SUBSCRIBE GIVE A GIFT
All Wired
Sign In | RSS Feeds
PREVIOUS POST
RENEW INTERNATIONAL
NEXT POST
Top Pentagon Scientists Fear Brain-Modified Foes By Noah Shachtman
June 9, 2008 | 12:00 pm | Categories: Army and Marines, DarpaWatch, Science!
There’s concern in some corners of the U.S. military about "enemy activities in sleep research," neuro-pharmaceutical performance enhancement, and "brain-computer interfaces." And it’s not coming from the Pentagon’s scientific fringe, or from some tin-hat kook with a Defense Department badge. The celebrated scientists on the Pentagon’s most prestigious scientific advisory panel, JASON, are the ones worried about adversaries’ ability "to exploit advances in Human Performance Modification, and thus create a threat to national security." In a recent report, unearthed by Secrecy News, the JASONs are recommending that the American military push ahead with its own performance-enhancement research — and monitor foreign studies — to make sure that the U.S.’ enemies don’t suddenly become smarter, faster, or better able to endure the harsh realities of war than American troops. The JASONs are particularly concerned about (and excited by) new drugs that promote "brain plasticity" — rewiring the mind, essentially, by helping to "permanently establishing new neural pathways, and thus new cognitive capabilities." The military has already tested these neuro-modulators as a way to keep troops alert after sleepless nights.
Subscribe to WIRED Renew Give a Gift International Orders
Brain Training Games Improve memory and attention with scientific brain games. - www.lumosity.com Master of Arts: Diplomacy Earn a Master of Arts in Diplomacy with International Concentrations. - www.Norwich.Edu/Diplomacy Secure Single Sign On to all your Cloud & On-premise Apps for Win, OsX and Linux. Try Now - www.passwordbank.com Moving to the Cloud Get Best Practices with Gartner Research or call (877) 806-2599 - Go.SungardAS.com Ads by Google
But these new drugs will certainly have extensive off-label use for improvement of memory and cognitive performance. [They] may have the additional effect of weakening or overwriting existing memories. Depending on the ultimate performance of these drugs, adversaries might use them in training programs or field operations… to increase troop effectiveness or modify troop behavior and/or emotional responses. The scientific group also wants the military to keep close watch on the hardware and software which connects the human brain to machines. American researchers have used these brain-computer interfaces to develop new prosthetics — and to train monkeys to control robotic limbs. Northrop Grumman just won a Pentagon contract to develop binoculars that will tap the subconscious mind. The JASONs believe "the primary threat potential for adversarial use of a Brain-Computer interface… …may arise in a feedback mode, in which a the interface provides a soldier with a simple signal or a pain/pleasure pulse in response to externally provided situational information. Longer term adversarial developments may include prosthetic applications providing specialized sensory input or mechanical output. None of this is likely to happen soon, of course. Even the most basic of these advances — a drug to effectively, consistently fight sleep deprivation — still isn’t ready for wartime. "If an opposing force had a significant sleep advantage, this would pose a serious threat. However, the technical likelihood of such a development is small at present," the JASONs note.
Editor: Noah Shachtman | E-mail Senior Reporter: Spencer Ackerman | E-mail Reporter: David Axe | E-mail Contributor: Adam Rawnsley Contributor: Katie Drummond | Email Contributor: Nathan Hodge | E-mail Contributor: Sharon Weinberger | E-mail