DARPA: The Future of Mind Control

The ultimate dream for the supreme Soldier is unraveling before our eyes.  The “PlayStation Generation” has long awaited this opportunity as they have been continually subdued under the video game industries’ control.  Now, they will have the opportunity to be part of the game.  The future of warfare is an ongoing business that is seeking new opportunities and the flood gates just opened.  Turning man into machine is only around the corner it seems and the virtual world is turning into reality.  With the help from the folks at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), we are almost there. 

DARPA has given a grant to Arizona State University in the research and development of a transcranial pulsed ultrasound that could be inserted into the helmets of Soldiers on the battlefield which will allow Soldiers to manipulate brain functions to boost alertness, relieve stress, or even reduce the effects of traumatic brain injury.  Now, many of you just read this and said, “Well, it seems like another method to increase performance in our Soldiers which will allow them to perform at maximum proficiency.”  What about the word “manipulation?”  Who is the real person in control?  The way DARPA explains this device is that the Soldier will have the ability to control the brain functions.  The purpose of the military is to accomplish missions as a team.  Suggesting that the Soldiers will have individual control could lead to individualistic actions which could cost the lives of other Soldiers.  Do they honestly think that this will only be used during combat situations? 

According to Popular Science magazine, manipulating the brain to enhance war fighting capabilities and mental acuity on the battlefield has long been a topic of interest for DARPA and other various military research labs, however, the lack of technological advancement has hampered this project. One of the methods is called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which would require surgically implanted electrodes to stimulate neural tissues, while less-invasive methods like Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) possesses limited reach to low spatial resolution. The mere fact that anything surgically embedded to control one’s ability to perform seems to be a sort of enslavement. This seems to fall hand in hand with the future of nanotechnology which would create a mainframe of unlimited capabilities. However, with this particular project, liability and the possibility of future projects in the private sector could result in total global domination.

Armed With Science conducted an interview with Dr. William J. Tyler, an assistant professor of life sciences at ASU, who states, “To overcome the above limitations, my laboratory has engineered a novel technology which implements transcranial pulsed ultrasound to remotely and directly stimulate brain circuits without requiring surgery. Further, we have shown this ultrasonic neuromodulation approach confers a spatial resolution approximately five times greater than TMS and can exert its effects upon subcortical brain circuits deep within the brain.” So is this to be an alternative to medication? Could this unlock other potentials of the human brain?

I say; if you want robots, build them. Don’t use my fellow brothers and sisters like some kind of lab rat and turn them into cannon fodder. Has there been any thought of dependency on this device? What about malfunctions? Can a Soldier perform if they are literally “stoned” by their own receptors? Soldiers need to be warriors. There is no room for manipulating a person that does not have the characteristics of a warrior. Yes, there are a lot of PTSD and TBI issues occurring throughout our battlefield and at home, but this is not the answer to their problem. Our only form of freedom slips more and more with inventions such as this. It’s not the technology I’m afraid of…it’s the ones in control of it.