Ultimate Control: Neuroscientists Successfully Demonstrate They Can Alter Human Actions With ‘Imperceptible Electrical Impulses’

Neuroscientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have successfully demonstrated that they can alter human actions by imperceptible electrical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex.

Their findings have been published in the December issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

The lead on the study, Nitin Tandon M.D. said:

“There is a circuit in the brain for inhibiting or braking responses. We believe we are the first to show that we can enhance this braking system with brain stimulation.”

The system relies on electrodes being planted on the surface of the brain, not something that would allow control of the masses, but certainly something that could be used to control certain individuals.

In the first half of the twentieth century, pre-frontal lobotomy was hailed as the cure for mental illness and some 40,000 procedures were performed in the United States alone between the 1940s and 1950s. Although some patients seemed less anxious or disruptive after the procedure, many thousands were left permanently damaged to the point that they couldn’t care for themselves and they spent the rest of their surgically altered lives incarcerated in mental institutions.

Surgeons predict that the new mind control method will benefit those with conditions such as Tourettes syndrome and ADHD. Brain surgery…for ADHD, a condition which not all doctors even agree exists.

According to the CDC, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been diagnosed in a full 11% of children in the United States, with the numbers varying across states. Kentucky has the highest rate of diagnosis at 18.6%.

Are we heading towards surgical control of these children, as was the case with pre-frontal lobotomy decades ago? The case of Howard Dully, just 12 when he was lobotomized, is a story that should serve as a warning regarding the mood modification of children.

The government is getting increasingly involved in the care and upbringing of our kids. Will this be just another way they can make children grow up to conform to their vision of future society?

• What safeguards will be in place to ensure that parents are not forced to allow the infliction of this procedure on their children?
• What other applications does the procedure have? Could it be used to turn people into government controlled human drones?
• Who will be looking out for the interests of ‘problem children’ who are in the care system and may not have someone to speak up for them?

Having the ability to manipulate emotions and subdue populations at the flick of a switch has been the mainstay of science fiction for decades. Science fiction it seems is rapidly becoming science fact, and it’s terrifying.

From Science Daily:

The researchers are quick to point out that while their results are promising, they do not yet point to the ability to improve self-control in general.

Generally, if you can manipulate/improve something, it’s a small step to adapting the procedure to manipulate/remove something else, like fear, compassion, empathy or any other emotion you care to name. It’s just a small step, requiring a government research grant and a couple of willing scientists, to develop such procedures in the name of national security. This moves them from the medical arena and usually drops them into a military one.

Mind control is the stuff of horror movies. Sadly it has escaped from the big screen and looks set to become a part of everyday life.