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DARPA Investing In Electric Brain Stimulation To Train Snipers Quickly
New submitter Morganth writes "According to New Scientist, researchers at DARPA are investing efforts in transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) machines to cut the time it takes to train snipers. From the article: 'a 2-milliamp current will run through the part of the brain associated with object recognition — an important skill when visually combing a scene for assailants.' The story also gives a nice explanation on the psychology of 'flow' — the state that experts tend to enter (e.g. programmers, tennis players, pianists) when focusing on their work." We covered similar research done on mice to improve their memory in September.
"I know kung fu."
I am officially gone from
a 2-milliamp current will run through the part of the brain associated with object recognition — an important skill when visually combing a scene for assailants
So combined with the earlier article about guided long range bullets this technology would be the second of three pieces to accelerate training or open up the candidate pool. Now we just need the trifecta article about some sort of stealth camouflage system.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Just in time to be replaced by drones.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I, for one, welcome our cyborg sniper overlords.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
How many crystals were needed to build a terran ghost anyway?
sigh
Perhaps more research should go toward stimulating political thinking into avoiding situations where snipers need to be rapidly trained.
I knew there would be a use for that old Electroshock Therapy machine that I picked up dirt cheap from military surplus.
If you wait long enough, wacky medical treatments become in vogue again. Like leeches, that are used for skin grafts.
My original plans of using the Electroshock Therapy machine to keep the neighborhood kids off my lawn did not go down too well with the neighbors, the police, and various other government agencies. Until they found no law against owning an Electroshock Therapy, and threatening to use it on kids on my lawn.
By then the neighbors wouldn't let their kids anywhere near my ranch anyway, so I guess it was effective after all.
Now about my plans for opening a private sniper school . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I want to see dead, burnt baby bodies. I want to see veins in my teeth.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
When did we run out of snipers? Did they all just up and retire last weekend? Is there a reason we need a large numbers of snipers trained quickly? Is RL warfare turning into one of those CoD matches where everyone rolls sniper and stares at a window until someone with a shotgun creeps up behind them? Although this research sounds interesting, it strikes me as a solution looking for a problem.
Just watch out for those father rapers.
Can't we just give the soulless drones at DARPA electroshock so they stop coming up with ideas to fuck the world up more and more?
TFA doesn't mention snipers. The description is of someone firing rapidly to supress an attack.
Sniper teams (not just one person) work slowly and methodically by comparison. Identifying the target isn't done under the kind of pressure described in the article. And there's figuring the range and windage as well. Not something done at that kind of an almost instinctive level.
And then there's the issue of muscle memory. A lot of shooting (accurately) depends on eye-hand coordination and motor learning to control superfluous movements that can mess up a shot. Will this stimulation do anything for that?
Have gnu, will travel.
Read that article the other day, very interesting it will be cool when they pinpoint these areas more specifically and make a hat that can tune your abilities. i have read similar articles using electricity to shut down parts of the brain and people suddenly gain increased artistic abilities or math skills etc.
i imagine that soon we could potentially have a consumer grade device that would help stimulate the parts of your brain to help with the task at hand or temporarily shut down the parts that would hinder.
thought hat leaves the question about school work etc/ could you force employees to use it to make them better. could people who can afford one be getting an unfair advantage academically?
We figure out a way to enhance human mental acuity, and the very first thing we apply it to is training snipers. Interspecies communication? Military dolphins. Never mind nuclear physics.
If we were as good at anything as we are at killing each other and stealing each other's stuff, we might have a chance. Hell, if we were even more interested in something else -- and no, screwing doesn't count.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
I want to see dead, burnt baby bodies. I want to see veins in my teeth.
Brilliant reference. I'm afraid that most people will miss the connection though.
That movie is "Wanted" so you want to train a sniper quickly? put a loaded gun to his head, with safety off but actually pull the trigger if he misses the target.
My greatest fear with brain enhancement technology is that it creates a super-class of humans. Those who have the ability to pay for the technology will have a majorly unfair advantage against those who don't, creating a dangerously elite group of people.
... how exactly does one verb a verb?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
"warns me that if I remove an electrode and break the connection, the voltage passing through my brain will blind me for a good few seconds."
oh, yay. zappiezappie
but worse:
In the sudden quiet amid the bodies around me, I was really expecting more assailants, and I'm a bit disappointed when the team begins to remove my electrodes. I look up and wonder if someone wound the clocks forward. Inexplicably, 20 minutes have just passed. "How many did I get?" I ask the assistant. She looks at me quizzically. "All of them."
This should freak you the hell out
The beginnings of a "super soldier" program, that not only improves performance dramatically, but also disengages the higher brain functions ZombieSoldier, (c)US Army, all rights reserved(to the government)
(whipsering) Miranda. (/whispering)
Really liked this article. I've experienced "flow" to a limited degree when playing music and playing video games, it's something I'd like to be able to attain more. The only time I really enter "flow" when playing music is when I'm improvising with other musicians and I get really 'in the zone' with what I'm playing.
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." - Pablo Picasso
So.. when will this be publicly available? My K:D ratio for Modern Warfare 2 could use a boost..
One thing to take away is that higher mental abilities come not from stimulating an area of the brain but by shutting it down. Do we need an external device to do that?
Great, now even real snipers have wallhacks.
They are either upping the volts or discarded this approach for some reason. Russian spacecrafts come down in bits and pieces these days.
You'll be fine as long as the magic smoke doesn't come out
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/ (Jacob's Ladder).
Really liked this article. I've experienced "flow" to a limited degree when playing music and playing video games, it's something I'd like to be able to attain more. The only time I really enter "flow" when playing music is when I'm improvising with other musicians and I get really 'in the zone' with what I'm playing.
Gheezus H Ktoolo, heaven forfend they just burn a blunt!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
These people use biofeedback to help with ADHD and other conditions.
http://www.drakeinstitute.com/
I did one of their treatment programs about a decade ago. There really is a "feeling" associated with being focused. Via biofeedback you can train the mind to recognize mental states in the brain. It is a very powerful and useful science.
It seems like the military is taking shortcuts. Rather than going through a 6 month program, they are just pumping some current through the areas of the brain related to the type of learning that they are trying to enhance. It seems like it would be effective. Once the synapses have been formed, the training is more or less permanent.
I wonder if they've considered piracetam or other nootropics to further enhance the process.
"You missed the target, private. I'm increasing the stimulation."
*zap* "Ouch!"
"If you miss the target again, I will increase it again. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"
"Yeah, our policy is to wire up all our new interns. After the first burnout, or if their physician starts complaining about their body weight (forgetting to eat is a common side-effect), we give 'em a test. If they've learned enough by then, we hire 'em. If not, well, we're not running a charity here."
Even if it sound stupid, flow is a actual area of research for psychologists and the rather weird and interesting effects it has on human perception and reaction. It's really cool stuff and most people either take it for granted or don't even know they're doing it. It effects everyone in every part of our lives as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
I don't know about other Americans, but I see the world in 16 million shades of grey...
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
Time to dust off the Zener cards.
Electric Brain Stimulation To Train Snipers Quickly
Private: "I'm trying, but I just suck at shooting..."
Drill Sgt: "I've got a brain-shocker here that says you don't."
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
At first, I though the title said "... To train spiders quickly" What a terrifying thought.
Yeah, or sex, or even throwing and catching things! No wait, wrong audience. Well, there's always gaming. Or pinball. Or verbal communication. Or riding a bike. Shit, wrong audience again :D
I guess with sniping the biggest challenge is to keep the question "what am I doing, and why am I doing it?" from popping up (in video games as well as in the military). Other than that, it's just a primitive case of what all of us do, all the time?
Just an idea: if you're not in the zone, you're either learning something new (and too bewildered to get into any groove), or you're simply doing the wrong things (or doing the right things for the wrong people or reasons). Not being in the zone, like pain, is a warning signal. Tear down the corrupt, idiotic charade we call society, and there'd be plenty of "flow" to go around.
But that's too radical, training monkeys is more their speed. The End.
Sorry, I meant to do that earlier. It's from the song Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjKF7aQthcQ