US army and thought-disruptors; no, not some conspiracy thing
Ok, I just had to post this, even if I don't have much time so I'll be brief, but man, it's just so... scary. And at the same time, i.imgur.com/YUt5IXy.jpg
But in the current context and its possible applications, scary as fuck. DO NOT WANT.
<<mega.co.nz/#!WRsWmBZR!AD_M8QVztyCOQoM8IQq30nYBx75zjYMwkLfgY3ZV5Qs|Toward Narrative Disruptors and Inductors - Mapping the Narrative Comprehension Network and its Persuasive Effects>>
"Narrative" here means thoughts. To control narratives in the brain, to deter these narratives, is mind control. In the hands of something like DARPA, no less.
I'll just quote some parts of it and you can skim the PDF on your own.
For example, if it is the case that activation in one particular neural network enables people to connect personal narratives to master narratives, by disrupting activity in that brain area, we should be able to selectively impair that specific aspect of narrative processing while holding other meaning making processes constant, effectively creating a “narrative disruptor.â€
Not only would this be an important finding in the science of neural networks and of narrative persuasion, but would also have considerably practical and strategic importance. Mechanical disruptions of narrative processing may be, ultimately, replicated in through targeted strategic communication campaigns that approximate the narrative disruptions induced via magnetic stimulation.
(If you could not understand that: it means that the process could be replicated by what we would usually called "triggers", in what it refers to as "communication campaigns".)
<<i.imgur.com/BCwagJ1.png|No, seriously, just look at it>>.
This is like the whole mind control plot in Dollhouse. No less. I'm a bit staggered.
What about if you try to oppose the government in the future? Well:
The disruptor application describes a change introduced by a strategic communication effort that will selectively lower the amount of validity, transportation or vertical integration associated with a narrative within a target audience. The practical application here is a case where extremists are influencing members of a community to support or tolerate them [...] For instance, it will be possible to understand how introducing new stories into the narrative system could disrupt its coherence, clouding the analogy between the master narrative and local narrative.
On the whole our research effort promises to provide a scientific basis upon which to craft strategic communication materials in government and military strategic communication, both to enhance desired messages and degrade those of opponents. This is a revolutionary capability for the enterprises of public diplomacy, military information support operations, and public/civil affairs [...]
(emphasis not mine)
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.
The meat of the project is to use Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to induce or disrupt narratives in the brain (thoughts), mainly to win the "war of ideas", so that people will gladly obey the government.
Our objective is to map the Narrative Comprehension Network (NCN) of the brain, understand its structural alignment with the theoretical concepts above, and explain how its activity relates to persuasive outcomes in attitudes and behaviors. Ultimately, our project offers the capability to induce or disrupt the operation of narratives within the brain, and develops the capability to induce narrative validity, transportation and integration with certainty.
Also, possibly to use this technology to mind-control soldiers. No, I'm not kidding:
www.popsci.com/technology...iers-sharp-smart-and-safe
And it's been a while since they're working and possibly testing drugs to make soldiers into killing puppets for them to give any orders to:
www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/uncle-sam-wants/
* Mind control. Largely pharmaceutical, for the moment, and a natural outgrowth of cognitive enhancement approaches and mind-reading insight: If we can alter the brain, why not control it? One potential use involves making soldiers want to fight. Conversely, "How can we disrupt the enemy’s motivation to fight? [...] How can we make people trust us more? What if we could help the brain to remove fear or pain? Is there a way to make the enemy obey our commands?"
I'll just finish this long post with what I think this is: in the possibly not-so-distant future, the American populace might wake up and want their rights back. When that happens, of course the current people in power will not be happy, and will first try to repress the public by several "soft" means, and if they need to use the military to shoot US civilians, well, they need mind control. They need <<youtu.be/J28vaK977RU?t=36s|soldiers ready to shoot unarmed civilians>> (of their own people, in this particular case) in cold blood. And that folks, is where we're possibly headed.
Fasten your seatbelts.
But in the current context and its possible applications, scary as fuck. DO NOT WANT.
<<mega.co.nz/#!WRsWmBZR!AD_M8QVztyCOQoM8IQq30nYBx75zjYMwkLfgY3ZV5Qs|Toward Narrative Disruptors and Inductors - Mapping the Narrative Comprehension Network and its Persuasive Effects>>
"Narrative" here means thoughts. To control narratives in the brain, to deter these narratives, is mind control. In the hands of something like DARPA, no less.
I'll just quote some parts of it and you can skim the PDF on your own.
For example, if it is the case that activation in one particular neural network enables people to connect personal narratives to master narratives, by disrupting activity in that brain area, we should be able to selectively impair that specific aspect of narrative processing while holding other meaning making processes constant, effectively creating a “narrative disruptor.â€
Not only would this be an important finding in the science of neural networks and of narrative persuasion, but would also have considerably practical and strategic importance. Mechanical disruptions of narrative processing may be, ultimately, replicated in through targeted strategic communication campaigns that approximate the narrative disruptions induced via magnetic stimulation.
(If you could not understand that: it means that the process could be replicated by what we would usually called "triggers", in what it refers to as "communication campaigns".)
<<i.imgur.com/BCwagJ1.png|No, seriously, just look at it>>.
This is like the whole mind control plot in Dollhouse. No less. I'm a bit staggered.
What about if you try to oppose the government in the future? Well:
The disruptor application describes a change introduced by a strategic communication effort that will selectively lower the amount of validity, transportation or vertical integration associated with a narrative within a target audience. The practical application here is a case where extremists are influencing members of a community to support or tolerate them [...] For instance, it will be possible to understand how introducing new stories into the narrative system could disrupt its coherence, clouding the analogy between the master narrative and local narrative.
On the whole our research effort promises to provide a scientific basis upon which to craft strategic communication materials in government and military strategic communication, both to enhance desired messages and degrade those of opponents. This is a revolutionary capability for the enterprises of public diplomacy, military information support operations, and public/civil affairs [...]
(emphasis not mine)
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.
The meat of the project is to use Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to induce or disrupt narratives in the brain (thoughts), mainly to win the "war of ideas", so that people will gladly obey the government.
Our objective is to map the Narrative Comprehension Network (NCN) of the brain, understand its structural alignment with the theoretical concepts above, and explain how its activity relates to persuasive outcomes in attitudes and behaviors. Ultimately, our project offers the capability to induce or disrupt the operation of narratives within the brain, and develops the capability to induce narrative validity, transportation and integration with certainty.
Also, possibly to use this technology to mind-control soldiers. No, I'm not kidding:
www.popsci.com/technology...iers-sharp-smart-and-safe
And it's been a while since they're working and possibly testing drugs to make soldiers into killing puppets for them to give any orders to:
www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/uncle-sam-wants/
* Mind control. Largely pharmaceutical, for the moment, and a natural outgrowth of cognitive enhancement approaches and mind-reading insight: If we can alter the brain, why not control it? One potential use involves making soldiers want to fight. Conversely, "How can we disrupt the enemy’s motivation to fight? [...] How can we make people trust us more? What if we could help the brain to remove fear or pain? Is there a way to make the enemy obey our commands?"
I'll just finish this long post with what I think this is: in the possibly not-so-distant future, the American populace might wake up and want their rights back. When that happens, of course the current people in power will not be happy, and will first try to repress the public by several "soft" means, and if they need to use the military to shoot US civilians, well, they need mind control. They need <<youtu.be/J28vaK977RU?t=36s|soldiers ready to shoot unarmed civilians>> (of their own people, in this particular case) in cold blood. And that folks, is where we're possibly headed.
Fasten your seatbelts.