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fighting in real time and avoid soldier mortality. The concept was perimeter enforcement. For instance, an unruly mob may not hear to enhance the ability of soldiers in the field to interface with a warning to disperse with traditional acoustic technology, or computer systems by using their own brain waves. border enforcement agents may need to warn an approaching President George H. W. Bush declared the 1990s "The Decade intruder to turn away or face bodily harm. The technology has of the Brain". At the same time, funding for computer-to-human advantages over lethal force, yet it also has the potential to inflict interface technology poured into universities, and the Defense physical harm, emotional manipulation and death. Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) stepped up its research and development. In the universities the field became Neurological Technology known as "cognitive science", and within DARPA the term Neurobiology has many facets including therapeutic "augmented cognition" was born. While developments in brain applications with Alzheimer's, epilepsy, depression and stroke research are touted for their amazing therapeutic advances in the victims using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). The medical field, they primarily serve the purposes of the US military. Decade of the Brain also produced outstanding advances for those Americans have little idea about the research concerning the with spinal cord injuries which allow a paralysed person to capabilities of electromagnetism, directed acoustics or computer- control a computer screen or a limb with a brain implant. From human interfacing. The majority of Americans do not know that universities to private business to the military, advances in we are currently using these new-concept weapons in Iraq and neurotechnology can be used for amazing good. However, as we Afghanistan. Indiana University law professor David Fidler learned from the history of the Cold War, technology that has the stated to the Economist (30 January capacity to heal also has the capacity to 2003) that "because these weapons are harm. most likely to be used on civilians, it is TMS is being developed for military not clear that using them is legal under Military contractors run wars purposes, using electrical impulses at the international rules governing armed close proximity to the skull to enhance conflict...if they are used in in concert with power elites. mood, affect sleep patterns and conjunction with conventional increase creativity. weapons, they could end up making . Another realm of brain research is war more deadly, rather than less". The corporations also have the field of neural implants. Unti A peek into the US arsenal of the power to determine which recently, implants were a futuristic weapons is like a look into a science . . fantasy. Current advances in the fiction film. DARPA and various studies reach the public. private and military sectors have military research labs provide a view produced an implant that can allow a of the current technology available to victim of a spinal cord injury to wal enhance US soldiers in the field and again or give an amputee the ability to manipulate the emotions and behaviours control her leg with her mind. In the of the perceived enemy. As American sentiment toward the Iraq _ private sector, Cyberkinetics is leading the way to liberating some war spirals downward, along with the approval rating of the US people from wheelchairs. This technology is a path to a more president, domestic civil disobedience is likely to rise, as it has in functional way of life, but it is also possible that the use of many countries in response to US foreign policy. implants could be used for malevolence. John Donohoe, founder, chief scientific officer and director of Crowd Control using the Electromagnetic Spectrum Cyberkinetics, addressed the issue of mind control and neural The electromagnetic spectrum has provided the military with an —_ implants when asked by Discover magazine (November 2004) if expanse of weapons—which are operational and in military and creating a brain-machine interface will open the door to min private use today—in the form of millimetre waves, pulsed energy control: "We do that all the time already," he said. "Advertising is projectiles and high-powered magnetic weapons. mind control. Even pharmaceutical agents are a form of min * Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs) are a form of weaponry that control. When people have behaviors that deviate far from the is used to paralyse a victim with pain. The expanding plasma norm, they are given medications that bring their mind back into affects nerve cells, but the long-term effects remain a public the realm of behavior that we call normal. If a child were to have a mystery. A 2001 Time magazine article states that PEP seizure and became unconscious because of the seizure, and we technology "...superheats the surface moisture around a target so controlled his mind so that he did not have seizures, that would be rapidly that it literally explodes, producing a bright flash of light a wonderful thing. We want to do that." aud hana Tha « perimeter enforcement. For instance, an unruly mob may not hear a warning to disperse with traditional acoustic technology, or border enforcement agents may need to warn an approaching intruder to turn away or face bodily harm. The technology has advantages over lethal force, yet it also has the potential to inflict physical harm, emotional manipulation and death. Crowd Control using the Electromagnetic Spectrum The electromagnetic spectrum has provided the military with an expanse of weapons—which are operational and in military and private use today—in the form of millimetre waves, pulsed energy projectiles and high-powered magnetic weapons. * Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs) are a form of weaponry that is used to paralyse a victim with pain. The expanding plasma affects nerve cells, but the long-term effects remain a public mystery. A 2001 Time magazine article states that PEP technology "...superheats the surface moisture around a target so rapidly that it literally explodes, producing a bright flash of light and a loud bang. The effect is like a stun grenade, but unlike a grenade the PEP travels at nearly the speed of light and can take out a target with pinpoint accuracy...as far away as 2 km". * Voice-to-Skull Directed Acoustic Devices are neuro- electromagnetic non-lethal weapons that can produce sounds within the skull of a human. A similar technology, known as Hypersonic Sound, is used in a similar fashion. According to its inventor, Elwood Norris of American Technology Corporation (ATC), the hand-held speaker can focus sound waves directly at a person without anyone else hearing the sound. The technology is being tested by corporations such as McDonald's and Wal-Mart to direct advertisements into a consumer's head. ¢ The Long Range Acoustical Device (LRAD) is used by the military in situations such as crowd control, mass notification and US DoD Military Contractors Military contractors run wars in concert with power elites. The corporations also have the power to determine which studies reach the public. To be certain, the military, in the interest of budgets, allows negative or alarming studies to remain unreported or lost in a sea of classified documents. The power of the military and DoD contractors is staggering. In the interest of national security and as a result of lessons learned from an open democracy during the 1970s and 1990s, operations have become more black. In essence, no one can know with certainty what the US military, government and corporations have in store for the world, though we have some clues. In May 2006, the US Air Force issued US$24 million in APRIL — MAY 2007 NEXUS #15 Military contractors run wars in concert with power elites. www.nexusmagazine.com