Secret DARPA Mind Control Project Revealed: Leaked Document

Activist Post

 What if the government could change people's moral beliefs or stop political dissent through remote control of people's brains?

Sounds like science fiction, right? Well, a leaked document reveals that the US government, through DARPA research, is very close to accomplishing this.

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.

The program, conducted by The Center for Strategic Communication, is based at Arizona State University. The DARPA funding for this project can be confirmed on the ASU website here. The head of the project, Steve Corman, has worked extensively in the area of strategic communication as it applies to terrorism and "extremism" - or what could be called "the war of ideas."

Corman's latest project Narrating The Exit From Afghanistan and his many presentations make it quite obvious that the mission is to shape the narrative and literally change people's minds. Lest one believe it will be contained to overseas extremists, we should keep in mind that the word extremist is increasingly used domestically. The dissenters of yesterday could easily become the terrorist sympathizers and supporters of political violence tomorrow.

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.

This research is being conducted by The Center for Strategic Communication at ASU and is entitled “Toward Narrative Disruptors and Inductors: Mapping the Narrative Comprehension Network and its Persuasive Effects” A detailed overview of the project can be found in the document below. Highlights include:

In phase 3 of the research, the research group will “selectively alter aspects of narrative structure and brain functions via Transcranial Magnetic Simulation (TMS) to induce or disrupt selected features of narrative processing.” (Page 16, emphasis added)

TMS is a very powerful tool used to impair the brain functioning of individuals. See the videos below for a brief demonstration of the effects of TMS.

Once the research group determines which parts of the brain are associated with cognitive reasoning and narrative comprehension, they will be attempt to impair those sections in order to “create a fundamental basis for understanding how to disrupt or enhance aspects of narrative structure and/or brain functioning to minimize or maximize persuasive effects on subject proclivity to engage in political violence.” (Page 23)

Once it is determined that disruption of certain portions of the brain can enhance persuasive messaging, individuals can be persuaded to do things they normally would not do and believe things they normally would not believe. This could include something as simple as telling a closely guarded secret, to believing in government propaganda, or even committing a violent act. The group writes on page 26, “once we have produced a narrative comprehension model [i.e., how individuals comprehend stories and persuasive messages], end users [aka the government] will understand how to activate known neural networks (e.g., working memory or attention) and positive behavioral outcome (e.g., nonviolent actions) nodes with strategic communication messages as a means to reduce incidences of political violence in contested populations.” The group will investigate “possibilities for literally disrupting the activity of the NCN [narrative comprehension network] through Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.” (page 30) [text added]

The group is so confident that they will be able to induce or disrupt the operations of narratives in the brain, that they say on page 26 that the research “offers the capability to induce or disrupt the operation of narratives in the brain, and develops the capability to induce narrative validity [i.e., the believability of a particular narrative/message], transportation [i.e., the ability to be engaged by a narrative], and integration [i.e., associating a particular narrative with a larger, more culturally specific narrative] with certainty.” [text added]

The group gives the following example of this projects usefulness: “If it is the case that activation in one particular neural network enables people to connect personal narrative to master narratives [i.e., cultural 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.’ Not only would this be an important finding in the science of neural networks and narrative persuasion, but would also have considerably practical and strategic importance.” (page 40) [text added] 

Essentially, the research aims to literally disrupt how people think and comprehend ideas and messages.

Further, and perhaps even more terrifying, on page 40, the group writes, “Mechanical disruptions of narrative processing may be, ultimately, replicated in through targeted strategic communication campaigns that approximate the narrative disruptions induced via magnetic stimulation.” So, after figuring out which parts of the brain are activated by particular persuasive messages and propaganda, the government can test out messages that only activate particular portions of the brain and not others, in order to persuade individuals to believe or not believe something.

Essentially, they are attempting to modify brain functioning without TMS, and only words. One can only imagine the strategies the government could use with this technology. They could make the public believe almost anything that suits their needs. It could literally lead to mass brainwashing.

But what does this mean, practically? It means that if this research succeeds, the government will be able to modify how one personally thinks. They could strap you in a chair, put a machine to your head, turn off parts of your brain, introduce a persuasive message, and make you believe it.

Further, through extensive research, they may be able to replicate the machine’s brain disrupting functioning simply through carefully crafted and researched persuasive messages and propaganda. They can use brain imaging to determine which portions of the brain are activated when a particular message is presented to an individual, and if the “right” portions are activated, they know the message will circumvent one’s mental reasoning and lead to almost automatic acceptance. With enough data, the government could spread propaganda through the media that people will almost automatically believe, whether it is true or not.

In terms of interrogation possibilities, Transcranical Magnetic Stimulation can be forced upon individuals to make them believe certain things, say certain things, and perhaps admit to acts they did not actually commit (as the TMS can induce narrative validity), or commit acts they normally would not commit.

The government is literally trying to brainwash the public. This is not science fiction. Technology has made it possible to induce and disrupt cognitive functioning in individuals. In the future, your thoughts may not be your own, but ones that have been implanted into your brain through exceedingly successful and validated propaganda.

Meeting notes indicate concern about how the project will be perceived, particularly the focus on the Christian/Muslim element.

Note: As you can see, Scribd has taken down the documents. While we attempt to get them restored, here are the mirror links:

Toward Narrative Disruptors and Inductors: Mapping the Narrative Comprehension Network and its Persuasive Effects

http://www.mediafire.com/view/oy4uu85ctkd70bd/156562352-Toward-Narrative-Disruptors-and-Inductors-Mapping-the-Narrative-Comprehension-Network-and-its-Persuasive-Effects.pdf 

http://www.mediafire.com/view/zy9i9677coinbv8/156566740-Center-For-Strategic-Studies-Meeting-Notes-3-10-12.pdf

Additional information

In 2002 The Economist noted that neuroscience would be the future of mind control. Well, now we're evidently here. This area of study has received $100 million in funding via Obama's ten-year BRAIN Project, as well as a $1.3 billion commitment from Europe. The human brain is seen as the final frontier, and is being explored from every angle conceivable.

The above investments are openly discussed. The same is true for the National Nanotechnology Initiative 2011 Strategic Plan. This 60-page document lays out a projected future "to understand and control matter" for the management of every facet of human life in the areas of environment, health and safety. Twenty-five U.S. Federal agencies are participating.

Concurrently, there is heavy military funding through agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This raises the question of transparency when a "black budget" often justifies total secrecy in the name of national security.

Advancements in neuroscience are coming at an exponential rate, as each day seems to headline a new breakthrough. For example, it recently has been announced that:

The 'Google Earth' of 3D Brain Maps is Here

"Neural Dust" is being researched, which could enable remote spying on the human brain.

A new microchip can mimic the brain and imitate the brain's information processing in real time. These are mainstream announcements and can no longer be dismissed as conspiracy theory.

For now, there appears to be a lot of parsing of words within the ASU project to stress that this is about "persuasion" not "influence" which can be seen in the meeting notes. It's also repeatedly mentioned that there is not a desire to organically change the brain itself, but to focus on the story being told and how to properly disseminate information -- propaganda, in other words. Finally, there is the troubling note about focusing on the Christian/Muslim narrative as exemplary of the extremism which needs to be reprogrammed.

Given what we know about the other military research into direct mind control, any benign assertions of this project at ASU must be called into question. The fact that members of this group were divided into teams red and blue to construct arguments for and against if word were to get out to "activists" and the public is additionally troubling.

If we combine all of this information with other releases about The Pentagon's work with "narrative networks," reported on by the BBC, it becomes clear that now is the time to discuss ethics, as no one in the scientific and military communities seems eager to bring possible attacks on our free will to the forefront.

Will you take the red pill or the blue pill?

Coming Soon From the Air Force: Mind-Reading Drones

Wired/Danger Room
BY SPENCER ACKERMAN

Scientifically speaking, it’s only a matter of time before drones become self-aware and kill us all. Now the Air Force is hastening that day of reckoning.

Buried within a seemingly innocuous list of recent Air Force contract awards to small businesses are details of plans for robot planes that not only think, but anticipate the moves of human pilots. And you thought it was just the Navy that was bringing us to the brink of the drone apocalypse.

It all starts with a solution for a legitimate problem. It’s dangerous to fly and land drones at busy terminals. Manned airplanes can collide with drones, which may not be able to make quick course adjustments based on information from air traffic control as swiftly as a human pilot can. And getting air traffic control involved in the drones cuts against the desire for truly autonomous aircraft. What to do?

The answer: Design an algorithm that reads people’s minds. Or the next best thing — anticipates a pilot’s reaction to a drone flying too close.

Enter Soar Technology, a Michigan company that proposes to create something it calls “Explanation, Schemas, and Prediction for Recognition of Intent in the Terminal Area of Operations,” or ESPRIT. It’ll create a “Schema Engine” that uses “memory management, pattern matching, and goal-based reasoning” to infer the intentions of nearby aircraft.

Not presuming that every flight will go according to plan, the Schema Engine’s “cognitive explanation mechanism” will help the drone figure out if a pilot is flying erratically or out of control. The Air Force signed a contract Dec. 23 with Soar, whose representatives were not reachable for comment.

And Soar’s not the only one. California-based Stottler Henke Associates argues that one algorithm won’t get the job done. Its rival proposal, the Intelligent Pilot Intent Analysis System would “represent and execute expert pilot-reasoning processes to infer other pilots’ intents in the same way human pilots currently do.” The firm doesn’t say how its system will work, and it’s yet to return an inquiry seeking explanation. A different company, Barron Associates, wants to use sensors as well as algorithms to avoid collision.

And Stottler Henke is explicitly thinking about how to weaponize its mind-reading program. “Many of the pilot-intent-analysis techniques described are also applicable for determining illegal intent and are therefore directly applicable to finding terrorists and smugglers,” it told the Air Force. Boom: deal inked on Jan. 7.

Someone’s got to say it. Predicting a pilot’s intent might prevent collisions. But it can also neutralize a human counterattack. Or it can allow the drones’ armed cousins to mimic Israel in the Six Day War and blow up the manned aircraft on the tarmac. Coincidentally, according to the retcon in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, April 19, 2011 — today — is the day that Skynet goes online. Think about it.

The Air Force theorist Col. John Boyd created the concept of an “OODA Loop,” for “Observation, Orientation, Decision and Action” to guide pilots’ operations. Never would he have thought one of his loops would be designed into the artificial brain of an airborne robot.

Nowhere to Run or to Hide From the New Killer Robots

The Common Sense Show
by Dave Hodges

Gene Roddenberry’s production, Star Trek, demonstrated that there is a fine line between science fiction and science fact.

Who could forget the omnipresent tricorder, designed to ascertain, among other things, one’s health status? Today, we have portable and wireless medical imaging devices

Do you remember the Star Trek’s communication device? Compare this to a modern day cell phone

Moving along in science fiction movie history, take a look at the killer robot which appeared in the movie, Terminator.

Compare science fiction with DARPA’s science fact as killer robots have been unveiled.



The use of drones to kill suspected terrorists is controversial, but so long as a human being decides whether to fire the missile, it is not a radical shift in how humanity wages war. Since David killed Goliath, warring armies have sought ways to more effectively kill their enemies while protecting their troops.

However, a new innovation has come to the battlefield which is unparalleled in the art of war. It strongly appears that DARPA developed military robots have the capacity to identify and to attack enemy soldiers on the battlefield and decide on their own whether to go for the kill. Do the DARPA killer robots possess the capacity to hunt down a human being? View the following for the unquestionable answer to this question.

In 2010, an Air Force report speculated that with increased robot capabilities, the human soldier will be obsolete. The Defense Department road map for killer robot systems states that its final goal is the unsupervised ability for (killer robots) mechanical assets to carry out their specified missions. In other words, the world will witness entire units of killer robots carrying out their missions without any human oversight. Isn’t the next logical step for these totally independent killer robots to be devise their own mission goals? This brings into distinct real of possibility of a man vs. machine war in our future and it could very well transpire within our children’s lifespan. Science will inevitably pass the realm of science fiction.

Although the Pentagon still requires autonomous DARPA killer robots to maintain human oversight, the real advantage of such a weapons system would lie within the ability for the weapons systems to have the capacity to make judgments on the battlefield. This one principle runs contrary to maintaining human oversight. Soon, it is clear, that the DARPA killer robots will soon be operating autonomously.

With the advent of killer robots, an international killer robot arms race will take place resulting in future battles being fought between competing armies of AI robots. Will the rules of war apply? What about the Geneva Conventions? If a DARPA killer robot commits atrocities against humans, will it held accountable? Does accountability even matter to an inanimate object? So what if a robot is “put to death,” and a duplicate is constructed. Can science ever develop a conscience for a killer robot? And if the purpose for the killer robots is war, why would governments provide an ethics override mechanism?

Human soldiers (e.g. Gestapo) have been programmed to commit genocide. It is a far simpler task to program a robot to commit the act more efficiently and without any second thoughts. Dictators always face the threat of human insurrection against their tyranny. With an army of DARPA killer robots, the threat of a palace revolt would be removed. In fact, killer robots are a perfect choice to carry out Obama’s NDAA provisions for disappearing and murdering political dissidents. If a present or future American dictator wished to eliminate a class of people from society, Nazi style, the killer robots are the ideal selection due to the efficiency of this weapons system.

Fox News reported that Human Rights Watch is advocating for a ban on these artificial weapons systems. I believe that humanity has more to fear from DARPA killer robots than creating an unethical and brutal army and/or tyrannical police force. When considering the principle of Moore’s Law, in which computer capacity doubles every 18 months, how long will it be until these machines will develop the capacity to stop following orders and begin to make their own decisions? And what if in their new found decision making process, the DARPA killer robots stop viewing “foreign robots” as the enemy and begin to focus on man as their new enemy? Since their prime directive is killing, how long would it take until humans become the most endangered species on the planet? Perhaps the DARPA killer robots will create an Agenda 21 style of a human “Wildlands/Human Refuge Zone” creation, which will prevent robot intrusion into protected human habitats, except, of course, during hunting season.

Mind Mangement: Researchers Explore New Ways to Influence Minds

Positive Futurist
by Dick Pelletier

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants to understand the science behind what makes people violent, and then find ways to hijack their minds by implanting false, but believable stories in their brains, with hopes of evoking peaceful thoughts: We’re friends, not enemies.

Critics say this raises ethical issues such as those addressed in the 1971 sci-fi movie, A Clockwork Orange, which attempted to change people’s minds so that they didn’t want to kill anymore.

Advocates, however, believe that placing new plausible narratives directly into the minds of radicals, insurgents, and terrorists, could transform enemies into kinder, gentler citizens, craving friendship.

Scientists have known for some time that narratives; an account of a sequence of events that are usually in chronological order; hold powerful sway over the human mind, shaping a person’s notion of groups and identities; even inspiring them to commit violence. See DARPA proposal request HERE.

In another area of mind management, some believe we should focus on genetic components. Scientists at the University of Buffalo recently surveyed DNA from 711 subjects and discovered what they refer to as the ‘niceness gene’, a gene that dictates whether people will be nice or are prone to antisocial behavior.

Contrary to popular knowledge, being kind to others may not be something that we can only learn about from those who raised us. It seems some people are simply born ‘nice’, and others, nasty.

Researchers found that people who see the world as a ‘threatening’ place were less likely to help others – unless they had versions of the receptor genes that are generally associated with niceness.

Today, scientists have yet to master the ability to change this genetic programming, but by the 2030s, many predict that modifying these genes (with patient approval, of course) will become routine.

Others say mind management with drugs offers the best solutions. This science could reform criminals more efficiently than a jail sentence. However, many ask how ethical is it to interfere with people’s minds?

In their recent ground-breaking book, Enhancing Human Capacities, co-authors Julian Savulescu, Ruud ter Meulen, and Guy Kahane explore how society will benefit when we use technology to alter moods, boost memory, and increase intelligence levels; along with the ethical concerns these technologies raise.

Kahane says scientists are discovering new behavior-altering procedures that make us more likeable, sociable; open to other people’s views; and will curb many of our desires for vengeance and violence.

Drugs that affect our moral thinking and behavior already exist, but we tend not to think of them in that way. Prozac lowers aggression and bitterness, making people more agreeable. Oxytocin increases feelings of social bonding and empathy while reducing anxiety.

Some question, though, whether society will want a pill that would make them morally better. Being more trusting, nicer, and less aggressive could make people more vulnerable to exploitation.

However, proponents believe the benefits are too important to ignore. Pursuing all of the technologies mentioned in this article holds great promise to curb crime and violence worldwide, improve personal and career relationships, and raise happiness levels everywhere.

In another area of the behavior-altering arena, memory-management drugs are about to take center stage. Data experts at Memory Pharmaceuticals, a leading New Jersey drug information firm, believe researchers will soon develop drugs that will dim, or permanently erase traumatic memories.

An even more radical technology, downloading knowledge directly into our brains will be possible in the 2030s, says Georgia Tech graduate student Peter Passaro. Mind-machine interfaces will allow us to receive data in our brain, immediately convert it to memory; bypassing the need to learn the information.

Clearly, the road to mind management science winds around unknown turns, but this forward-thinker believes the overwhelming benefits of reducing violence and criminal acts will push this bold idea forward as we move further into what promises to become an incredible 21st century future.

Beyond Surveillance: Darpa Wants a Thinking Camera

Wired
By Spencer Ackerman

It’s tough being an imagery analyst for the U.S. military: you’re drowning in pictures and drone video, with more pouring in endlessly from the tons of sensors and cameras used on planes, ships and satellites. Sifting through it to find roadside bombs or missile components is a time-consuming challenge. That’s why the Pentagon’s blue sky research arm figures that cameras ought to be able to filter out useless information themselves — so you don’t have to.

Darpa announced yesterday that it’s moving forward in earnest with a program to endow cameras with “visual intelligence.” That’s the ability to process information from visual cues, contextualize its significance, and learn what other visual data is necessary to answer some pre-existing question. Visual-intelligence algorithms are already out there. They can read license plates in traffic or recognized faces (in limited, brighly-lit circumstances). But the programs are still relatively dumb; they simply help collate data that analysts have to go through. Darpa’s program, called Mind’s Eye, seeks to get humans out of the picture. If it works, it could change the world of surveillance overnight.

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