Could Telekinesis Ever Become Reality?
A closer look at how future technologies might grant us this magical ability.
Telekinesis is a power that we see very often in books, TV shows, comics and movies. It’s considered a magical ability possessed by wizards and superheroes that cannot be explained by science and the laws of physics. Any and all attempts to prove or simply understand telekinesis have unequivocally relegated it to the realm pseudoscience. But even many mainstream science fiction stories include characters who wield telekinetic powers, perhaps most famously in the Star Wars franchise, in which The Force allows Jedi Knights and Sith Lords to repel enemies, fling projectiles and shoot lightning bolts from their fingertips. With a broad enough definition, even sci-fi concepts such as tractor beams and artificial gravity — employed liberally throughout the entire Star Trek franchise — are also a form of telekinetic power.
The assumption at play is that some future technology that is never fully explained has made it all possible, and we, the audience, need not worry too much about it. But to maintain the credibility of such future worlds, I believe some kind of plausible explanation is in order for what otherwise amounts to magic in science fiction. So let’s take a brief look at what telekinesis is and the physics and technologies that could possibly provide a scientific explanation for these popular sci-fi and fantasy tropes.
Wikipedia defines telekinesis as:
[The] claimed psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction.
That’s a good enough definition, although by calling it “psychic,” it is forced to be a phenomenon of biological origin. And by prohibiting any kind of physical interaction, it inherently suggests that such a phenomenon is not possible within the laws of physics as we know them. For both these reasons, I think this is a bit too narrow of a definition to work with, so I’d first like to broaden it so that we have something to work with.
For our purposes, let’s consider telekinesis to be:
The ability to manipulate matter at will without directly touching it.
If some kind technology is used to mitigate the manipulation of matter, and if some physical interaction occurs that is undetectable enough to appear invisible or entirely absent, that counts so long as the spirit of telekinetic power is captured in the application of the underlying technology. In practice, this might be observed as a person or machine with any of the following powers: moving or deforming objects with human or superhuman strength; changing the temperature of water, air or solid objects, including freezing, melting or evaporating; and affecting the flow of electric current to control or disable electronic devices. From these fundamental manipulations we can construct lots of familiar superhero behaviors, such as flying, which is moving an object (one’s own body) at will with superhuman strength.
Okay, enough preamble. Let’s dig in!
Electromagnetism and Gravity
Manipulations of electromagnetism and gravity are good starting point, as these phenomena are well understood and already deeply integrated into our daily lives.
Physicist Sean Carroll has explored this subject and offered some very interesting thoughts. First of all, “There are only two long-range forces strong enough to influence macroscopic objects — electromagnetism and gravity,” writes Carroll. Others like strong and weak nuclear forces operate within subatomic ranges, and would not come into play. And gravity is too weak relative to the mass of the matter that is involved in a typical telekinesis situation (e.g. Uri Geller’s body and a spoon).While the possibility of some unknown new force being discovered is scientifically plausible, “such [a] new force must either be very short-range…or much weaker than gravity,” which would disqualify it for reasons already discussed. Electromagnetism, says Carroll, cannot be the force behind a person’s claimed telekinetic ability (in its most narrow definition) because it’d be very easy to detect that in such a case.
But if the means employed doesn’t break our definition of telekinesis, and if we actually tried to use electromagnetism to achieve “moving matter at will,” would that work?
Electromagnetism is already a ubiquitous force in the modern world, especially when it comes to making things move: fans, pumps, household appliances, power tools, disk drives, e-bikes and automobiles are powered by electric motors that work because of electromagnetism. Electromagnetic propulsion is a widely adopted technology that can move very big objects, as well. Its most popular use is in maglev trains, which hover above electromagnetic rails that pull the train cars in the desired direction. Other applications include fine control over orbital satellites and magnetohydrodynamic drives that use electrically conductive liquids to propel sea-going ships, planes or spacecraft.
One of my favorite technologies to make clever use of electromagnetism is the Gauss rifle, a.k.a. coilgun. This device uses electromagnetic coils to fire a metallic projectile slug with as much speed and force as a conventional gunpowder weapon.
This is all super cool stuff, but one big problem is that electromagnetism only applies to objects made of ferromagnetic or conducting materials. Furthermore, these technological applications are all purpose built for specific types of movements, not the kind of the general, all-purpose manipulations that we want to have with objects via telekinesis. Having hit a bit of a wall here, let’s take a look at a few other technologies that have a broad range of application and return to electromagnetism a bit later.
Sound Waves
Some scientists have experimented with sound waves to move matter at will, touting this technology as a “real-life tractor beam.” Experiments were conducted using an array of speakers that projected precise patterns of sound waves towards an object, creating pockets of high- and low-pressure air that compelled the target to move. This is how wind works: the atmospheric will always try to find equilibrium by moving air from high-pressure areas low low-pressure areas, bring small or even large objects along for the ride. But these “acoustic force fields” allow more precise manipulation of these of the objects, trapping a target in a cage of high-pressure air or grabbing it with a pair of air tweezers.
This is a great concept, and if we can imagine this technology evolving to robustness in the future, it’s perfectly reasonable that Jedi-like object control could be achieved by speakers blasting precise and powerful sound waves. It would be a noisy, windy affair, but that actually looks and sounds kinda’ cool. There is of course one big disadvantage of this, and why I think the headline “real-life tractor beam” is a bit misleading: This would not work in the vacuum of space, which is virtually the only environment where we have seen sci-fi tractor beams employed.
Lasers
Scientists have experimented with strategies for moving objects at will using lasers, which has lots of potential but plenty of limitations, too.
One strategy involves heating the air around an object with a laser, creating strategic “hot spots”. Air molecules become agitated as they heat up and bounce off the surface of the object, pushing it in the desired direction.
Another group of scientists have used a specialized hollow laser beam to trap an object within a tunnel of heated air, then also heating the air to one side of the object, pushing in the opposite direction along the cooler center of the tunnel. In the experiment, this method was able to move small glass particles five feet, but in theory, could achieve much greater distance.
Yet another experiment has moved objects using a laser that emitted in wave-like shape called a Bessel beam. When this Bessel beam is projected at an angle behind an object, the energy radiated through the wave pattern pushes the object, similar to how ripples in water push surface objects outward.
These technologies are super cool, but at present, can only move objects a very short distance, and have hard limitations on the size, shape and composition of those objects. It’s not hard to imagine this technology improving over time to the point of there being a very small device, either hand-held or as a cybernetic implant, that can move objects according to the operator’s will. While in science-fiction we see lasers as colorful glowing beams, real lasers are mostly invisible except when its light is directly aimed or reflected into the observer’s eye. This would make laser-based tractor beams appear to be magical, achieving the facsimile of telekinesis that we are looking for.
Electromagnetism with Nanoscale Conductivity
Recall the one big limitation with electromagnetism: only ferromagnetic or conductive materials can be be moved, which means mostly metal objects. But if we think about the electrically conductive fluids that power magnetohydrodynamic technologies, maybe there’s a way to turn ordinary objects into conductors. With nanotechnology, it could be possible to strategically infuse our environment with a significant quantity of invisible, nanoscale “mites” (as author Neal Stephenson calls them in The Diamond Age) that could make ordinary fluids conductive. If these mites are distributed in the air and water they could easily work their way into the blood and organic tissue of living organisms, too, making those organisms eligible to be moved by electromagnetic force.
Imagine artificial gravity achieved this way, where a space ship or station’s crew and cargo are infused with conductive mites. Passengers who board such vessels would be floating until they were given some pills or a liquid that makes their bodies compatible with the artificial gravity system. Imagine an electromagnetic escalator that floats you up to the second floor. Or an electromagnetic fishing boat the lifts its catch from the water. Or an electromagnetic farm where crops are sown and harvested by an invisible force. Perhaps even solid objects could be atomically laced with enough conductive materials to be moved at will while still maintaining their inherent molecular identity. It’s a complete future world where technology is invisible and matter everywhere is manipulated by the will of humans. That’s pretty cool.
I like these ideas a lot, and I think the fine line they walk between creativity and remaining rooted in real science is credible enough for explaining the existence and use of telekinetic powers in science fiction.
