On: Tomorrow people: For a century, it felt like telep...

[pfdietz]

A lot of that was due to the influence of John W. Campbell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Campbell

[mcswell → pfdietz]

You can read a lot of the stories from Analog, the magazine that Campbell edited for many years, here: https://www.freesfonline.net/Magazines2.html. I was a fan back in the day, but going back now I see a lot not to like. And certainly many of the stories involved ESP.

[card_zero → pfdietz]

That article links it back Joseph Rhine, and then to Arthur Conan Doyle and spiritualism. Ultimately maybe the blame lies with Emanuel Swedenborg for inspiring every kind of woo-woo.

[jhbadger → card_zero]

True, the idea wasn't new. But Campbell made it part of classic SF rather than fantasy or "new age" mysticism as it was earlier.