silverquiver Wrote:"Mental Abilities" are nothing to be scoffed at. Though there is no actually scientific proof, it is not farfetched to believe that the human mind can tap into some pretty extraordinary things.
The brain is one of the few areas left for humans to continue to evolve. Telekinesis, empathy and precognition could all be some odd mutation. If we are lucky, perhaps "mental abilities" could seep into our gene pool.
Many respected science-fiction authors have written about "mental abilities". Larry Niven combined a future of space travel with humans that could create mental arms or change the mind of someone if threatened. (some of his work that illustrates these points are: "A Gift from Earth" and "Gil 'The Arm' Hamilton")
Science fiction and reality are two different things. And evolution is not something any of us will notice. Evolution is a trial and error thing. If something mutates and it's good, it survives, if not it dies. I might add that in human beings' sake it can be argued that evolution has stopped ENTIRELY. With humans, people generally survive regardless of whether they have a beneficial mutation that nobody else has.
Pre-civilization: stronger, faster humans survive; weaker slower humans get killed by the wolves:
Now: EVERYONE survives because everyone has food, shelter and protection. An evolutionary advantage does not make its bearer more likely to reproduce, therefore it'll rise in an individual and then get drowned out in a vast ocean of "normal," non-affected human beings that survived just fine without it.
In other words, it can be argued that evolution in humans has STOPPED and we are evolving through the products of our minds -- through technology, philosophy, etc. This is much faster than evolution, but the fundamental nature of human beings does NOT change. We are right now what we were 10,000 years ago because in the language of evolution even 1 million years is not that much. This accounts for seemingly strange and seemingly illogical behavior in human beings: for example, a girl might pick a very strong but not very nice guy as her boyfriend; back when we were all in caves, such a guy could protect her children from harm better than a weaker but nicer man, now the whole issue is usually moot, but the instincts in question still survive from caveman times.
As far as mental abilities go... any technology that is sufficiently advanced can seem like magic. If you took a person from the middle ages and showed him cell phones, computers, radio and MP3 players, he would think it was magic. There might be technology in the future which lets a person do control similar to control WITH the mind. But as far as the basic composition of the brain, I don't think that'll ever change, the way humans are going.
AngelSL: Kinda off topic, but some of the greatest scientists in history, including Albert Einstein, believed in God. Science is not itself a refutation for religion.