When you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you, in the latter days you will turn to the Lord your God and be obedient to His voice. - Deuteronomy 4: 30
Today I had an opportunity to experience the Voice of God.
No, it was not THE Voice that many seek in times of trial and tribulation nor was it the quiet voice that consoles those with a troubled Spirit.
This one was of manmade origins and after signing the longest NDA in my long career, I had an opportunity to witness it in operation.
I entered the demo as a sceptic.
I left the demo both amazed and disturbed.
I guess the dominant feeling depends on who I thought would use the technology and with what motivation and intention.
While not permitted to describe the exact technology (ha – like I could even try) or the nature of the demo I witnessed, for those who aren’t aware, technology exists to beam a message into someone else’s head.
It can be done without the knowledge of anyone other than the targeted recipient of the message.
The recipient is not necessarily aware that the message is originating from outside their mind instead of inside it.
The message can be made to sound like it is originating from a trusted source – a loved one, a friend …. or in some cases, God Himself.
And it is almost free of side effects, with “only” a few participants reporting that they have experienced light seizures or small strokes after participating.
But as I was assured by the person conducting the demo, it cannot be proven conclusively that the technology itself produced the subsequent health issues.
Uh huh.
Ohhhhhh the potential
Think of the potential (assuming that the device is in fact not frying people’s minds) if the technology is allowed to develop, getting smaller, become more advanced, etc.
1. Communication could get even more interesting, dispensing of the need to actually “hear” a conversation or risk a sensitive conversation being overheard. Never again will we have to yell at the kids to turn the TV volume down since the sound would be beamed right into our head!
2. People who are terminally ill or in a coma could have soothing messages playing in their mind.
3. Children who feel afraid could hear the soothing voice of a parent telling them they are ok or giving advice in times of danger, generated by a device on the child’s belt that knows when the child senses fear.
4. Education could be sped up, with new knowledge flowing into our brains all the time - perhaps even context or situation dependent.
5. We could have projectile/explosive-free containment of hostile forces, becoming very useful for law enforcement, the military, etc.
6. One of the researchers I spoke to has been monitoring brain research with an eye towards figuring out at some point how to integrate some kind of signal that can inject images into someone’s mind (although they are a long ways from this yet).
Wow – dreams on demand ….. hopefully not against one’s will.
It’s all wonderful, isn’t it?
But then I think of the other side of the coin.
1. Advertisers shooting incessant messages to consume into our mind.
2. Politicians shooting self-promotion shtick into our minds during an election campaign. Uggg … imagine if Anthony Weiner got his hands on this technology.
3. Business competitors sabotaging each other with inappropriate content.
4. The inability to walk away from “noise” just to find a place to sit and contemplate things. We would need to make use of electronic “dead rooms” in order to create such quiet. A quiet “walk in the woods” mightn’t be quiet any more or it might be “enhanced”, with super HD-quality sounds of nature being fired into our brains to enhance our experience.
5. Pharmaceutical companies proving that you need the latest schizophrenia medication because you can’t make the voices in your head go away.
6. False memories being injected into someone’s head as the technology improves, making it easier to build consensus or incriminate the innocent.
7. Government leaders convincing their citizens that the controversial step they are about to take is actually very good for everyone – merely with the push of a button. Can anyone say Syria?
8. Nations launching a new form of cyber warfare, directed at the minds of the citizens of an enemy nation or at the minds of the people who control their defense systems.
It would be like a person growing up in a small town in the deep South of the US and suddenly being transported to Manhattan during rush hour – experiencing a super energetic ballet of humanity and its potential or instant mayhem, chaos and madness.
Hmmm …. maybe those tinfoil hat guys are onto something.
Hmmmm … maybe not.
The bottom line
The bottom line with this technology is that it is amazing but then it reminds me of our research into splitting the atom.
When we split the atom correctly, we get relatively clean electricity forever (the conundrum of safe disposal of spent fuel rods not withstanding).
When we do it poorly, we get Fukushima and Chernobyl.
And when we use the technology maliciously, we get Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I wonder which way we will go with the technology that I witnessed.
I know what I would like to see.
But human history, in all its potential, seems to make different choices when it comes to converting cool, amazing things into the tools of warfare.
Hopefully the human race will go out of character when it comes to this technology.
Otherwise, I suspect that a lot of people may at some point be praying in earnest, aching to hear the real Voice of God.
If they are able.
In service and servanthood,
Harry
Addendum – September 17, 2013
After the disturbing tragedy that occurred at the Washington Naval Yard yesterday, this interesting item was in the news today - Navy Yard shooter reported hearing voices 6 weeks before spree, police say.
Particularly interesting was this comment attributed to the assailant some weeks ago after he called police to come to his hotel room:
“Alexis told police that the three talked to him through the walls, floor or ceiling at three hotels — two commercial hotels in Rhode Island and one on a naval base there. He told them that they used a microwave machine to send vibrations and keep him awake.”
Are these the worries of a madman with a known mental health concern or are they something else?
The technology exists to accomplish this which doesn’t automatically imply that such technology was used.
Sadly, many truths disappear when a perpetrator is killed or takes his own Life.
That sounds pretty freaky. The mind would no longer be a private place for contemplation.
ReplyDeleteAfterwards can one even prove they had the thought injected into them? Foolproof way of avoiding lawsuits. Nobody can prove you made them think that way.
Imagine the deranged using it to suggest an assassination... New meaning to "The Devil made me do it!" It was a devil, of sorts, just not THE Devil...
It is bizarre. As if we did not have enough delinquent thoughts of our own to control, now we have to worry about others forcing theirs into our heads...