“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” - Bob Marley
Mind control and other emerging neuroscientific technologies and weaponry constitute a frightening aspect of the future we presently inhabit. When one considers potential spiritual ramifications, as perhaps not all researchers and reporters do, it becomes clear that at the very least, awareness is crucial. The only question that remains is what we can do about it.
Information is not the problem. Even if we have access to only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what has been released to the public, one can write books on it. Recently, one person did; last year Dr. Jonathan Moreno, a bioethicist, published Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense. Granted, as a former government advisor on biodefense, and child of another Dr. Moreno, a psychiatrist known for his own questionable psychotherapeutic endeavors including human experiments with LSD in the ’50s and ’60s, one does wonder at his motives. Especially interesting is that he made a point of insisting he went as far as he could in his research (though he admits he hit a few brick walls in terms of what certain people and agencies were willing to divulge about military uses for the technologies), and then proclaimed he was ‘no conspiracy theorist’ to the extent that he didn’t quite believe the stories of people who claimed to have been victims of CIA-led mind control experiments and torture. That there are secrets too big to contain? Poppycock. In the name of national security (and perhaps threats to family, etc.) any and all can be kept quiet. Make no mistake about that.
His refusal to believe the disturbing stories is strange especially since in the ’90s, he worked on a presidential advisory committee investigating secret human radiation experiments by the US Government since the 1940s. It was during that time he learned of the CIA’s interest in LSD and other brain-altering methods – and still, in his own words, “it took the better part of another decade for me to achieve the insight that let to the idea behind this book: If national security agencies had so much interest in how the relatively primitive brain science of the 1950s and 1960s could help find ways to gain a national security edge, surely they must be at least as interested today, when neuroscience is perhaps the fastest growing scientific field, both in terms of numbers of scientists and knowledge being gained.“ (p.3) If it took someone so deeply involved in the subject matter ten years to begin questioning the ethics of new neuroscientific technologies, it does beg the (perhaps conspiratorial) thought: maybe we really are under some kind of mass hypnosis of non-knowing. Asleep we are, whilst wizards wage war right under our noses…or perhaps, behind them.
On the other hand, at least he’s bringing up the subject and beginning a dialogue on the disconcerting topic of ethics in regard to the use of these little-understood systems. He suggests that these new technologies may warrant consideration for new rules, policies, standards and treaty obligations. Dr. Moreno found it “amazing” that no one had yet analyzed the relationship between brain science technology and national defense. Personally I’m not surprised. These agencies don’t want their secrets out; that’s what national security is all about. Information is kept divided between multiple scientists and studies, the right hand never knowing what the left one is doing. However I might add, if it’s being tested, or worse, full-out used on our own population, we surely have the right to question the ethics and demand standards; but we may never really know if they would be adhered to, because the technologies themselves (many of which likely will never be declassified) could help to keep us in a state of denial or non-knowing or even not-caring. The capabilities of these technologies, even what little we know of them, can be frightening. It’s like a science fiction/horror movie come to life. And some of them are coming to a neighborhood near you.
Much of the information available comes from DARPA, which Dr. Moreno reminds us is not an espionage outfit but a science agency, and is involved with development of “dual use” neuroscientific technologies valuable to both civilian commerce and national security. Apparently there was no way to know for sure whether the CIA or other espionage agencies were also researching brain sciences, since that would remain ‘black’, or secret, explains Dr. Moreno. However what we do know seems disturbing enough to start with, if I may suggest.
Certainly one is encouraged at the idea that robotized limbs might prove useful to amputees and paralysis victims. This article about electric fields being used against cancer tumors is also interesting. However “dual use” does raise Terminator-like concerns. Move over, Bionic Woman. Imagine an army of robots, Asimov-style; or perhaps, an army of soldiers with implanted neural prostheses. A recent article informs us that the Pentagon is working on what could be the first phase of this idea by implanting chips in our soldier’s brains; do you believe they intend only to monitor their health, when we already know about Dr. Delgado’s behavior control experiments with monkeys and bulls? Long range, electronic control of animals is already a proven ability. The Augmented Cognition program, or AugCog, is an interesting offshoot of this concept, involving human-systems integration.
Psyops, or psychological operations, reportedly began sometime after World War II, first involving low-tech propaganda such as leaflets. Research into paranormal phenomena such as remote viewing followed in the 1970s with studies at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Dr. Moreno touched on experiments with neuropharmaceuticals, Manchurian-candidate style. Psychotronic weapons, such as electromagnetic radiation or ELF (extra-low frequency) waves and other Tesla technologies, have proven interesting since the 1970s to the Soviet and the Chinese military, among others, and were mentioned in the Space Preservation Act of 2001 along with other ‘exotic weapons’ such as chemtrails. Such technologies are known to be able to influence the psychological states of humans from great distances. fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imagery) technology could identify at a distance individuals with increased blood flow to the brain, thereby suggesting they might be prone to aggressive behavior. Imagine such use at airports, for example. Fortunately, as Dr. Moreno points out, a big problem here is a giant magnet like that would suck everyone up along with their jewelry and belt buckles! Unfortunately, it seems they are working on a way around that problem; Project Hostile Intent was reported just a few days ago in The Guardian, planned implementation being 2012. The brain fingerprinter is another development causing many to worry that the military can, or is trying to, actually read our minds, and the issue of cognitive liberties is aptly noted. I don’t think George Orwell would be very surprised.
Other DARPA programs such as PDS (Preventing Sleep Deprivation) and “Metabolic Dominance” promise enhanced abilities for soldiers, involving pharmaceuticals. Artificial intelligence programs such as LifeLog, now defunct, sought to artificially store memories and experiences; today, the Advanced Soldier Sensor Information System and Technology (ASSIST) seeks that very goal in combat situations. There’s also talk of altering soldiers’ neural circuits to lessen fear and stress. Transhumanism seems to many a natural evolution of our species; to others, the very death of it. Here the issue of spirituality seems quite threatened, in my opinion. Where does one draw the line, and where might spiritual individuality or awareness become lost? Visions of Star Trek’s Borg are marching through my head.
Non-lethal weapons are fast becoming the talk of the war room. The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP), part of the US Marines, defines non-lethals as, “weapons that are explicitly designed and primarily employed so as to incapacitate personnel or materiel, while minimizing fatalities, permanent injury to personnel, and undesired damage to property and the environment.” The Pentagon, among others, is interested in technologies that have use in “Operations Other Than War” (OOTW). Crowd control, hostage rescue, and capture of criminals or terrorists are named as such situations. Acoustic devices are among those which have caught my attention. Hypersonic sound (HSS) was first developed by a genius inventor called Woody Norris, about whom the New York Times Magazine did a fascinating story in 2003. This device can aim sounds at individuals or groups, at debilitating volumes, without affecting surrounding people or areas. LRADs (Long Range Acoustic Devices) are already in use by the military, used as information and warning devices. HIDAs (High Intensity Directed Acoustics) are more aggressive, like ’sonic bullets’, creating intense pain and vomiting. Trapped in Matter’s blog recently commented on an emergency warning device going up in downtown Chicago; he took a picture of it, and it resembles our upgraded tsunami-warning sirens here in Hawaii, which I took some shots of yesterday. Also check out this crazy picture; we have these towers here too, purportedly cell phone towers, but in Phoenix they are disguised as palm trees! These devices are going up rapidly all over the place. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand they probably have more than one use. Certainly HAARP, which uses electromagnetic radiation to influence the
