View source for Technopath

{{trope}}
[[File:snap00223.jpg|link=Sky High|right|Who needs tools?]]


{{quote|''"The form of communication that the brain and this machine use are both electronic signals. If you can't communicate with it, you're not a true man."''|'''Kogarashi''', ''[[Kamen no Maid Guy]]''}}

A "technopath" is someone who can control machines and bend them to the user's will, either through a [[Unusual User Interface|physical]] or [[Psychic Powers|mental interface]] link. In some cases, this power also allows them to "hear" what a machine is "thinking" and [[The Empath|establish a direct line of communication]] with the machine.

It's not rare to see technopaths bringing formerly inanimate objects to life (i.e., toasters moving around and firing [[Projectile Toast]] at disgruntled users), which is much easier to do if [[Everything Is Online]].

Closely related to [[Magic From Technology]]. Not to be confused with a character who's [[Walking Techbane|pathologically bad with technology]], or [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|made a psycho/sociopath by technology]].

In modern-day settings that have many people with superpowers walking around, this is frequently the power given to children, as a magical metaphor for the way that people who grew up around technology are generally more comfortable with it.

Compare with [[Walking Techfix]], which is usually not deliberate. Contrast with [[Machine Empathy]], where a character is closely attuned to a machine's behavior simply due to prolonged experience, and [[Techno Wizard]] for people capable of only ''metaphorical'' wizardry. Not to be confused with [[Walking Techbane]], which is when a person is destructive to technology just by being near it.
{{examples|Examples:}}

== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'':
** Misaka Mikoto, and probably her clones "The Sisters" can control computers and electronics mentally as an extension of their powers over electromagnetic fields. She came by this ability the hard way, though: She has to consciously control every part of the interaction.
** Accelerator does this even better, and had the best calculating power to do so(hence his most powerful psychic powers). {{spoiler|his brain got damaged while rewriting the program in Last Order's brain with full force and was shot in the head before he can fully restart his vector manipulating power to reflect the bullet. He managed to finish the coding, and Last Order used the Sister's brain network to help his calculating powers later, making him evolving to a Level 6}}
* Lumiere and Tweedledee from ''[[Kiddy Grade]]''.
* Satsuki in ''[[X 1999|X/1999]]''. When her super-powerful personal computer starts to get jealous, it's an issue.
* Makoto from ''[[El Hazard the Magnificent World]]''; this makes convincing a [[Person of Mass Destruction|Demon God]] [[Robot Girl|Android]] to change sides (with [[Robosexual|romance]]!) a tad easier.
* [[Little Miss Snarker|Ruri]] from ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', by design and implants.
* [[Serial Experiments Lain|Lain]] manifests this power in her show's climax.
* Saati in ''AI Love You''
* Kogarashi from ''[[Kamen no Maid Guy]]'' serves as a comedic example of this. He manages to print a crystal clear picture from a printer by ''plugging the USB cord into his ear''. Which is just silly: the human ear is an input-only channel!
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Chisame's artifact allows a mental [[Everything Is Online|internet link]].
* Cyber-Newtypes Four Murasume and Rosamia Badam from [[Zeta Gundam]] are able to summon their mobile armors with their minds. However, their powers cause great mental instability.
** Official info says that ''[[Gundam Wing]]'''s ZERO System sets up a mental link between pilot and machine, allowing for speed-of-thought reaction times. Combined with the amount of battle data fed directly into the pilot's brain, this makes the system extremely dangerous to use since it can send anything other than a perfectly focused mind spiraling into total madness.
** The Unicorn Gundam's NT-D System utilizes a neuro-link connection between the pilot and the machine.
* In ''[[Gao Gai Gar]]'', Guy is a technopath. Or just plain awesome. He can summon a giant mecha-lion or transformable jet-plane by just yelling. He even does it once while being in space without wearing a space-suit. After he becomes an Evoluder, he is able to interface with machinery and computers. In FINAL, he uses his powers to overcome a lock on Orbit Base's computer system, and also to pilot Phantom Gao. In his battle with Palparepa,  {{spoiler|he uses it to turn Palparepa's nanomachines against him (although this doesn't have quite the intended effect)}}.
* The Dark Sisters in the second ''[[Galaxy Fraulein Yuna]]'' OVA had sophisticated control over machines, though since the three of them are [[Ridiculously Human Robot|gynoids]], they might not count.
* [[Ah My Goddess (Manga)|Belldandy]] does this sort of thing all the time. Granted she is a literal goddess with power over all sorts of stuff, but she still ends up talking to machine spirits about as often as your average [[Warhammer 40000|Techpriest]].
* Matsu from [[Sekirei]] has the ability to look into any computer system with her mind {{spoiler|and even hacks into and spies through MBI's sattelites at various points. This has caused her to be labeled "The Sneaking Sekirei" a title she doesn't appreciate}}.
* Ran from [[Clover]] has this power. 
* Nero from ''[[Tantei Opera Milky Holmes (Anime)|Tantei Opera Milky Holmes]]'' has the power to control electronics. This extends from the reasonable (hacking past security systems) to the weird (turning an alarm clock into a suit of armor).


== Comicbooks ==
* Network, a mutant from the X-Men books, could speak to technology and control it. The simpler the technology, the easier a time she had controlling it.
* Brainiac from ''[[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]]'', and his counterpart from the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]], Brainiac 5. Also Gear (himself a [[Ridiculously Human Robot]]) from the post-reboot Legion, via [[Unusual User Interface]].
* Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, a recurring villain in the Superman and Green Lantern titles.
* Oracle (a.k.a. Barbara Gordon, formerly known as Batgirl), is normally only a hypercompetent [[Playful Hacker]], but she develops technopathic abilities after a [[The Virus|remnant]] of Brainiac decides to use her as a [[Fetus Terrible|brood mare]] so he can reconstitute. She manages to defeat him, but some programming is left behind, and decides to enhance her of its own accord, giving her subdermal circuitry and the like. This programming allows her to control computers remotely through a mask interface. Eventually, it gets [[AI Is a Crapshoot|too big for its britches]], and is removed surgically.
* Mitchell Hundred from ''[[Ex Machina]]''. At first he could only listen to technology he touched, then he could command them, then he could interact with technology he could see. He can control technology ranging from complex electronics to those as simple as a handgun.  {{spoiler|A bow and arrow is too simple though.}}
* The [[Marvel Universe]] has a man called the Reanimator, who can control anything electronic (such as [[Humongous Mecha|Sentinels]]. Uh-oh.)
** The [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] [[X-Men (Film)|movieverse]] has a boy who changed the TV by blinking, and later controlled a computer display the same way. Don't know if he's up to turning a toaster into a lethal weapon, though.
** X-Men's Sage is called a cyberpath, and her brain operates like a computer, but she doesn't seem to be able to communicate with machines on her own. She's got a spiffy command center and lives in an [[Everything Is Online]] universe. She's recently gotten [[Cool Shades]] which contain a wireless link to computers.
** Now thanks to [[Nanomachines]], [[Iron Man]] can directly interface with most digital technology ''using only his mind.'' Still, it gets some getting used to, as  {{spoiler|people start thinking he's schizophrenic because he's suffering from a form of 'information overflow' and can't turn it off. Though his hallucinations do come in handy with regards to the plot.}}
** Cable from [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]
** Tom Skylark in [[Grant Morrison]]'s "Here Comes Tomorrow" is a mutant technopath who is able to make friends with a mutant-hunting robot.
** Forge is sometimes a technopath, [[Depending On the Writer]].
** Madison Jeffries, formerly of [[Alpha Flight]] and now a new recruit of the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Club]] can reshape metal, plastic and glass at will, often by talking to it.
** New Mutant Cypher has the mutant power to communicate in any kind of language. And yes, that includes programming language. {{spoiler|This is how he manages to shut off the Master Molds, render the massive wave of Nimrods completely unoperational and throw the ultimate wrench into Bastion's plans towards the end of ''Second Coming''.}}
* Shortly after getting lightning power, Will from ''[[WITCH (Comic Book)|WITCH]]'' gains the ability to talk to machines.
** And finds out that the Computer and the Printer are [[Cargo Ship|married]]. Also, her mobile is a prick. 
* [[Planetary|The Drummer]] has nebulous powers related to "information flow", which apparently include sensing magic (the "cheat codes of the universe"), but he's usually employed as a super-hacker and living Electronic Counter-Measures device (disrupting security systems, monitoring or jamming enemy communications and such.) Oh, and [[Cloudcuckoolander|he's nuts.]]
* Willow the cybernetic telepath from the comic ''[[Dreadstar (Comic Book)|Dreadstar]]''. (Unusually, she is also a conventional telepath.)
* The Iron Queen from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (Comic Book)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' is the only known surviving user of the ancient art of Magitek, which allows her to control robotics and cybernetics (including [[Artificial Limbs]]) through mystical powers. There seems to be a limit to her powers, though; she supposedly cannot control the implants of [[Machine Worship|the Dark Legion]], for example (according to her, they're too complex for her to manipulate, despite being created by the same [[Mad Scientist]] that created the cybernetics of her other victims).
* Very minor example: from [[Transmetropolitan]], the "weird-looking fucker" communicates with his children via electrical signals. This might have been Spider just generalizing it, but...
* Kal Kent, the Superman of the 853rd Century, has this and a long list of other powers that even Superman doesn't have.
* Qubit from ''[[Irredeemable]]''.
* [[Spider Man|Doctor Octopus]] has been getting attributed with this lately.


== Fan Fic ==
* Electro, from ''[[Calvin and Hobbes The Series (Fanfic)|Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]'', uses this to take over [[Gadgeteer Genius|Calvin's]] many inventions twice.


== Film ==
* Neo from ''[[The Matrix]]'', of course.
* Gwen Grayson from the 2005 ''[[Sky High]]'' film. [[Trope Namer]].
* The T-X from ''[[Terminator]] 3''.
* In ''[[Scanners]]'', telepath Cameron Vale figures out that a computer's "nervous system" is just as scannable as any other.
** In ''Scanners 2'' Peter Drak is playing an arcade game. Then he does it in front of everybody ''without using his hands''. Then he takes control of the entire arcade hall, setting a panic, and [[Stuff Blowing Up|blowing it up]].
** The villains' plot in ''Scanners 3'' revolves around Helena's ability to mind control people straight through cameras and television sets.
* Chris Bradley from the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
* [[Robo Cop]] has an [[Unusual User Interface|Universal Interface Spike]] in his arm that can talk to any computer in [[The Verse|the 'verse]]. It also has stabbity applications.
* During the final battle of ''[[Time Bandits]]'', Evil uses his magic to take control of a tank and a starfighter belonging to the hero's [[Redshirt Army]].


== Literature ==
* This is Kit's specialty in the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' books.
** And later Dairine's.
* The limited use of this ability is one of many talents that makes the [[Psycho for Hire|psychopathic]] villain Dread from [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Otherland]]'' so scary. In his case, it manifests as telekinesis that operates on the level of individual electrons, allowing him to alter the state of an electronic device independent of its programming. He uses it on an instinctual level, and refers to it as his "twist".
* [[The Protagonist]] of the [[HIVE Series|H.I.V.E. series]], Otto, has an [[Techno Wizard|innate understanding of computer systems]] and can interface with more advanced [[Artificial Intelligence|artificial intelligences]] using his mind.
* The Mechanic from the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series, the hitch being he has to physically interface by cutting himself and putting the wound to the machine. Fortunately he also heals real fast.
* Angie Mitchell from [[William Gibson]]'s ''Count Zero'' and ''Mona Lisa Overdrive'' had her nervous system modified with bioware designed by AIs which enabled her to connect to the series' equivalent of the internet by thought alone and granted her considerable hacking skills.
* Heather Farley, a rebellious young student in A. C. Crispin's StarBridge series, is both a traditional telepath and a cyberpath; she swears off using the latter ability after she nearly gets trapped in a computer system.
* Mostly the [[The Cracker|cybreakers]] and the mnemonics in ''[[The History of the Galaxy]]'' later (timeline-wise) novels, but also anyone with a simple brain implant that translates brainwaves into digital commands which allows them to mentally control household appliances and the like. One of the novels mentions a cybreaker who was threatened with a gun (a futuristic [[Magnetic Weapon]]), while he remotely disabled the firing circuit (wouldn't have happened with a conventional gun, but those are nigh-impossible to find). Also, when a bunch of thugs attempt to physically assault him in a restaurant, he takes control of one of the server robots and has it stab one of the thugs before asking the others if they would like a table. They can also use the same brain implants that everyone has to conduct [[Cyber Telepathy]].
* Gaby is one in the [[Doc Sidhe]] novels. 
* The [[Sholan Alliance]] series features Kusac. He has endured  {{spoiler|being [[Touched By Vorlons]] and}} some psychic [[Training From Hell]] in order to acheive this. 
* Not shown, but referenced in ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]''. Ax complains about primitive human computers not even having a psychic link.


== Live-Action TV ==
* Young Micah Sanders from ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]''.
** To an extent, also the character Hana Gitelman, who appears primarily in the [[All There in the Manual|web-only side comics]] for Heroes. She's the "cyberpath" version, and can connect to anything that can receive a remote signal, not just a normal internet connection, meaning that as long as she has any signal strength at all, she can contact anyone without a phone, and receive and send e-mail without a computer. At one point she even IMs a computer that isn't online, but does have its wireless card in and active. Essentially, she trades Micah's versatility (he can influence any electronics that he can touch) for range.  {{spoiler|In the comics, Gitelman is killed, but lives on as a ghost in the Internet.}}
**  Matt Parkman Jr. aka "Baby Stop And Go" seems to have this power to a certain extent as well in that he can either turn something on or off. He's just a baby though so it's rather haphazard and mood dependent.
* The eponymous character from the TV series ''[[Jake 20 (TV)|Jake 2.0]]''. 
* Electroclash in ''[[No Heroics]]'' controls machines by giving them commands in an electronic voice.
* [[Cybergirl|Cy, Isaak and Xanda]], all being humanoid robots, can interface with just about anything. This includes, but is not limited to: Stealing money from [[AT Ms]], turning on every kitchen appliance that's not the oven, recovering deleted files and defeating security systems easily. Of course, this is partly due to the fact that not only is [[Everything Is Online|everything online]], it is also on a network run by Top Dog Interactive.
* ''[[Fringe]]'' had a character from the episode "Power Hungry" with this. He had experiments performed on him by a [[Mad Scientist]] to give him this. Unfortunately, he hadn't the slightest control over it, and mutilated his boss, killed the woman he secretly adored, and shorted out his mother's pacemaker. He was later kidnapped by the same people responsible for his power and had it altered so he actually had control over technology, which he then used to escape.
* Emma's friend in the ''[[Mutant X]]'' episode "Interface" is a technopath. She further gets enhanced by GSA to become a [[Wetware CPU]] but is restored at the end of the episode. According to Emma, she is the only New Mutant who managed to counteract the effects of the [[Power Nullifier|subdermal governor]].
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' had one example: when Rodney accelerated his own evolution in ''Tao of Rodney'', he gained psychic powers, among other things. They were revealed to the team in a skirmish with the Genii where Rodney won the battle for them by thinking "wouldn't it be awesome if suddenly the Genii troopers' weapons jammed?" Guess what happened.
** Ancient tech is purposely made for this trope due to the fact that many operates via a wireless neural interface. Anyone with the necessary gene can activate it by just thinking at it.
* [[Tracker]] has a variant of this-Cole is able to control and manipulate machines using his own energy, since he is an [[Energy Being]].


== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' has several examples. The Eldar, because of their psychically sensitive materials, are, the Orks are but are unaware of it (more specifically they will their machines into working [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|because they think they should be]]), and senior members of the Adeptus Mechanicus (who can generously be described as cyborgs) can connect directly to machinery through their machine parts and use them. A subsect called the Adeptus Mechanicus Machine Empaths can literally feel what a machine is thinking without a direct link.
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has had both varieties, the Otaku, who could access the Matrix with nothing but a datajack (Read: Plugging a cable into your brain.) They all disappeared when the wired internet got blown up, and were replaced by Technomancers, who can access the new wireless internet by thought alone. 
* The "machine empathy" mutant ability in ''[[Paranoia]]'' allows the mutant to make machines really, ''really'' like them. This is not as great as it sounds, because it also affects everyone's friend, The Computer. Who really, ''really'' doesn't enjoy being the thrall of a commie mutant traitor. So it employs special "machine empath detection" diagnostics to root out the traitor, and if caught, a machine empath can expect not only immediate termination, but also outright erasure of their clone template. Machine empaths lead a very brief existence.
** It's also the only power that's "immediate termination" and coming from this game that's saying something.
* In ''[[Deadlands|Deadlands: Hell On Earth]]'', Junkers achieve this effect through shamanistic interactions with a special kind of tech spirit called a browser spirit. Since the game is set [[After the End]], there are a lot of disembodied tech spirits floating around, and Junkers create new bodies for them to live in out of spare parts. It's kind of like tech-necromancy. While most tech spirits just inhabit their new bodies, browser spirits can communicate telepathically with any Junker that touches their body, and the most powerful kind of browser spirit keeps up a permanent telepathic link with the Junker who made its body.
* This was split into the psychic powers "Cyberkinesis" and "Cyberpathy" in the Sorcerer supplement to the [[Old World of Darkness]] game ''[[Mage: The Ascension (Tabletop Game)|Mage: The Ascension]]''.
* In the [[New World of Darkness]],
** Fan-supplement ''[[Genius: The Transgression (Tabletop Game)|Genius: The Transgression]]'', every PC is (or can be) one.
** ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters (Tabletop Game)|Geist: The Sin Eaters]]'' gives us the Industrial Key, which, when filtered through the right Manifestation, allows a Sin-Eater to gain control over a building and every device therein (Boneyard), install technology right into their body (Caul), understand just how a device works (Oracle), or manipulate a device from afar (Marionette). They do have a limitation, however; seeing as they derive their powers from the Underworld, they're better off dealing with "anachrotech," and take penalties when dealing with newer technologies. So, it's easier to hack a Model T than it is an iPhone.
** Pretty much every nWoD splat, save Hunter, deals with this in some way. It's an animistic world, after all.
* Palladium's RPGs, especially ''[[Heroes Unlimited]]'' and ''[[Rifts]]'' has the ability/power Telemechanics, which makes the user into a Technopath.
* [[GURPS]] has a whole setting about this trope, by the name of ''Technomancer''. ''Psionic Powers'' brings us Cyberpsi, which has similar effects, but doesn't use spells, leaning toward more of a [[Green Lantern Ring]] approach.
* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds (Tabletop Game)|Mutants and Masterminds]]'' offers a power called "Datalink" that allows communication with machines.
* In the third edition of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''' ''[[Eberron]]'' setting, there were some [[Gadgeteer Genius|Artificers]] whose powers came from [[Psychic Powers|Psionics]] rather than [[Magitek|magic]], essentially making them this.
* In the [[D 20 Modern]] setting Urban Arcana, a 2nd level Techno Mage gains a +2 Competence Bonus to any skill checks involving technology, and can use any technology even if untrained in the relevant skill. While it is called [[Machine Empathy]], this class and ability has more of a technopath feel.


== Video games ==
* In ''[[Eve Online]]'', it was originally intended for pod pilots to be able to control their ship directly with their thoughts, but most people ended up feeling sick and dizzy from using it, so they settled for a less direct (but presumably still mental) interface. There are, however, cybernetic mindlink implants that allow their user to directly interface with various parts of the ship, giving [[Status Buff|passive buffs]] to them and their party.
** The [http://wiki.eveonline.com/wiki/The_Jovian_Wetgrave current technology] combines a sensory deprivation chamber with the mindlink, replacing the pilot's senses with the sensors of the ship. [[Space Is Noisy|Even sound is emulated]].
* Rotom is a [[Pokémon]] that can change form by taking control of household appliances, gaining a unique move with each form.
* One of the few scary villains in the usually quite funny ''[[Time Splitters]]'' series is a child who is a [[Technopath]] ''and'' a [[Cyborg]], who commands a [[Dystopia|Dystopian]] future where the machines are at war with humankind.
* Shelke from ''Dirge of Cerberus'' can perform Synaptic Net Dives, which basically give her this. 
* [[Mass Effect 2]] certain classes like the engineer, infiltrator and squadmates have access to tech talents like overload, AI hacking and summoning combat drones.
* [[Big Bad|Octalus Percy Defoe]] and [[Love Interest|Laurie Hemmings]] in [[The PK Girl]]. While [[Psychic Powers]] are uncommon in the setting, technopathy is ''extremely rare'' and the former... ''[[Stalker With a Test Tube|desires]]'' the latter for this reason.


== Webcomics ==
* The titular [[Gene Catlow]].
** In the fanfic The Basalt City Chronicles, an ancient computer uses this to encourage him to dismantel it--it's suffered a fire, is no longer in great shape, and would really like to die, please.
* In ''[[Spacetrawler]]'', the Eebs are an entire species of technopaths. 
* Alphonse from ''[[Far Out There]]''.
* "Lanterns" from [[The Greening Wars]] have this distinct property in addition to [[Shock and Awe]], they also act as The Greening's communication network
** The problem is that most of them have the intellect of a retarded [[Incredible Hulk]], bonus points for making them use [[Hulk Speak]]
*** the only Lantern that doesn't do this is Arc, a [[Designated Hero]] of the series in addition to a few others, he shows just what they can do, seeing as he isn't lacking his intelligence just all his memories from before the procedure that turned him into a Lantern, in his introduction when he changes the channel on tv while another character is watching it by basically just looking at it


== Web Originals ==
* From the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', the Operator is a superhero from Florida who can control machinery and computer systems remotely. Online is a cyberpath who works as a "Hero For Hire", primarily as an electronic security expert (there is also a villainous Online, with the same power set, and the two are harsh rivals simply over who gets to keep the name). Likewise, Cyba is a Canadian superheroine who can "talk" to machines. Perepis, on the other hand, is a "cyberkinetic", and can mentally animate and control machinery (including remotely redesigning them). Perepis's [[Arch Enemy]] is Technyik, who not only shares her power, but wears a suit of [[Powered Armor]] on top of it all.
* [[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP-808]] (AKA Alice). An otherwise normal girl, her ability to communicate with machines is complicated by the fact that the machines consider her to be [[A God Am I|God]].
** SCP-808 has since been deleted, though<ref>because the author threw a hissy-fit and demanded all his works are deleted from the site</ref>, so... yeah.
*** Fortunately an archived version exists [http://web.archive.org/web/20100125115333/http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-808 here].
* Several characters in the [[Whateley Universe]] can do this to one extent or another. At the [[Super Hero School]] Whateley Academy, Ringo has this power, as does the hated Assistant to the Headmistress Ms. Hartford (so the school's computer network has security that DARPA envies) and even Samantha Everheart who is one of the schools security officers (but she has merged with a nanite supercomputer called Hive so she has an unfair advantage). Also the super villain Dr. Abel Palm has not only done this, but has magically encrypted his soul into AI viruses and is trying to destroy all humankind. Merry is a cyberpath who can dive into computer networks and do whatever she wants. Whatever. She. Wants.
* The [[Metro City Chronicles]] has a minor villain called Black Hat whose powers focus on cyber-telepathy and control.
* Inspector Lawrence Reinhardt, from the [[Crinoverse (Roleplay)|Crinoverse]] is a metahuman with the natural ability to communicate with and control machines, sending instant messages with his brain and shutting down robots without lifting a finger.


== Western Animation ==
* Megavolt from ''[[Darkwing Duck (Animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' has this ability, as well. He's much more dangerous than other examples, since he's also a [[Psycho Electro]].
* Nicolai Technus from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', whose name is a play on famous engineer Nikola Tesla.
* Upgrade from ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]''.
** Cooper as well.
* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', Megatron discovers that he can control Earth machines because so much technology has been reverse engineered from him over the last 50 years. Which is rather useful, as he was reduced to a head when he found this out.
** In the third season, Sari gains the ability to learn how to operate or repair any machine just by touching it: she describes it as the machines themselves simply telling her what they need.
** In the ''[[Transformers Shattered Glass]]'' continuity, Heatwave has the ability to control non-sentient machines by communicating with them telepathically. Though he's a bit quirky in that, while he's doing so, he talks to the machines as if they were actually alive and sentient.
* ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (Animation)|Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'': Already a skilled hacker in his own right, Walter "Doc" Hartford's Series 5 implant cranks his technological affinity [[Up to Eleven]], to the point where he is effortlessly bossing around ancient alien computers.
* Rex from ''[[Generator Rex (Animation)|Generator Rex]]'' can do just about anything with machines by "speaking" to them through his nanites.
* Static and Gear (no connection to the one from the Legion) from ''[[Static Shock]]''.
** To wit: Static generally does this because [[Lightning Does Everything]]. [[Gadgeteer Genius|Gear]] is an inversion (in the animated series anyway); his [[Robot Buddy|computer Backpack]] can communicate with him.
** Omnara, the villain from the penultimate episode "Kidnapped", is this trope played straight, with a healthy dash of [[A God Am I]]. An [[Ink Suit Actor]] performance by Wendie Malick of ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'' fame.
* In ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]'', Willy Watt gained this ability after an accident involving a giant robot which he was controlling via a neural interface.
* Hard Drive from ''[[Swat Kats (Animation)|Swat Kats]]'' combines this with [[Psycho Electro]]; appropriate, given his role as a tech thief.


== Real Life ==
* Devices called [[Unusual User Interface|"brain computer interfaces (BCI)"]] are currently in development. They can be either implanted or worn on a skullcap and allow one to connect to a computer directly without an external interface. Researcher Kevin Warwick used one to control various computerized household devices with his brain.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Technopath]]
[[Category:Trope]]