Do twins share a telepathic link ?

[UM-Bot]

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

It has long been speculated that identical twins share a telepathic link, in a recent college entrance examination in China twin girls received exactly the same score prompting an investigation in to their potential telepathic bond.

"Do twins have telepathy? When twin sisters got the same scores on this year's national college entrance examination, villagers in Shaoxing, east China's Zhejiang Province started to wonder if the girls read one another's minds, according to a story on Zjol.com. "

View: Full Article | Source: Xinhuanet

[DevilDogPratt]

my teacher's friends were identical twins, and one of them was having horrible tooth aches and went to the dentists many times, but it turned up nothing. then, the other one went to the dentist, and he found a horrible cavity, in the same spot that the brother felt pain, but he felt nothing

[Sweetpumper]

I have some cousins that had that connection early in their lives. Not sure about now.

[+DieChecker]

I'm an identical twin. I have never experienced telepathy. But our minds both worked exactly the same. I can still finish his sentances and he can finish mine. We were a lot more in synch in Grade School. We both tended to Rebel against each other instead of our parents in High School.

[Mbyte]

I'm an identical twin. I have never experienced telepathy. But our minds both worked exactly the same. I can still finish his sentences and he can finish mine. We were a lot more in sync in Grade School. We both tended to Rebel against each other instead of our parents in High School.

I think that would be a sign of telepathy. In sync! The article is about Chinese twins that got the same scores. That too is some form of synchronization. The thing about psychic ability is that you don't realize it's a psychic vision or a telepathic suggestion. They both appear as a thought in your head, it's almost impossible to tell the difference. The only way to know if it's a psychic thought or telepathic if it just pops into your head and wasn't triggered by a previous thought.

[Kaikou]

I think they do share a link in some ways, I just think that there are too many cases of it reported for it to be completely fabricated. Although granted, I suppose some of the storys of it are made up.

[OilFight]

I think it's just a case of two individuals sharing an almost identical biology, family history, and experiences. Identical twins is actually one of the reasons why I don't think free will exists. The more similar their experiences, generally, the more alike they are. This points to the possibility that all that we are is determined by just the physical world around us, and our own genetics. If that's true, then we are completely controlled by causation... every decision we ever make will have been pre-determined. If it's pre-determined by outside factors, then I don't really see that as our decision, but rather as a reaction to stimuli.

[Cryptid_Control]

ya, it might just be that they know the same stuff and studied together before the test.

maybe because they lived together all their lives they just knew the same things.

although it would be cool if they did have twin-telepathy it could also just be a coincedence

though.

[meankitty]

I think it's just a case of two individuals sharing an almost identical biology, family history, and experiences. Identical twins is actually one of the reasons why I don't think free will exists. The more similar their experiences, generally, the more alike they are. This points to the possibility that all that we are is determined by just the physical world around us, and our own genetics. If that's true, then we are completely controlled by causation... every decision we ever make will have been pre-determined. If it's pre-determined by outside factors, then I don't really see that as our decision, but rather as a reaction to stimuli.

Am I the only one who does not follow this... uh... for the lack of a better word... reasoning?

[Lt_Ripley]

I find interesting the stories of twins separated at birth , adopted out , and then led very similar lives while never knowing the other existed .

Identical Twins Separated at Birth

[Mbyte]

I remember the story posted in the bizarre news here about the twins, one male and the other female. They too were seperated at birth and both ended up marrying each other. They soon realized something wasn't right and eventually a DNA test showed they were twins.

The interesting thing about causality and all we are is predetermined then why do you feel the need to tell people this? it doesn't make a diffrence. This means that we don't mean anything and thus can't achieve anything then we have nothing to do. If we have no choice then the meaning of life is beyond us because we can't do anything. YOu will find that if you believe this you would most likely be miserable but if you were to believe this wasn't true and you have free will then life can be great. Of course if you life is great then it's predetermined, nothing at all to do with your choice. It is logical to try and prove free will. Not having free will doesn't do anything, we are then the same a rocks.

Edited June 30, 2009 by Mbyte

[Juanita Rose Violini]

I think it's amusing when people wonder about telepathy when it happens ALL THE TIME. And I do mean constantly. It just isn't recognized as such.

And this is a GREAT quote that was posted above:

"At it's most basic level, science is supposed to represent the investigation of the unexplained, not the explaination of the uninvestigated."

- Hunt for the Skinwalker

[Lt_Ripley]

I remember the story posted in the bizarre news here about the twins, one male and the other female. They too were seperated at birth and both ended up marrying each other. They soon realized something wasn't right and eventually a DNA test showed they were twins.

The interesting thing about causality and all we are is predetermined then why do you feel the need to tell people this? it doesn't make a diffrence. This means that we don't mean anything and thus can't achieve anything then we have nothing to do. If we have no choice then the meaning of life is beyond us because we can't do anything. YOu will find that if you believe this you would most likely be miserable but if you were to believe this wasn't true and you have free will then life can be great. Of course if you life is great then it's predetermined, nothing at all to do with your choice. It is logical to try and prove free will. Not having free will doesn't do anything, we are then the same a rocks.

that's only your opinion. It all depends how you look at it.

if there is such a thing as God , all knowing ect ........... then free will , choice , is just an illusion but a needed one to lead a human existence if we are here for the experience.

[Codehook]

I think it's just a case of two individuals sharing an almost identical biology, family history, and experiences. Identical twins is actually one of the reasons why I don't think free will exists. The more similar their experiences, generally, the more alike they are. This points to the possibility that all that we are is determined by just the physical world around us, and our own genetics. If that's true, then we are completely controlled by causation... every decision we ever make will have been pre-determined. If it's pre-determined by outside factors, then I don't really see that as our decision, but rather as a reaction to stimuli.

I actually used to agree with this view, but I now sit on the fence. I watched a film called Waking Life which argued this point very well, using some scientific facts to back up the argument. But on that film they never said "this is definitely science fact," and in fact the guy who was animated to portray the point even stated a strong point against it. His argument was all to do with atoms and how they pre-determine everything we do. In the most basic sense...when you are conceived your atoms form and duplicate again and again, knock against each other etc. and all of these events spark off new events. You don't have control over what your atoms do, and therefore you do not even control what you think...because a thought is simply a reaction in your brain that was sparked from another event involving atoms that happened in your body. And that event, involving those atoms, can be traced back to when you were conceived in the first place, because it's all just a chain of events.

The argument against it was that there are atoms that seemingly move randomly, with no pattern of movement. And in this sense, we may not be pre-determined because at any given time one of those atoms can move randomly and therefore cause random behaviour as a chain of events afterwards. I think the guy in the film said something along the lines of "well I don't know what I prefer, to be pre-determined or to just be victim to randomness."

The reason why I now sit on the fence is that there was only a small bit of science portrayed for that point in that film, and it is absolutely not substantial enough to be given very much credit. I am no biologist, chemist or physicist and so without knowing all the facts for and against this, I cannot make a judgement. I think it's interesting, though, to consider points like this.

Anyhow this has gotten a bit off topic. In terms of identical twins being telepathic...I really don't think so. Considering an identical biology and an extremely similar environment, it should be no surprise that identical twins think almost the same a lot of the time. I wouldn't say that scoring the exact same on a test is particularly odd, because there's a good chance that twins can almost think identically. Equally, some identical twins can be very, very different and never experience anything of this nature.

[culdadio]

It is my theory that the human body is much like the frequency on a radio band. In the case of identical twins they are on the same frequency. This does not necessarily mean that they are telepathic. I liken it to playing two musical instruments that are exactly the same in every way. Given the same music, if played in succession from behind a screen by the same person, one could not possibly tell one from the other. My question, in this example, would be: did they have the same teacher? If yes, then given the fact that they were raised in the same environment and shared the same experiences they could appear to have a telepathic connection, but not necessarily. Still, telepathy could certainly play a roll. Thought, after all, is matter! The electro-chemical process that occurs in the brain emits vibrations and the strenth of those vibrations varies with emotion. In the case of identical twins, I would think that ESP is augmented by the the fact that the brains are, in fact, indentical! There are other, more sophisticated arguments that could be discussed concerning this phenomenon, but I believe this particular instance is not a startling revelation. - Warrick.

[OilFight]

I remember the story posted in the bizarre news here about the twins, one male and the other female. They too were seperated at birth and both ended up marrying each other. They soon realized something wasn't right and eventually a DNA test showed they were twins.

The interesting thing about causality and all we are is predetermined then why do you feel the need to tell people this? it doesn't make a diffrence. This means that we don't mean anything and thus can't achieve anything then we have nothing to do. If we have no choice then the meaning of life is beyond us because we can't do anything. YOu will find that if you believe this you would most likely be miserable but if you were to believe this wasn't true and you have free will then life can be great. Of course if you life is great then it's predetermined, nothing at all to do with your choice. It is logical to try and prove free will. Not having free will doesn't do anything, we are then the same a rocks.

I live a very happy life, thank you very much. Life may have no objective meaning, and we may objectively be no 'better' than rocks, but that doesn't affect how I see myself or humanity. As long as one has the illusion of free will, they will not feel captive. Furthermore, one does not have to believe in free will in order to retain the illusion of it because our brains are designed to feel like they have control.

[OilFight]

I actually used to agree with this view, but I now sit on the fence. I watched a film called Waking Life which argued this point very well, using some scientific facts to back up the argument. But on that film they never said "this is definitely science fact," and in fact the guy who was animated to portray the point even stated a strong point against it. His argument was all to do with atoms and how they pre-determine everything we do. In the most basic sense...when you are conceived your atoms form and duplicate again and again, knock against each other etc. and all of these events spark off new events. You don't have control over what your atoms do, and therefore you do not even control what you think...because a thought is simply a reaction in your brain that was sparked from another event involving atoms that happened in your body. And that event, involving those atoms, can be traced back to when you were conceived in the first place, because it's all just a chain of events.

The argument against it was that there are atoms that seemingly move randomly, with no pattern of movement. And in this sense, we may not be pre-determined because at any given time one of those atoms can move randomly and therefore cause random behaviour as a chain of events afterwards. I think the guy in the film said something along the lines of "well I don't know what I prefer, to be pre-determined or to just be victim to randomness."

The reason why I now sit on the fence is that there was only a small bit of science portrayed for that point in that film, and it is absolutely not substantial enough to be given very much credit. I am no biologist, chemist or physicist and so without knowing all the facts for and against this, I cannot make a judgement. I think it's interesting, though, to consider points like this.

Anyhow this has gotten a bit off topic. In terms of identical twins being telepathic...I really don't think so. Considering an identical biology and an extremely similar environment, it should be no surprise that identical twins think almost the same a lot of the time. I wouldn't say that scoring the exact same on a test is particularly odd, because there's a good chance that twins can almost think identically. Equally, some identical twins can be very, very different and never experience anything of this nature.

True, there isn't much scientific evidence to definitively say that it's the case. However, I haven't seen any evidence which suggests the opposite: that we do have free will. Pre-determinism vs. randomness is another good point, personally I believe both are true. It seems like the macro world is largely pre-determined, while the quantum world is random.

[OilFight]

Am I the only one who does not follow this... uh... for the lack of a better word... reasoning?

Sorry to go over your head. Here it is, basically:

1. Two unrelated people born in different households and different cultures will probably be very different

2. Two siblings will be more alike because they share roughly half of the same genes, and grew up in the same household.

3. Twins are very alike because they have the same genes and almost the same environment (their environments differ slightly in that they are still two different individuals, and will sometimes have different conversations with different people, or be at different places at any given time, etc.)

Based on that gradient of similarity between two individuals, I assume that if it were possible to go a step further -for someone to have the exact same genes and environment as someone else- those individuals would be exactly alike, in every way. If that assumption is correct, then free will (The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will) does not exist, because every action that individual takes is a result of external circumstances.

[OilFight]

Even if that assumption isn't correct, then free will is still very limited. The way I see it, the amount that the environment, your genetics, and randomness takes part in making you who you are is inversely proportional to free will. Free will would require that you make yourself.

-oh, and all these posts may seem off-topic, but they all relate to the twin telepathy issue. If we live in a deterministic universe, then you would expect twins to often have the same thoughts as the other. It isn't telepathy, it's just the result of them having a very similar biology and background, making them nearly the same person.

Edited July 3, 2009 by OilFight