The Department of Homeland Security is considering granting a terrorism detection contract to a crackpot Russian “mind control” outfit called the Psychotechnology Research Institute. PRI’s technology shows “subliminal” pictures of terrorist attacks to travelers and “detect” terrorists based on how they respond. Wired has a great long feature about these kooks and the feds who love them.
The problem, he said, is that there is no science he is aware of that can produce the specificity or sensitivity to pick out a terrorist, let alone influence behavior. “We’re still working at the level of how rats learn that light predicts food,” he explained. “That’s the level of modern neuroscience.”
Developments in neuroscience, he noted, are followed closely. “If we could do (what they’re talking about), you would know about it,” Schoenbaum said. “It wouldn’t be a handful of Russian folks in a basement.”
