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Military-Funded Brain Science Sparks Controversy
Live Science ^ | 3/21/2012 | Charles Choi

Posted on 03/21/2012 1:57:55 AM PDT by U-238

Brain research and associated advances such as brain-machine interfaces that are funded by the U.S. military and intelligence communities raise profound ethical concerns, caution researchers who cite the potentially lethal applications of such work and other consequences.

Rapid advances in neuroscience made over the last decade have many dual-use applications of both military and civilian interest. Researchers who receive military funding — with the U.S. Department of Defense spending more than $350 million on neuroscience in 2011 — may not fully realize how dangerous their work might be, say scientists in an essay published online today (March 20) in the open-access journal PLoS Biology.

For instance, a brain-computer interface was used by a monkey to remotely control a walking robot in 2007. However, such interfaces could help people operate weapons, robotic exoskeletons, killer drones and other machines while sheltered from the reality of combat and its deadly consequences, said bioethicist Jonathan Moreno at the University of Pennsylvania, author of "Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense" (Dana Press, 2006).

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: biology; brain; brainresearch; computers; departmentofdefense; mentalhealth; miltech; nationaldefense; neuroscience; science; soldiers; usmilitary
I would be the first to volunteer if its successful.
1 posted on 03/21/2012 1:58:02 AM PDT by U-238
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To: U-238

2 posted on 03/21/2012 2:08:53 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: U-238

As someone who has had brain surgery, I wouldn’t let anyone, especially the military, screw with my brain. My brain still works great and I have a very high IQ, but I spent two years recovering from that brain surgery and it wasn’t fun. Speaking from experience, the military thinks nothing of using our troops as guinea pigs, and this sounds like more of the same.


3 posted on 03/21/2012 2:09:11 AM PDT by Cherokee Conservative (If a tree falls over in the woods, and then snaps back upright as a joke, do the squirrels laugh?)
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To: U-238
However, such interfaces could help people operate weapons, robotic exoskeletons, killer drones and other machines while sheltered from the reality of combat and its deadly consequences

Well, presently a guy in Florida can sit in his bedroom in his PJs and blow up bad guys (hopefully) in Yemen via a drone. Fail to see the moral difference between controlling the drone via a thought versus a joystick.

4 posted on 03/21/2012 2:14:44 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: U-238

5 posted on 03/21/2012 2:34:44 AM PDT by SF_Redux (Sarah stands for accountablility and personal responsiblity, democrats can't live with that)
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To: U-238
How about we use it only to terminate a post-birth fetus?

Is it ethical then?

6 posted on 03/21/2012 3:16:11 AM PDT by Makana
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To: Makana

bkmk


7 posted on 03/21/2012 4:08:07 AM PDT by quickquiver (No, means N O.)
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To: Cherokee Conservative

As someone who has had brain surgery, I wouldn’t let anyone, especially the military, screw with my brain. My brain still works great and I have a very high IQ, but I spent two years recovering from that brain surgery and it wasn’t fun. Speaking from experience, the military thinks nothing of using our troops as guinea pigs, and this sounds like more of the same.


VERY WELL PUT.

BTW, Are you near or in the Western Cherokee nation? Do you have access to Disaster Prep Dir Tim Spencer?

If you do, please ask him if it’s true that he saw John Moore’s Navy map on the wall of a Navy office when he was in the Navy.


8 posted on 03/21/2012 4:33:19 AM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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To: U-238

You are just fine the way God made you.

Climbing into a war machine to do battle and transforming your body into a war machine are two very different things.

It is not wise to cooperate with this next wave of man made human body re-creation and genetic engineering. These transhumanist creators are not all that crazy about man. They don’t even pretend to have any ethics/self regulation born out of love and respect for their fellow man. Be wise.


9 posted on 03/21/2012 4:46:17 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: U-238

But you,Daniel ,shut up the words,and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro,and knowledge shall increase.”-Daniel 12:4 Unless that knowledge is rooted in wisdom which has its beginning in the Fear of the Lord(Yehovah = Jewish name for God.) is the beginning of Knowledge,but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7 -as was central to America’s Colonial Education.) I have no use for knowledge that excludes God or has no use for fear of the Lord.


10 posted on 03/21/2012 5:04:03 AM PDT by StonyBurk (ring)
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To: U-238

Reading the article, it looks like this technology could be abused to manipulate your mind to make you do terrible things without caring, or worse enjoying, the consequences. This technology literally has the capability of creating a ‘Brave New World’...


11 posted on 03/21/2012 5:40:16 AM PDT by sinsofsolarempirefan
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To: sinsofsolarempirefan

A brave new world might also consider that if everyone on the planet were “scanned,” so to speak, maybe there is enough people to prove reincarnation now.


12 posted on 03/24/2012 9:42:19 PM PDT by quickquiver (No, means N O.)
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