Friday, October 21, 2011

Real-Life Inception: Army Looks to ‘Counteract Nightmares’ With Digital Dreams (edited)

source: Wired

At this phase digital dreams are promoted as a safe, comforting fantasy land just like the Magic Kingdom, which of course is quite ugly beneath the surface. In a few years the same technology will likely be openly used to torture people without leaving a mark, thereby making prosecution for war crimes much more difficult to achieve while increasing potential damages exponentially. The possibilities are nearly endless: synthetic sexual assault, drowning, suffocation and nearly anything a sick mind can dream up to torture social dissidents. Trigger search algorithms could even be used to mine the target for particularly upsetting scenarios. Of course this will all seem like paranoia unless you're aware of the U.S. military sponsored MK Ultra project and its history of destroying the minds and bodies of U.S. civilians, in no small part via the use of microchips that alter neural impulses responsible for regulating emotional well-being. Happy dreaming!

A soldier tries to sleep. But he is not safe in his dreams. Jolted awake by a nightmare, the combat veteran fumbles in the dark for his 3-D glasses.

He puts them on. Around him are the faces of people whom he trusts. They fight the darkness with him. The soldier’s re-lived this scene in his head and the laboratory over and over again, until it has become reassuringly familiar. The soldier knows that his pixelated friends will take him away from these troubled dreams. When the scene is over, he takes off his goggles and looks around him. The soldier is home.

The U.S. Army wants this dream sequence to become reality. In an Army-backed experiment called “Power Dreaming,” Naval Hospital Bremerton in Washington State will help traumatized troops battle their nightmares — with soothing, digitally-made dreams crafted in virtual worlds. more...