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US Army To Develop "Thought Helmets"
Posted by
Soulskill
on Sat Sep 20, 2008 04:09 AM
from the better-than-"thought-pants"-i-guess dept.
from the better-than-"thought-pants"-i-guess dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Time Magazine reports on a $4 million US Army contract to begin developing 'thought helmets' to harness silent brain waves for secure communication among troops that the Army hopes will 'lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone.' The Army's initial goal is to capture brain waves with software that translates the waves into audible radio messages for other troops in the field. 'It'd be radio without a microphone,' says Dr. Elmar Schmeisser, the Army neuroscientist overseeing the program. 'Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way.' The key challenge will be to develop software able to pinpoint speech-related brain waves and pick them up with a 128-sensor array that ultimately will be buried inside a helmet. Scientists deny charges that they're messing with soldiers' minds. 'A lot of people interpret wires coming out of the head as some sort of mind reading,' says Dr. Mike D'Zmura. 'But there's no way you can get there from here.' One potential civilian spin-off: a Bluetooth Helmet so people nearby can't hear you when you talk on your cell phone."
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US Army Chief of Staff To Develop "Thought" (Score:5, Funny)
US Army Chief of Staff To Develop "Thought"
Re:US Army Chief of Staff To Develop "Thought" (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
TEMPEST... (Score:5, Funny)
One problem with this is any electrical activity on the brain detected is then amplified. This makes TEMPEST attacks on the thoughts of the soldier much easier as the attacker already has an amplifier attached to the soldier. Solution? Every US Army soldier needs to wear a tin foil hat!
Re:TEMPEST... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Prior to the filter? (Score:5, Interesting)
Wouldn't this take stuff before people have the ability to filter what they say and speak it out loud?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Don't ask, don't tell, don't think.
+1 sad.
doubt they are at that level of reading brainwave (Score:2)
Re:doubt they are at that level of reading brainwa (Score:5, Interesting)
For "silent" communication I can see morse being communicated that way, but reading words from the brain ? Maybe one can train people to concentrate and clearly form a few specific patterns which can then be recognized afterward and translated to words, but i doubt you could learn and differentiate so many patterns as to have a wordly communication. Furthermore in the midst of fire exchange, I doubt this would be easier to use than a radio.
I don't think adults can easily learn to use their brains in an entirely new way like this. Maybe if you gave a really young child one of these with some kind of visual feedback for them they could develop a more sophisticated way of communicating with it.
Or better yet, maybe deaf kids could use this to talk amongst themselves. It would have to be started very young though, so the brain could develop and strengthen the areas needed. Actually this is now sounding a bit like the plot from The Midwitch Cuckoos.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
As a battlefield tool, I can't imagine it being of any use to soldiers who haven't used it for years and don't need to think about it. What these military people need for it to work are orphans or clones. Even cheaper, just use robots. Of course, these strategies might be considered inhumane.
Not "speach" but only a subset keywords (Score:3, Insightful)
For "silent" communication I can see morse being communicated that way, but reading words from the brain ? Maybe one can train people to concentrate and clearly form a few specific patterns which can then be recognized afterward and translated to words
Yes indeed, if you read the summary, they don't intend to pick up whole speeches from within the brain, only small precise commands. From the summary :
Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way.
In terms of though-reading this is as close to "reading speech", .bind F12 'Heal,plz!'; " is close to a long IRC chat between non-lolspeak-challenged people in terms of internet textual
- as trained keyword recognition (teach your handsfree to recognise "reject call" command) is close to untrained free-form dictation in the field of voice recognition.
- or as "
Re:Prior to the filter? (Score:5, Interesting)
It sounds like they're tapping into the signals that would normally be sent to the muscles (not to the motor nerves themselves, but the last stage prior to them). In a computer analogy, this would be like reading signals between the filesystem driver and the physical device driver - all the "filtering" of what you would actually say has probably already been done. Similarly, this wouldn't catch fleeting thoughts which you would never vocalize. On the other hand, it quite possibly *would* catch thoughts which you would normally say only under your breath or when the mic is off. There's still plenty of potential for embarassment...
Parent
Re:Prior to the filter? (Score:4, Informative)
Who knows? The military probably doesn't. After all, the military experimented with LSD long before it knew what it was. That's what so great about working with live soldiers. Our soldiers have no rights. They signed them away -- when they signed on the dotted line.
Parent
Re:Prior to the filter? (Score:5, Funny)
Recruits: Sir, yes sir.
Helmet: What a dickhead.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Perhaps I'm not fully understanding it, but I believe they don't have the ability to do on-the-spot translation. Instead, soldiers would likely go through a training regiment where they "think" commands, and the helmets are tuned for them personally while trying to get patterns as uniform as possible.
So when they think "Bravo Team Forward", the helmet recognizes the expected brain waves and translates it. When they think "I could use a mallomar bar and a hooker", the helmet ignores it. You'd get a lot of
I can see it now... (Score:5, Funny)
(All thought, of course)
"Private Jenkins, Cover me!"
"Sir, Yes, Sir!....man, sarge is so cool and he has such a great ass! He can cov-er-me-an-e-time-he-likes, tee-hee!"
"Uhh...private Jenkins?!"
"Uhh uhh yes, sarge?"
"...I think I love you, too"
And then they'd get shot or something. Anyway, the moral of the story is...well...I forget, what were we thinking about, again?
You know, helmets are so uncomfortable... (Score:4, Funny)
They should really look into other ways to deploy something like this. Maybe something that could be injected into a person. Perhaps nanotechnology?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
...Perhaps this is meant for in-the-rear commo vice while out on patrol...
Jesus! You mean this thing gets rectally inserted? Oh, wait... that would mean it would be near the soldier's brain then... good idea!
Re:You know, helmets are so uncomfortable... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah and helmets have that nasty habit of preventing battlefield debris from getting lodged in your brain. Somehow I think that's worth being a tad uncomfortable.
Parent
But will it run on lemons? (Score:2)
For use in new aircraft? (Score:2)
Must remember to think in Russian when using the USSR version.
Re: (Score:2)
Must remember to think in Russian when using the USSR version.
Don't you mean:
"Must remember to think in Russian when using FireFox?"
change thinking? (Score:5, Insightful)
'Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way.'
Am I the only one who's thinking "danger!danger!" here?
talking is one thing, changing the way you think is more like... brainwashing?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
talking is one thing, changing the way you think is more like... brainwashing?
This is already a standard procedure.
Re: (Score:2)
Even if they pull this off... (Score:4, Insightful)
... I wonder what the voice would sound like. I mean, the vocal cords and stuff determine what your voice sounds like, so if they read your mind and pipe that through a system it'd probably sound like a robot.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a bit late now (Score:2)
He's not your Commander in Chief much longer, the next one will be capable of thought on his own.
Too cheap? (Score:2)
Time Magazine reports on a $4 million US Army contract to begin developing 'thought helmets [..]
We already have technology for picking up silent brain waves, but it still sounds like $4 million is slightly too cheap for this project.
Also, what happens if a soldier panics and goes beyond reason? Wouldn't that create radio interference?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Obligatory "Military Intelligence" Joke (Score:4, Funny)
We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. (Score:2)
Backspace? (Score:5, Funny)
Thought : "Roger, Air Force One. Approach terminal Whisky-one"
Transmit (to Roger) : "Terminate Air Force with Whiskey"
Protection (Score:2, Insightful)
Hell of a way to screw up a war (Score:4, Insightful)
Unless there's one time pad data in the helmet, the war might come to a tragic halt for the USA when the enemy fills up our heads with porn.
This wired up army is a dumb idea. It's better to give troops the flexibility to matters into their own hands on the battlefield. If you want to have a better US Army, maybe instead of blowing billions on trying to turn platoons into borg, maybe pay sergeants more and jack up their retention rate. Sergeants are the backbone of any army and always will be more, more so than any communications gizmo.
Am i wrong to feel a bit disgusted? (Score:5, Insightful)
Web Development Be Damned. (Score:4, Insightful)
Put all objections and concerns aside for a second.
Honestly, isn't stuff like this why we all went into computer science and engineering in the first place? Crazy sci-fi ideas that have little to no practical value in the short (and often long) term.
Don't stop chasing the dream!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Honestly, isn't stuff like this why we all went into computer science
I went into computer science for the girls........
The Men Who Stare at Goats (Score:2)
I urge you to read this book for an account of the lengths army will go to in researching stuff like this.
Dear aunt, (Score:3, Funny)
let's set so double the killer select all.
Female Soilders (Score:2)
If DARPA gets this technology then it will be used keep women out of combat.
A means to read women's minds is beyond the possibility of any science!
How soon will it be ready? (Score:2)
What happens when... (Score:4, Funny)
...one of the soldiers gets a tune stuck in his head?
All the rest of the soldiers will hear his mental rendition of "Never gonna give you up" by Rick Astley.
Not a pretty sight. Do we really want to live in a world where you can be MENTALLY Rick-rolled?
I don't think so.
ALS (Score:3, Interesting)
Hillarious (Score:3, Interesting)
'Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way.'
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
It's been a long time since I had as good a laugh as when I read that statement.
Re:Oxymoron (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Use a lucid moment to commit suicide and deprive the masters of your services. Better death than slavery.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Training soldiers to think in short thoughts will invariably cross-over into actual thought patterns that will reduce soldiers' creativity, adjustability and preparation for future events.
Invariably? You obviously missed the entire premise of this device and went off into some bizarre Firefox fantasy-land. This device is essentially intended to pick up sub-vocalized speech neurologically. It has fuck-all to do with "thinking". In combat we already speak in short, terse language. That hasn't stunted our "creativity" in the slightest.
You can see the effects, now, of how the Army trains vs. how young soldiers actually think when they come out of Basic and AI training - the world is all black and white.
You think a nug fresh out of basic/AIT is representative of a fully trained soldier? You've clearly never been in the army. That shit's just to put you in the pro