--- title: "Russia Says “Super Soldiers” Can Crash Computers With Telepathy" description: "## Super Soldiers" date: "2019-04-04" modified: "2019-04-04" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-super-soldiers-telepathy" categories: - "Computers" - "Computing" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "pseudoscience" - "Russia" - "telepathy" - "the digest" --- # Russia Says “Super Soldiers” Can Crash Computers With Telepathy ![Russia's military says that its "super soldiers" are able to use "parapsychology" techniques to crash computers with telepathy they learned from dolphins.]() *\Image: Defence Imagery via Pixabay/Tag Hartman-Simkins\* ## Super Soldiers According to [a report]() in the official magazine of its Defense Ministry, Russian "supersoldiers" are able to use "parapsychology" techniques to crash enemy computers, access the minds of foreign soldiers, and read documents inside locked safes — abilities they gained, according to the article, from telepathic dolphins they can now communicate with. The report is almost certainly nonsense. But it does raise questions about the ambitions — and perhaps dysfunctions — of Russia's military. ## Telepathy Force The report refers to the supposed super powers as "metacontact" and "parapsychology" — the latter a term often invoked to describe mental abilities that don't quite hold up to the scientific method. Russia discovered those techniques, according to the article, by studying telepathic dolphins. "With an effort of thought, you can, for example, shoot down computer programs, burn crystals in generators, eavesdrop on a conversation, or break television and radio programs and communications," reads the article, according to *Business Insider*'s [translation](). ## Domestic Resistance *Business Insider* also dug up an interview with the chairman of a commission on pseudoscience at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yevgeny Alexandrov, who [dismissed the story]() to a Russian news outlet called *RBK.* "All the talk about the transfer of thought at a distance does not have a scientific basis," he said, adding that "there is not a single such recorded case, it is simply impossible." **READ MORE:** [A Russian defense ministry report claims its elite soldiers can crash computers with their minds and read documents inside a safe after mastering telepathy from dolphins]() \[*Business Insider*\] **More on telepathy:** *[Science Brings Us One Step Closer to Telepathy]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()