sound pissed -- my best friend is making a gigantic
mistake and I'm going to have to help her get over him when he dumps her
again. Please don't ask; I just wanted to explain.)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 14:32:01 -0400
From: Jai Tao <jdfalk@****.CAIS.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list SHADOWRN <SHADOWRN@*****.NIC.SURFNET.NL>
Subject: PSI: Origins

On Tue, 12 Jul 1994, Robert A. Hayden forwarded Tim Skirvin's writings:

> Also, how are Psi's going to be introduced? Another concept, or is
> it going to be just grafted on, and assumed to always exist? The latter
> is just too far against how SRun already works...I'd assume that, instead,
> they were always just casting spells in a slightly different ways. Maybe
> it could just be another discipline, like hermetic or shamanic, for that
> matter...

HISTORY OF PSIONICS IN THE SIXTH WORLD (draft)

By 2050, thermaturgical scientists had finally finished proving
that magic exists according to laws which conventional scientists did not
totally understand. Though this was considered a major breakthrough and
received a lot of media coverage, it still did not answer the underlying
question of how magic _acutally_ works to the satisfaction of the largely
mundane (non-magical) general scientific community.
At this point, a small number of papers were released which
showed something even more confusing. While testing large numbers of
people who had proven themselves to be magically active, researchers at
MIT&T had discovered that not all "mages" used the same -- or even
similar -- methods to acheive similar effects.
Much of this could be explained by the differences between
hermetic and shamanic practices, so they removed all shamanic mages from
the test group and tried again. And again. And again.
After some time, it was found that the majority of the so-called
hermetic mages worked according to well-known and mostly understood
formulae, gathering their energy from the Astral plane. But some neither
followed these formulae _or_ used Astral energy. As if that wasn't
enough of a surprise, it was found that the more powerful of this type
could access and travel through Astral space just like any other mage!
Through continued research, a new magic-like discipline was
discovered, which is called Psionics becuase the energy seems to come
mainly from the persons' own mind. There are very few people, human or
metahuman, with Psionic abilities -- though some of the figures may be
attributed to general ignorance of the differences between Hermetic magic
and Psionic abilities, it is generally thought that the development of
Psionics is unrelated to The Awakening, and has actually been an ongoing
process throughout the history of mankind.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about PSI: Origins, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!