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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
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
Remember, the bulb that burns twice as bright, only lasts half as long. (Unless you're using those funny looking bulbs, then my analogy goes right down the toilet) I don't want to be spoon feeding burned-out snipers in the home...
The brain isn't the part of the anatomy that politicians need electrodes hooked to....
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..."
I don't know... but it could certainly be interesting to find out.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
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.
An additional 2-milliamp current will be run through the pleasure center of the brain for every target correctly identified and eliminated. In related news, application to sniper school hits a all-time high.
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.
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
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.
... And, if you do this, you are a complete idiot. I wouldn't recommend it.