XCOM 2's Psionics: Science Fiction And The Supernatural

The video game XCOM 2 portrays an Earth occupied by alien forces for two decades, many of them harnessing what is termed Psionic energy (depicted as a purple energy in the game).  On behalf of a mysterious, distant group of extraterrestrials called the Elders with their own extreme Psionic capabilities, the more frontline troops of the invaders, representing a variety of species, utilize a number of powers triggered by mental effort that can dramatically shift the direction of a skirmish.  The game simultaneously leans heavily into scientific concepts and epistemology by emphasizing research and autopsies of enemy bodies (which yield enhancements for the protagonists), with Dr. Tygan of the game's titular resistance group describing miscellaneous information about alien technology and biology at length.  No one in the game seriously questions if Psionic energy logically conflicts with the laws of nature.

And some of these uses of the energy are very blatantly beyond the scope of the laws of nature.  Using thoughts, codexes can summon Psionic vortexes that force every player unit inside the circular area to have to reload their weapons before firing again and that detonate in the following turn, inflicting damage to every soldier who does not move away.  Sectoids can reanimate corpses, called Psi Zombies, which once again "die" (i.e., the bodies are no longer manipulated by an external mind) if the Sectoid controlling them is killed.  Gatekeepers, tentacled beings inside a mechanized, spherical shell, also have the ability to animate the dead.  The Warlock, one of the Chosen proficient in the use of Psionics, can summon spectral soldiers as distractions.  Until you break them, Psionically charged sarcophagi restore each of the Chosen in their strongholds and keep them from permanent death upon defeat.

Thankfully, XCOM 2 does allow the player to eventually harness Psionic power against the aliens, such as by conjuring up a barrier for cover, granting an extra move to another soldier's turn, and mind controlling an enemy.  In the War of the Chosen expansion, the Templar faction leans heavily into such powers and celebrates the Psionic potential of humans, which it eagerly wields against the extraterrestrial invaders.  But in both War of the Chosen and the base game, Psi Operatives can be trained through the Psi Lab after a point in the main story.  Given enough time in the lab's training, a rookie soldier attain each ability from every pair of options for Psi Operatives.

These powers are necessarily supernatural as mental abilities (and mind is immaterial, so it is not part of the physical world anyway despite having a very close relationship with one's body), which can have incredible impact on the natural world—as with the vortex—or on other minds—as with the mind control.  Presented in such a starkly science fiction context, the Psionic powers might strike some as being some in-franchise expression of laws of physics that humans have not yet discovered or utilized for combat purposes.  But though they can have an impact on the physical plane, they are mental in nature.

The brain and mind are not the same.  Respectively, neurological structures and processes are specific arrangements of matter and the function of those structures.  A human brain might contain billions of neurons that transmit signals across an even larger number of synapses, but a mind is the inherently nonphysical consciousness that contains active thoughts and passive perceptions in all their forms, the totality of a being's experiences.  A brain without a mind is not animated.  A brain cannot think, as only a mind can.  Among other things which require the distinction of the brain and mind, you cannot see or touch a mind or its thoughts, not through the sense of sight and touch, at least.  Other than simply seeing one's own thoughts through direct introspective experience, this would require some form of telepathic (hence nonphysical) connection/engagement between minds.

The seeming correlation between neurological events and mental states does not mean they are both physical.  In fact, two things cannot correlate unless they are different!  I say seeming because I, like any individual person, cannot actually see my own brain with its neurons and synapses, so I cannot even have access to direct sensory evidence for their existence or correlation with my mental activities; I can only access the reports by others that humans have a nervous system, which then seems very likely about myself (or I could view another person's brain).  In contrast, I rationalistically know the existence of my mind through the logical impossibility of perception without a mind and my direct experience of consciousness.  Also, I could only believe I do not exist or contemplate if I do not exist if I already exist as a mind.

Without mentioning any such logical facts about the subject of mind-body dualism, Dr. Tygan does admit to a difference between a mind and a body when discussing how he can create an Elder body for a high-stakes mission but cannot create an Elder mind, with their consciousness being necessary for the mission objectives.  Along with Tygan's brief admission, the strikingly powerful Psionic offensive and defensive measures available to certain characters are why XCOM exemplifies how science fiction is not incompatible with overt supernaturalism.

All minds, unembodied or not, and therefore all mental phenomena are immaterial.  As I have said before, this logically makes the mind a supernatural existent of a different sort than a true god or an angel.  A true god or an angel would have a mind, but not a mind is not automatically divine or angelic.  But as I have also said before, it does not follow logically that human consciousness will exist in any sort of afterlife after the death of the body, either with a resurrected body or without a corporeal shell.  There is no evidential indication of an afterlife in XCOM 2, though there might be one.  This sort of nature is not a prerequisite for the mind to be supernatural, which it is.

An afterlife or its absence, though, is beside the immediate point: Psionic powers are explicitly supernatural and are consistent on all levels, including that of the game's tone and primary themes, with the scientific grounding of the game.  Our minds certain appear to not have the same capacity to remotely impose mental states like panic on others with a thought (with no intimidating words or physical actions involved), but they are immaterial, and the more outwardly obvious supernatural powers of mind in XCOM 2 showcase this without conflicting with its emphasis on scientific phenomena.