If some nonspeaking people can really read minds, why is it so hard to prove it in the lab?
That’s a question many people are asking about The Telepathy Tapes, a podcast that explores whether certain nonspeaking autistic individuals might have telepathic abilities. In it, families share powerful stories of their mostly nonspeaking, autistic children accurately responding to information they shouldn’t know, e.g. what their parents are thinking, often by pointing to letters on boards or typing with support.
The podcast has made waves—and sparked backlash. Skeptics say these results are impossible, or that the child is being unknowingly guided by the adult. They point out that under lab conditions, the results tend to vanish.
But what if there’s a scientific reason why telepathy disappears when we try to study it too hard?
The Problem Isn’t the Phenomena—It’s the Lens
Science, as it’s usually done, is built to find things that are repeatable and mechanical. Drop a ball and it falls. Run a test again and again to see if you get the same result. That’s great for physics. But what if some experiences don’t work like that?
That’s where a theory called the Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI) comes in. Developed by physicist and psychologist Walter von Lucadou, it helps explain why strange things sometimes happen—and why they vanish when we try to pin them down.
Understanding the MPI: A Quick Guide
- MPI says that so-called “psychic” effects aren’t caused by energy or messages sent from one brain to another.
- Instead, they’re the result of meaningful connections that form in closed, coherent systems. Think of a tight parent-child bond, a ritual, or a group meditation—these are “coherent systems”.
- These connections between those involved create entanglement, like what happens in quantum physics: a pattern appears across the whole system, not in one part alone.
And here’s the key: Try to measure or control this kind of connection like a regular signal (e.g. a sound wave), and you interfere with it—it breaks.
Lucadou calls this the NT-axiom (Non-Transmission): you can’t turn these kinds of effects into a message or a machine. The moment you try, they disappear or can shift somewhere else.
How This Explains The Telepathy Tapes
When a nonspeaking child points to the right answer, it may not be that they’re “sending” or “receiving” information. Instead, the parent, child, and situation form a kind of shared field of meaning. The answer emerges from the system as a whole.
This could also explain why:
- Results are strongest in emotionally connected pairs
- They fade when the bond is interrupted or observed
- Attempts to replicate them in the lab tend to fail
According to MPI, that’s not a bug—it’s the nature of the effect.
This is where a lesser-known but powerful insight from MPI becomes relevant: a third axiom, which says:
“Macroscopic entanglement correlations are ecologically stable and are only limited by the NT axiom. They are formed through causal processes, which in turn stabilize them. Potentially causal relationships strengthen the entanglement.”
In plain terms, this means that the possibility of a causal interaction—such as a facilitator subtly guiding a child—can actually help stabilize the entangled system, even if that guidance isn’t used. Rather than discrediting the effect, the facilitator’s presence may support the coherence that allows meaning to emerge.
But Is That Science?
Yes. The MPI has made testable predictions, like the “decline effect” (where results get weaker the more you try) and the “displacement effect” (where the result jumps to another variable). These have shown up in decades of mind-matter research with parapsychologists (who specialise in extra-sensory capabilities or “psi phenomena”) often contending with this enigma—often calling it “elusive psi”.
It may not be the kind of science we’re used to—but it follows real logic, and it matches what many people experience in their lives. MPI’s predictions have held up across decades of psi research—including recent extensions like the third axiom, which explain why psi effects stabilize best in rich, meaning-laden systems where causal and non-causal dynamics can co-exist.
What about Wyrd Tech?
Interestingly, this same model also helps explain how Wyrd technologies like the Wyrdoscope and Wyrd Light work. These tools don’t measure energy or mind signals. Instead, they track patterns of coherence—moments when randomness becomes more ordered during meaningful experiences like meditation, ritual, or emotional connection. According to MPI, this happens because the whole system (person, device, environment) becomes temporarily entangled, allowing subtle patterns to emerge. The technology doesn’t create the effect—it reveals it, as long as the meaning is present and the system remains whole.
What This Means for All of Us
The stories in The Telepathy Tapes aren’t necessarily proof of classic telepathy. But they are signs that something important is happening in relationships where meaning runs deep and communication takes surprising forms.
With the right lens, we can stop dismissing these stories and start exploring them—not as broken science, but as signs of a bigger picture of human connection.
More on the Model of Pragmatic Information
The Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI), developed by Walter von Lucadou, is a scientific framework designed to explain phenomena that resist traditional experimental replication—especially psi effects like telepathy, precognition, and psychokinesis. Rather than dismissing these effects due to their instability under controlled conditions, MPI seeks to understand why they behave this way and what it reveals about the nature of information, consciousness, and observation.
1. Origins and Foundations
MPI is rooted in Generalized Quantum Theory (GQT), which extends the core concepts of quantum mechanics—such as entanglement, complementarity, and observer effect—into broader domains like psychology and consciousness studies.
Key terms include:
- Pragmatic Information: The meaningful impact of information on a system, defined by its novelty and confirmation.
- Organizational Closure: A self-organizing system where the boundaries and coherence are maintained internally, like a bonded human relationship or a ritual.
- Non-local Correlations: Effects that arise across a whole system without signal transfer, similar to quantum entanglement.
2. The Three Laws of MPI
MPI is governed by three central laws (with a fourth under development):
First Law: Psi phenomena are non-local correlations that appear in self-organizing, organizationally closed systems. They are not caused by energy or signal transfer but emerge from the meaningful coherence of the system.
Second Law (NT-Axiom): Any attempt to extract or use psi effects like a signal (i.e., for prediction or transmission) causes the effect to vanish or shift. This is known as the Non-Transmission Axiom.
Third Law: Entanglement correlations are stabilized by the presence of causal structure. Macroscopic entanglement effects are not fleeting or random—they become ecologically stable when they emerge within systems that also support causal relationships. These correlations are formed through ordinary causal processes (like shared history, intention, or physical proximity), which help anchor and stabilize the entangled coherence. Even the possibility of causal connection—such as a facilitator being present—can strengthen the effect, without needing to be used.
Together, these laws explain why psi effects often:
- Appear under meaningful, emotionally resonant conditions
- Decline when experiments are repeated (decline effect)
- Shift to unrelated variables when constrained (displacement effect)
3. Experimental Support and Applications
MPI has been supported by:
- Meta-analyses of mind-matter interaction studies showing declining effects with repeated trials
- Experiments by Helmut Schmidt, which showed that psi effects can appear even in pre-recorded, unobserved random data, supporting MPI’s view that information-based correlations, not signals, are at play—and that observation collapses the effect.
- Reviews by Mario Varvoglis and Peter Bancel, which highlight stronger micro-PK effects in studies involving emotionally engaged participants and coherent experimental settings, offering empirical patterns consistent with MPI predictions.
These findings suggest that psi is not an illusion, but a non-causal form of order that science can recognize—if it uses the right tools.
4. Implications for Research and Practice
MPI challenges the assumption that scientific validity requires replicability under all conditions. Instead, it invites a context-sensitive science, where meaning, coherence, and entanglement are considered as fundamental as energy or matter.
This has profound implications for:
- Consciousness research
- Therapeutic and relational practices
- Technologies like the Wyrdoscope, which detect emergent coherence in human-centered systems
Conclusion
The Model of Pragmatic Information offers a way to engage seriously with experiences that have long been sidelined by mainstream science. By recognizing the role of meaning and systemic entanglement, MPI opens a door to a broader, more inclusive understanding of reality—one where phenomena like those described in The Telepathy Tapes are not dismissed, but understood on their own terms.
Further Reading
- Lucadou, W. von. The Model of Pragmatic Information (1995, 2015)
- Atmanspacher, H., Römer, H., Walach, H. Generalized Quantum Theory (2002)
- Schmidt, H. PK Effects with Pre-recorded Targets (1976, 1993)
- Varvoglis, M. & Bancel, P. Micro-Psychokinesis: A Review (2015)