Slashdot Mirror
Five US Navy SEAL Units Are Now Testing Brain-Zappers (military.com)
Five different Navy SEAL units are testing "transcranial electrical stimulation," reports Military.com, with one command's spokesperson saying the early results "show promising signs... we are encouraged to continue and are moving forward with our studies." The device's manufacturer says the number of devices being tested is "in the double digits," and believes the "neuro-priming" device could improve shooting performance, adding "it's kind of all about just training a little bit smarter." schwit1 quotes their report:
Transcranial electrical stimulation was one of the technologies touted by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter in July 2016 as part of his Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental) initiative. Since then, multiple SEAL units have begun actively testing the effectiveness of the technology, officials with Naval Special Warfare Command told Military.com... At a conference near Washington, D.C., in February, the commander of all Navy special operations units made an unusual request to industry: Develop and demonstrate technologies that offer "cognitive enhancement" capabilities to boost his elite forces' mental and physical performance. "We plan on using that in mission enhancement," Rear Admiral Tim Szymanski said.
Admiral Szymanski says experiments found that operators monitoring screens reportedly maintained peak performance for 20 hours -- rather than experience the usual drop-off in concentration after 20 minutes.
Admiral Szymanski says experiments found that operators monitoring screens reportedly maintained peak performance for 20 hours -- rather than experience the usual drop-off in concentration after 20 minutes.
That part is cool at least.
I expected, they want to zapp the brains of the enemies.... For that they could simply use Fox News...
And if they don't work, well, I'm sure the VA will be happy to take care of your cognitive capabilities/disabilities, like they do every other soldier. Ahem.
That would have been perfect.
I think I've seen this movie before but cannot place the name.
Brain zapping was perfected last November. Half the US was affected by it.
Autobots rollout
or like actually recruiting smart people to be soldiers'n'stuff.
Sounds like pure BS to me. However, I wonder if the placebo effect extends to this type of training.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
I'd do my testing on prison inmates or drug addicts. See how long they can concentrate on making a shank, or not scoring. See what the initial results are, and check out the long term effects.
SEALs are the best of the best, odds are dicking with their brains will give bad results more often than good.
Admiral Szymanski says experiments found that operators monitoring screens reportedly maintained peak performance for 20 hours -- rather than experience the usual drop-off in concentration after 20 minutes.
Was the Admiral perchance wearing one of these devices when he was interviewed? Because this sounds suspiciously like a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode...
#DeleteChrome
Remember, the military once tried to have a woman co-habitat with a dolphin to establish communications.
So maybe pump the brakes.
If the point is to stimulate the brain, coffee works too. Caffeine is technically a psychoactive drug. Controlled frying of your brain can't be good for you.
Making the brain work in ways other than our nature intends will yield a crop of disabled and troubled Seals.
FTS: "... experiments found that operators monitoring screens reportedly maintained peak performance for 20 hours -- rather than experience the usual drop-off in concentration after 20 minutes.
I've read that TES helps people with ADD / ADHD - it's good to see experimental results from a different field of application that suggest it may be true. It just might be time for me to build my own TES device.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
How long will it take for this kind of treatment to become an issue in intellectual contests such as chess and go tournaments, math olympiads, etc.
The common feature would be that some contestants might be willing to sacrifice future health in return for a substantial short-term performance boost.
Didn't go so well for Hemmingway.....
Just expose them to Trump's tweets.
They probably can't predict this right now, but I would certainly bet on these soldiers having some degree of permanent physical damage to their body after long time using those zappers
Sounds like a great idea, not! Nobody knows what the long term effects will be for this kind of experimentation. They should do some long term studies on volunteers first before making this kind of stuff widespread.
There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself
-Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
In viewing the above post you must keep in mind that the Left has decreed that dissent is no longer "racism" as it was deemed under President Obama. Now that a Republican president holds power, dissent is again the highest form of "patriotism" , and the military and political defeat of the United States is the goal of true "patriots." .
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
And so begins the zombie apocalypse.
To me this sounds as amoral as using drugs in combat.
I'm beginning to wonder if the military is not just a clever invention by scientists to get funding for cool stuff like the internet, VR, smart drugs and electrical brain zappers... If academics asked for this research directly they would be laughed out of the country, but if they dress it up as new ways to kill foreigners it's suddenly ok... people have such weird priorities!
This project is NOT about cognitive enhancement. The research behind these devices focuses on decreasing activity in the areas of the brain that control emotion, the anterior insular cortex in particular, which is the area of the brain that controls empathy. TAICS (Total Anterior Insular Cortex Suppression) has been a long-time project of the military, and has been attempted through targeted pharmaceutical therapy, situational manipulative therapy, and now with electrostimulative therapy.
The goal of TAICS is to develop absolutely obedient soldiers who will obey orders without question 100% of the time. There is great interest in the military for EJOT (extrajudicial order for termination) and CNF (Civilian Neutralization Fire) compliance, and current compliance rates are quite low, particularly for these two classes of orders.
An interesting technical subject (TDCS seems to well-tolerated) with obvious general applications (long sessions of flow without drugs), and this is the quality of comments? Poor old Slashdot, I think we're done.
When you introduce a new stress to the system you must also do something to keep the system in balance.
What are they doing to balance the system?
Shouldn't it be "Defense Innovation, Experimental"? Ooh, wait, bad acronym.
Nope, no sig
There are also reports that college students are using this technology to get better test scores.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I hope this works better than the procedure to make soldiers not require sleep.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
As Seen on Napoleon Dynamite!
Water slides. And massacring funnel cake. Death to the pretty taco invading dust mites. Fear me you quantum dot insectoid demons liches. Dare to ride my putrid measle ridden balloon of flatulent gas.
The above sentence was my response to reading these comments too fast. Perhaps I also need my brain zapped to fix slashdotitis.
The placebo effect works even if you know it's a placebo. It works even better if you don't. And, it works best on stupid people. Don't forget that "military intelligence" is an oxymoron.
You carry on ranting! Good for you, everyone will respect you all the more for doing so. Just keep that in mind when the "negative leftists" point out your behavior even drives away your own side. Keep on truckin' and rantin! Never stop!!
will we end up as being Klingons, Ferengi, Vulkans, or Humans. That's all. So far I'm inclined to believe some mix between Klingons and Ferengi. Stupid, greedy, warmongering savages.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
Coming soon, this device will be required to be worn by all boys in grade school.
Side affects, what side affects? This will only be used on men and boys, it's not as if society cares about them enough to worry about side affects.
I thought the already perfected LSD et al?!...
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.