Comments on: ZOMG, Esquire! "Obama's Brain Activity Map Could Be Mind Control"

By: R_Young

R_Young — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:51:00 +0000

“Nobody who led it was ever removed from power, meaningfully punished, or lost funding.”

I would like some sauce with that sweeping generalization, monsieur.

By: Antonio Carrasco

Antonio Carrasco — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:31:00 +0000

Alex Jones just creamed himself

By: Gabrielle Rabinowitz

Gabrielle Rabinowitz — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:44:00 +0000

Don’t worry, BAM isn’t even going to touch the human brain within the first decade (if ever). I have a post explaining the project in more detail (and explaining why I don’t think it’s a very good idea) here: http://incubator.rockefeller.edu/?p=730

By: Aram Jahn

Aram Jahn — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:57:00 +0000

Cory rains on your Kickstarter parade from a few months ago:

http://boingboing.net/2012/10/01/tinfoil-hats-actually-amplify.html

…but _of course_ he’d report that! He’s prolly IN ON IT!

By: Cornan_KotW

Cornan_KotW — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 02:00:00 +0000

That was EXACTLY what I was hoping it would be.

By: anansi133

anansi133 — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 21:14:00 +0000

That sounds a lot like a Neal Stephenson novel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_%28novel%29

If the news is going to avoid reporting on science fiction plots, that’s a whole lot of recent history that’s off limits.

By: Florian Bösch

Florian Bösch — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:40:00 +0000

I’m donning my tinfoil hat now, Obama brain control waves. Next up on FOX news and on that show of the crazy mormon.

By: Sasha K-S

Sasha K-S — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:12:00 +0000

Let’s see. This is the same government that has spent literally decades trying to concoct mind control methods, truth serums, etc. etc. There has been a complete continuity of power and internal intelligence agency leadership between the era of MKULTRA and today. The heads of the current shadowy US alphabet soup Intelligence apparatus are the handpicked heirs of the baddies of the MKULTRA days.

The MK-ULTRA stuff is widely corroborated and totally in the public domain. They HAVE been deeply involved in mind control research in the past. Nobody who led it was ever removed from power, meaningfully punished, or lost funding. So, shouldn’t we simply assume that the current regime is continuing this, unless proven otherwise?

This Esquire headline is as fearmongering as a headline ‘US Government planning another war.’ Of COURSE they are. They always are. The US government spends billions of dollars every year on some very dark, dark stuff. There is often some sort of ulterior/military motive to US Government research. To pretend it’s impossible because it seems too ‘out there’ is what’s truly irresponsible. It’s simply sticking your head in the sand.

BoingBoing: bravely questioning the establishment, within a very narrowly limited scope of potential bad things they might do.

(disclaimer: i didn’t read the esquire article.)

By: IamInnocent

IamInnocent — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 11:09:00 +0000

Not remotely enough, apparently.

By: peregrinus

peregrinus — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 07:42:00 +0000

My wife has had access to a remote control mind control method for years

By: fuzzyfuzzyfungus

fuzzyfuzzyfungus — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:11:00 +0000

True fact: Pacemakers are a direct antecedent of the Y-17 trauma override harness program.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:19:00 +0000

Just like how early pacemaker research was just the first step in BUILDING AN UNSTOPPABLE ARMY OF UNDEAD CYBORGS.

By: Keisar Betancourt

Keisar Betancourt — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:15:00 +0000

does the term slippery slope mean anything to anyone? that was my first thought as well… this is not something that’s going to stop prior to complete invasion of mental privacy and control.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:15:00 +0000

They usually go with tried-and-true methods like scary graphics purporting to show mobile WMD laboratories.

By: Barry Cochran

Barry Cochran — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:01:00 +0000

In which case, we should support it. The last time the U.S. government tried to control minds, they ended up releasing a bunch of high-grade LSD into the general population.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:55:00 +0000

What a load of irresponsible, fear-mongering crap.

NICE TRY, MIND CONTROL RAY.

By: Ito Kagehisa

Ito Kagehisa — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:41:00 +0000

the project might also provide the first viable means of remotely controlling the human mind

I thought religion was first, political ideologies next, then BoingBoing, and finally, well, you know.

By: James Shaw

James Shaw — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:40:00 +0000

I think it pays t think about the consequences of any new technology, no matter how outlandish. Also, remember that the American government did experiment with mind control in the 60s. There is nothing wrong with asking for transparency and a little bit of vigilance to make sure a new technology does not get abused, no matter how unlikely that is.

By: Jorgen Fleisterman

Jorgen Fleisterman — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:21:00 +0000

You don’t get as many clicks if you post realistic headlines like “Marketers use “science” and pattern recognition to manipulate people into buying more stuff.”

By: Joel Finkle

Joel Finkle — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:49:00 +0000

Time for a kickstarter for quality tinfoil helmets

By: fuzzyfuzzyfungus

fuzzyfuzzyfungus — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:49:00 +0000

It isn’t false that an improved understanding of the brain would be a necessary part of any remote mind-control system(though good luck, and probably a stack of awards in physics and biochemistry, with reading and modifying neural state from any distance…); but I’m pretty sure that classical-era ‘demagoguery’ technology provides 95% of the mind control, with zero percent of the therapeutic potential…

By: cleveremi

cleveremi — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:48:00 +0000

Well, duh, if he can be a socialist, fascist, communist and nazi all at the same time, then it makes perfect sense that he also possesses mind control powers.

Oh, wait, that’s not what the article was talking about, was it… shoot.

Back to reality, then.

By: Scott McDaniel

Scott McDaniel — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:47:00 +0000

What’s weird is that Esquire is usually somewhat liberal-leaning. But clickbait is clickbait!
(Came to BoingBoing™ via Reddit™)

By: edgore

edgore — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:34:00 +0000

I thought the first viable means of remotely controlling the human mind was, you know, speech.