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Activist Post was recently contacted by an anonymous whistleblower who worked on a secret ongoing mind-control project for DARPA. The aim of the program is to remotely disrupt political dissent and extremism by employing "Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation" (TMS) in tandem with sophisticated propaganda based on this technology. TMS stimulates the temporal lobe of the brain with electromagnetic fields.
This DARPA research brings about many ethical questions and dilemmas. Mainly, this research aims to literally induce or disrupt the operation of narratives within the brain. In other words, this research aims to stop individuals from thinking certain thoughts and make others believe things they normally would not believe. This research has tremendous interrogation possibilities and could potentially be used to more successfully spread propaganda or stop political upheaval to an unsuspecting public.
1 II.A. INNOVATIVE CLAIMS Humans are storytelling beings. There is no clearer evidence of this than the struggles of the United States government to convince world populations of its good intentions, and to dissuade key constituencies from the powerful narratives told by violent extremists. In short, it is widely recognized that the U.S. is "losing the battle of the narrative" and thus, consequentially,the "war of ideas". This project responds to Technical Areas 1 and 2, with the aim of revolutionizing the study of the neuropsychology of narrative and its effects on persuasion. It will generate the knowledge to effectively understand, model, and disrupt narratives —systems of stories sharing themes, forms, and archetypes—on a neurological level, and the capability to induce powerful narrative phenomena (such as transportation and narrative validity) with certainty. To achieve this goal we have assembled a transdisciplinary team from Arizona State University and the Barrow Neurological Institute. Members have expertise in neuropsychology, neuroimaging, narrative theory, persuasion and strategic communication, as well as religion and culture. The team will achieve four key innovations in research approach, theory, and practice.
Generate practical innovations . Strategic communicators face numerous questions with regard to narrative. Does grounding a message in a master narrative make a practical difference in persuading members of an audience? If it does, can the effect be enhanced by ensuring that listeners are transported into a story? If the narrative is circulating in a population, can it be degraded by circulating elements that reduce its coherence? Answers to these questions, which this project will provide, are key to identifying disruptors and inductors that can make narrative- based strategic communication more effective.
2 II.B. DELIVERABLES Our research fundamentally develops the capacity to disrupt cognitive narrative processes to alter their persuasive power and further establishes a methodology for inducing narrative validity, transportation and integration in strategic communication messaging. To deliver this capability our project will produce: A model of the Narrative Comprehension Network,correlations between narrative theory and brain function, a validated experimental paradigm for future research to follow, and a development plan for narrative disruptors and inductors.A summary of the projects deliverables includes:
A validated experimental paradigm.
The research proposed herein will establish anexperimental paradigm for investigating narrative theory at multiple levels of analysisi ncluding behavioral, cognitive, and biological. This paradigm and associated stimulu smaterials will not only support this project but future research on the neuropsychology of narrative.
•
A map of the Narrative Comprehension Network.
This network will reflect an interconnected set of brain regions that support narrative comprehension through the coordination of cognitive mechanisms such as attention, memory, identity, and theory of mind. Mapping the influence of attention, memory, identity, emotion, and theory of mind will address technical area 2 sub-goals 2, 3, and 5 by clarifying the shared contributions of these neural networks to narrative comprehension. Because of the multi-modal approachdescribed in Section III, this map will not only describe the connections between brainregions, but information about how they sequence in a temporal fashion to respond tonarrative stimuli.
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A correlational model of the relationship between the Narrative ComprehensionNetwork and theories of vertical integration, narrative transportation and narrativevalidity.
Narrative theories are typically studied and discussed in isolation. Our work both productively elucidates the overlap of these theories and, importantly, relates them to brain processes and functions.
•
Data for modeling narrative comprehension.
The proposed research will provide strong empirical constraints for informing and modeling biological and behavioral aspects of strategic communication as it relates to narrative.
•
Mechanisms for Narrative Induction & Disruption:
This project will result in an empirical basis upon which to craft strategic communication materials such that their introduction into a discourse system should induce a higher rate of narrative validity,transportation, and vertical integration. The Narrative Comprehension Network model will provide the basis for pre-testing such materials to ensure they activate the appropriate neural network components to maximize narrative induction. These same efforts will identify underlying mechanisms to disrupt narrative processing in the brain. We will have a thorough understanding of the neural and persuasive effects of manipulating narrative transportation,narrative validity and vertical integration.
As the technology develops, said French, scientists need to think about its uses carefully. "Whatever means are used to implant false memories, we need to be very aware of the ethical issues raised by such procedures - the potential for abuse of such techniques cannot be overstated."
Originally posted by elouina
Here is another very important thought that has come to mind, and is worthy of mention. If you were a whistleblower these days, would you go to a major news outlet,.or perhaps one that is much smaller and less likely to be "scrutinized" by the government?
edit on 30-7-2013 by elouina because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Eidolon23
*squnits suspiciously at laptop*
Maybe there isn't really a medical isotope shortage. Maybe they've been grabbing up all the supply to make remote, mobile, directable, MRIs. (add evil cackling here.)
Originally posted by Druscilla
This is really cool!
It sounds like it'll be a wonderful tool for keeping self marginalizing obsessively delusional paranoid people on conspiracy theory websites in line.
I wonder if it can be programmed into the advertising?
That would be even cooler since advertising is getting smarter and better at targeting its target audiences more effectively.
I really like this.
We won't have to do mind control the 'hard' way any more.
Wait til this hits the private sector. No one will ever leave a car dealer again without signing a contract on a lease. No one will ever leave a shopping mall without first maximizing all their credit cards to the absolute limit.
Everyone will bleed gouts of money until they run out and then they'll willingly become slaves to pay off their debts.
Oh wait, That happened like 100 years ago, the slaves to debt thing.
As to mind control, seriously, most people don't even use what they got anyway. They're already zombies. Let their strings get pulled more effectively with this technology. No one will know much of a difference.
edit on 30-7-2013 by Druscilla because: (no reason given)