U.S. Air Force New World Vistas & Dr. Jose Delgado
by Brendan James | July 15, 2009
Biological Process Control
"Prior to the mid-21 st century, there will be a virtual explosion of knowledge in the field of neuroscience. We will have achieved a clear understanding of how the human brain works, how it really controls the various functions of the body, and how it can be manipulated (both positively and negatively). One can envision the development of electromagnetic energy sources, the output of which can be pulsed, shaped, and focused, that can couple with the human body in a fashion that will allow one to prevent voluntary muscular movements, control emotions (and thus actions), produce sleep, transmit suggestions, interfere with both short-term and long-term memory, produce an experience set, and delete an experience set. This will open the door for the development of some novel capabilities that can be used in armed conflict, in terrorist/hostage situations, and in training. New weapons that offer the opportunity of control of an adversary without resorting to a lethal solution or to collateral casualties can be developed around this concept. This would offer significant improvements in the capabilities of our special operation forces. Initial experimentation should be focused on the interaction of electromagnetic energy and the neuromuscular junctions involved in voluntary muscle control. Theories need to be developed, modeled, and tested in experimental preparations. Early testing using in vitro cell cultures of neural networks could provide a focus for more definitive intact animal testing. If successful, one could envision a weapon that would render an opponent incapable of taking any meaningful action involving any higher motor skills, (e.g. using weapons, operating tracking systems). The prospect of a weapon to accomplish this when targeted against an individual target is reasonable; the prospect of weapon effective against a massed force would seem to be more remote. Use of such a device in an enclosed area against multiple targets (hostage situation) may be more difficult than an individual target system, but probably feasible.
It would also appear possible to create high fidelity speech in the human body, raising the possibility of covert suggestion and psychological direction. When a high power microwave pulse in the gigahertz range strikes the human body, a very small temperature perturbation occurs. This is associated with a sudden expansion of the slightly heated tissue. This expansion is fast enough to produce an acoustic wave. If a pulse stream is used, it should be possible to create an internal acoustic field in the 5-15 kilohertz range, which is audible. Thus, it may be possible to "talk" to selected adversaries in a fashion that would be most disturbing to them." [1]
"Prior to the mid-21 st century, there will be a virtual explosion of knowledge in the field of neuroscience. We will have achieved a clear understanding of how the human brain works, how it really controls the various functions of the body, and how it can be manipulated (both positively and negatively). One can envision the development of electromagnetic energy sources, the output of which can be pulsed, shaped, and focused, that can couple with the human body in a fashion that will allow one to prevent voluntary muscular movements, control emotions (and thus actions), produce sleep, transmit suggestions, interfere with both short-term and long-term memory, produce an experience set, and delete an experience set. This will open the door for the development of some novel capabilities that can be used in armed conflict, in terrorist/hostage situations, and in training. New weapons that offer the opportunity of control of an adversary without resorting to a lethal solution or to collateral casualties can be developed around this concept. This would offer significant improvements in the capabilities of our special operation forces. Initial experimentation should be focused on the interaction of electromagnetic energy and the neuromuscular junctions involved in voluntary muscle control. Theories need to be developed, modeled, and tested in experimental preparations. Early testing using in vitro cell cultures of neural networks could provide a focus for more definitive intact animal testing. If successful, one could envision a weapon that would render an opponent incapable of taking any meaningful action involving any higher motor skills, (e.g. using weapons, operating tracking systems). The prospect of a weapon to accomplish this when targeted against an individual target is reasonable; the prospect of weapon effective against a massed force would seem to be more remote. Use of such a device in an enclosed area against multiple targets (hostage situation) may be more difficult than an individual target system, but probably feasible.
It would also appear possible to create high fidelity speech in the human body, raising the possibility of covert suggestion and psychological direction. When a high power microwave pulse in the gigahertz range strikes the human body, a very small temperature perturbation occurs. This is associated with a sudden expansion of the slightly heated tissue. This expansion is fast enough to produce an acoustic wave. If a pulse stream is used, it should be possible to create an internal acoustic field in the 5-15 kilohertz range, which is audible. Thus, it may be possible to "talk" to selected adversaries in a fashion that would be most disturbing to them." [1]
What information was drawn upon for the formation of this vista? The proposals set forth in the preceding future forecast to employ electromagnetic weapons in order to control and interfere with the cognitive systems of people has a basis in the research of Dr. Jose Delgado, M.D., who, had his experiments in electric brain stimulation funded by the United States Air Force. [2] "The large majority of Delgado's research in the late 1950s and early 1960s may be summarized as a period of cataloging as many demonstrations of the effectiveness of ESB for the direct modification of behavior as possible, and his research was funded by the Office of Naval Research and the US Air Force." [3] Delgado began his experiments using electrodes implanted in the brains of animals and humans, stimulating them with varying milliamperes usually using a few volts. Later, Delgado was also able to influence the brain with electromagnetic radiation from a distance. "We did some experiments at Yale where we influenced the brain from up to 30 meters away." [4] Research was also carried out by Delgado and his team at the Ramon y Cajal hospital complex, in Madrid, where they were able to induce behavior changes in monkeys by placing them within an electromagnetic field; no direct brain contact was required. [5] "The fields Delgado uses are as low as one fiftieth the strength of the earth's own magnetic fields." [6] Towards the end of his book, Physical Control of the Mind, Delgado writes:
"New neurological technology, however, has a refined efficiency. The individual is defenseless against direct manipulation of the brain because he is deprived of his most intimate mechanisms of biological reactivity. In experiments, electrical stimulation of appropriate intensity always prevailed over free will; and, for example, flexion of the hand evoked by stimulation of the motor cortex cannot be voluntarily avoided. Destruction of the frontal lobes produced changes in affectiveness which are beyond any personal control." [7]
In New World Vistas, authored by the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, they propounded an electromagnetic technology that would, "interfere with both short-term and long-term memory" and "a weapon that would render an opponent incapable of taking any meaningful action involving any higher motor skills." Through specific electric brain stimulation, Dr. Delgado cited, "Diminished awareness, lack of normal insight, and impairment of ability to think have been observed by several investigators during excitation of different points of the limbic system. . . Some of our patients said they felt as if their minds were blank or as if they had been drinking a lot of beer." [8] These findings by Delgado could have provided the basis for further experiential research into these effects, and developing them with a weapon system to be capable of conducting at a distance. Another method to "render an opponent incapable of taking any meaningful action involving higher motor skills" would be the ability to induce auditory and visual hallucinations able to distract, deceive and mislead the enemy. Delgado did not have the ability to induce hallucinations of his choosing in a subject, but did discover methods for triggering them. Delgado writes:
{In one of our patients, complex sensory hallucinations were evoked on different days when the depth of the tip of the left temporal lobe was electrically stimulated. The patient said, "You know, I just felt funny, just now. . . . Right then all of a sudden somethin' else came to me--these people--the way this person talked. This married couple--as though the fellow came into my mind--as though like he was saying something' like oh my mind drifted for a minute--to somethin' foolish. . . . It seemed like he was coming out with some word--sayin' some word silly."} [9]
Not only did Delgado note visual hallucinations in patients after ESB (electric brain stimulation), he also delineated illusions (auditory, labrinthine, deja vu, sensation of remoteness or unreality), and emotions (loneliness, fear, sadness) induced by intracerebral stimulations. [10]
It should also be noted that Delgado recorded the effect of artificially induced perceptions such as deja vu. In New World Vistas the concept of imprinting an experience set is touched upon. "The prospect of providing a "been there-done that" knowledge base could provide a revolutionary change in our approach to specialized training." [11]
Another prospect of New World Vistas was to "control emotions (and thus actions.)" In one experiment with a monkey named Paddy, Delgado developed a process involving reciprocal feedback from a computer to automatically condition the monkey without her conscious participation.
"Chimpanzee Paddy (Figure 3), while free in her cage, was equipped with a stimoceiver to telemeter the brain activity of her right and left amygdaloid nuclei to an adjacent room, where these waves were received, tape-recorded, and automatically analyzed by an on-line analog computer. This instrument was instructed to recognize a specific pattern of waves, a burst of spindles, which was normally present in both amygdaloid nuclei for about one second several times per minute. The computer was also instructed to activate a stimulator, and each time the spindles appeared, radio signals were sent back to Paddy's brain to stimulate a point in her reticular formation known to have negative reinforcing properties. In this way electrical stimulation of one cerebral structure was contingent on the production of a specific EEG pattern by another area of the brain, and the whole process of identification of information and command of action was decided by the on-line computer.
Results showed that about two hours after the brain-to-computer-to brain feedback was established, spindling activity of the amygdaloid nucleus was reduced to 50 per cent; and six days later, with daily two-hour periods of feedback, spindles were drastically reduced to only 1 per cent of normal occurrence, and the chimpanzee was quiter, less attentive, and less motivated during behavioral testing, although able to perform olfactory and visual tasks without errors.
The computer was then disconnected, and two weeks later the EEG and Paddy's behavior returned to normal. The experiment was repeated several times with similar results, supporting the conclusions that direct communication can be established between brain and computer, circumvening normal sensory organs, and also that automatic learning is possible by feeding signals directly into specific neuronal structures without conscious participation." [12]
Results showed that about two hours after the brain-to-computer-to brain feedback was established, spindling activity of the amygdaloid nucleus was reduced to 50 per cent; and six days later, with daily two-hour periods of feedback, spindles were drastically reduced to only 1 per cent of normal occurrence, and the chimpanzee was quiter, less attentive, and less motivated during behavioral testing, although able to perform olfactory and visual tasks without errors.
The computer was then disconnected, and two weeks later the EEG and Paddy's behavior returned to normal. The experiment was repeated several times with similar results, supporting the conclusions that direct communication can be established between brain and computer, circumvening normal sensory organs, and also that automatic learning is possible by feeding signals directly into specific neuronal structures without conscious participation." [12]
What about producing sleep artificially? In one example recorded by Delgado, a monkey is put to sleep after 30 seconds of stimulation in the septal area, and in response to noise or being touched, the animal would slowly open it's eyes and look around for a few seconds then fall back to sleep. Similar results were obtained in free-ranging monkeys stimulated by radio. [13] Could sleep be induced in humans too? Yes. "Somnolence with inexpressive faces, tendency to lower the eyelids, and spontaneous complaint of sleepiness, but without impairment of consciousness, has been produced in some patients by stimulation of the fornix and thalamus." [14]
The Air Force funded Delgado, who researched methods for controlling the mind by electric brain stimulation; they also fund the research and development of nonlethal weapons, specifically, electromagnetic weapons. The concepts in New World Vistas are directly related to the research of Dr. Delgado, who carried out the experiments many years before New World Vistas was written. The proposals set forth in 'Biological Process Control' in New World Vistas aren't new at all, nor are they novel fantasies.
Footnotes:
[1] United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, New World Vistas: Air and Space Power for the 21st Century (United States Air Force), 89-90, quoted in N. Begich (2006), Controlling the Human Mind, Earthpulse Press Incorporated, Alaska, p. 29-30.
[2] Peter J. Snyder, Linda C. Mayes, Dennis D. Spencer, Science and the Media: Delgado's Brave Bulls and the Ethics of Scientific Disclosure: (London: Academic Press, 2009), 30.
[3] ibid.
[4] Magnus Bartas, Fredrik Ekman, Psychocivilization and Its Discontents: An Interview with José Delgado (Issue 2 Mapping Conversations Spring 2001). http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/2/psychcivilization.php
[5] "The Mind Fields", by Kathleen McAuliffe, Omni Magazine, Feb., 1985, Page 41.
[6] "The Mind Fields", by Kathleen McAuliffe, Omni Magazine, Feb., 1985, Page 42.
[7] Jose M.R. Delgado, M.D., Physical Control of the Mind: (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1969), 214.
[8] ibid, 174-175.
[9] ibid, 151.
[10] ibid, 153.
[11] United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, New World Vistas: Air and Space Power for the 21st Century (United States Air Force), 90.
[12] Jose M.R. Delgado, M.D., Physical Control of the Mind: (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1969), 91-93.
[13] ibid, 157.
[14] ibid, 174.
