psychotronics en · NOUN
Etymology
Blend of psycho- + electronics, on the model of French psychotronique coined by Fernand Clerc as "use of thought and will"; Clerc's term was popularized by the magazine Toute la Radio in January 1955, which speculated on the possibility of telekinesis. In the late 1960s, the term was popular among parapsychology researchers of the socialist bloc (particularly Zdeněk Rejdák), used instead of parapsychology to avoid its negative connotations, and because the term analogized parapsychology to bionics. The term was then popularized in western world during the second half of the Cold War by science fiction and fears of mind control. By surface analysis, psycho- + -tronics.
Meanings
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(uncountable) A field of military technology dealing with electronic weapons or devices used to either degrade or enhance human health by directed energy.
"Other researchers are studying high-frequency generators (those designed to stun the psyche with high frequency waves such as electromagnetic, acoustic, and gravitational); the manipulation or reconstruction of someone's thinking through planned measures such as reflexive control processes; the use of psychotronics, parapsychology, bioenergy, bio fields, and psychoenergy; [..]"
1998, Timothy L. Thomas, The Mind Has No Firewall, Article:More quotations at psychotronic
- (uncountable) Synonym of parapsychology.