Pentagon Researching Telepathy For Soldiers

• May 16, 2009

At least, that’s the hope of researchers at the Pentagon’s mad-science division Darpa. The agency’s budget for the next fiscal year includes $4 million to start up a program called Silent Talk. The goal is to “allow user-to-user communication on the battlefield without the use of vocalized speech through analysis of neural signals.” That’s on top of the $4 million the Army handed out last year to the University of California to investigate the potential for computer-mediated telepathy.
Before being vocalized, speech exists as word-specific neural signals in the mind. Darpa wants to develop technology that would detect these signals of “pre-speech,” analyze them, and then transmit the statement to an intended interlocutor. Darpa plans to use EEG to read the brain waves. It’s a technique they’re also testing in a project to devise mind-reading binoculars that alert soldiers to threats faster the conscious mind can process them.

This reminds me of something the soldiers in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War science fiction series had. In that story, every soldier was equipped with a “PDA” of sorts embedded in their brains that let them do all sorts of things, including communicate with one other “telepathically.”
That bit of technological fiction is one of the reasons why I like that series from Scalzi so much. And now it turns out, as is the case with most good science fiction, it’s based on good science.

Tags: Asshats, Domestic Issues, Politics

http://Array pete

Carrick – And DARPA inventions tend to trickle into civilian life.
Fatalerror94

I guess the futere depicted in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is not that far off.
Dino2

Military spending accounts for about 30% of the budget.

You’re an insane talking turd.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

I knew they were going to do this.
carrick

This has been around for a while.

There is a microphone like device that goes under the chin and picks up “pre-vocal” neural patterns. The neural patterns associated with this pre-vocal pattern is nearly identifical to the ones that would be present if you were to audiolize the speech.

Robert108, I wouldn’t call 20% of our budget to be “tiny”. But unlike wasteful spending on social programs, at least we know where the money is going..
Dino2

I notice there’s no stems criticizing these expenditures. Pretty much stems want the military to gain access to 100% of the Treasury.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

We knew you were going to say something stupid Dino.
robert108

Uneducated little dino: National defense is a tiny fraction of our spending, dwarfed by the Dem wasteful social spending. National defense is one of the few legitimate excuses for the greedy govt to spend our money.
All money is generated by the private sector, and pays all the bills for your wasteful entitlement spending. You owe us!
jimmypop

I knew they were going to do this.

i though they already were….
http://suitepotato.blogspot.com/ sayanything-4808

Fatalerror94:

I guess the futere depicted in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is not that far off.

With the exception of the Third and Fourth World Wars, the American Empire, the nuking of Berlin and Tokyo, and so forth we hope.

The technology of it is being made now. Give it twenty years if that.

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Pentagon Researching Telepathy For Soldiers

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