Aluminum Foil Hats Will Not Stop "Them"

Otter writes "A study at MIT has found that aluminum foil headwear ("Among a fringe community of paranoids..the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals") actually amplifies certain frequency bands allocated to the US government, as well as a mobile phone range, and is largely ineffective through the rest of the radio spectrum. But we can we trust the study, or are They controlling the researchers?"

Comments

Re:An interesting thing

[TheMeuge]

When I was doing my psychiatry rotation they explained that paranoia is usually relative to the cultural environment in which the person was brought up. For people who grew up in cities, the "government conspiracy" paranoia is most common. For those who were brought up in rural areas, the "aliens" conspiracy is most widespread. And obviously for those who were brought up religiosly, "demonic possession" is the price element of paranoia. Obviously most real cases are mixes of these, but it is easy to see that people get their paranoid ideations from the fears that are most prevalent in their environment.

This is actually true - GPS tinfoil hat tests

[Animats]

We actually had occasion to use a tinfoil hat when testing the Overbot for the DARPA Grand Challenge. To simulate a loss of GPS signal, we put a tinfoil hat over the GPS antenna.

Our first hat was a stainless steel mixing bowl. GPS reception continued. We were even able to get WAAS and Omnistar HP lockup with the mixing bowl on top of the antenna.

An actual tinfoil hat cut off more of GPS, but we could still get "single" GPS signals, although not the corrections for Omnistar.

So the radiolocation bands really do get through.

Re:amplified?

[FuzzyDaddy]

RF signals are not imaged - all the data is encoded in the time variation of the signal. Hence, focus is not relevant. Increased gain does NOT mean increased noise - which is why having a big satelite dishes improves reception.

And I can't believe I just weighed in with a serious response on this article. Time for more coffee.

Re:An interesting thing

[SamHill]

Different manifestations pop up depending on the milieu: today it's radio signals from government controlled satellites, but in the late 1940's Shaver's tales of "Dero rays" being emitted by a race of evil subterranean dwellers proved a popular framework for the delusion.

And before that (in 1796), there was James Tilly Matthews's Air Loom, a "pneumatic machine" that could manipulate the ether to influence its victims. See The Air Loom Gang: The Strange and True Story of James Tilly Matthews and His Visionary Madness by Mike Jay for more details.

In addition to insights into one of the earliest documented manifestations of paranoid delusion, the book has lots of juicy details about mental health facilities in the late-eighteenth/early-nineteenth centuries, the French Revolution, Mesmerism, and lots more. A really interesting book.

Re:Now I'm scared

[Deadstick]

There was a professor at Georgia Tech when I was there (1958-62) who had no use for either one. He had been a highly-regarded EE prof in the Thirties, then cracked up under the stress of pumping out engineers in World War II and spent some time in a mental hospital.

In the course of his confinement he was frightened by a bat, and decided that his condition was caused by a deadly brain-rotting radiation emitted by bats.

He was never able to teach EE again, but the school took him back in the Industrial Management department. He always wore a derby hat lined with foil -- but no crummy tin or aluminum for him. He insisted on using lead foil, the only quality material for such a purpose. But it didn't stop there: the bat rays tended to build up potentially lethal static charges on the foil, so it had to be grounded. His hat was connected by an alligator clip to wires sewn into his clothing and ultimately to a nail in his shoe.

He was known, naturally, as Batman and we treated him with the kind of casual cruelty you'd expect of undergraduates...we all thought he was unique and it wasn't until the Internet came along that I learned how common the foil-hat thing is. Apparently it's a symptom of paranoid schizophrenia -- a particularly sad condition in which the victim knows perfectly well he's screwed up and is powerless to do anything about it.

rj