Defense & Security Technology

Do you have a link to his work?

Yes, a link would be helpful.

Also, "increase alertness, alleviate stress, and possibly reduce the effects of a traumatic brain injury" is a FAR cry from controlling his or her thoughts or moods.

This editor has added the author's references to the "Resources" section in the original blog entry. My apologies for the omission. The blog-entry's title has been changed as well.

Why does this subject bring to mind the old Memorex commercial of the opera singer shattering a crystal glass, and the announcer asking, "Is it real, or is it Memorex?" Bursting brain cells does not sound like a friendly thing to do to one's own soldiers....

As a combat veteran, albeit an old one, the concept of altering my awareness on the battlefield seems a scary one. I wonder how they plan to enter the actual test phase.

Anybody remember the old "chinese water torture"? Yes, there are things that can probably make you stay awake...

AFAIK brain electrical activity is complex, coordinated across brain regions/structures, and poorly understood. When it comes to highly trained fighters, the level of coordination is expected to be even tighter, your life depends on it. Along come the torturers, with the bogus pretext that you can "improve" on this by bombarding one or more regions of the brain with repetitive pulse trains. Doh! There is not afaik any data to support the claim of benefits to healthy brains. The therapies they hope to mimic (DBS, VNS) cause neural damage in the process, even though they do (sometimes) provide some benefits to desperately ill people. You might as well give chemo or radiation to people who don't have cancer.

I'm betting these helmets will never see action. They will be used to experiment on some unfortunate soldiers, maybe develop some weapons or torture apps, and that is that.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has abandoned work with Tyler of Arizona State University in his efforts to effect full brain control of soldiers.

It was determined that controlling the brains of the soldiers was really a waste of time, and it was more cost effective to just cut their heads off and replace them with new brains.