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[Ken]

Report to the Federation Senate Defense Sub-committee for Science and Technology

04.04YC46

Dr Sado Ulaman
University of Caille

Functional neuroimaging is the use of technology to measure and monitor aspects of the working brain in real time. This is an important part of the biotechnology revolution that is affecting many parts of our daily lives and will play an important role in defense policy decisions in the near future. Several devices perform functions that are capable of providing pieces of this immensely complicated puzzle, including classic electroencephalography, computerized tomography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, magnetoencephalography, functional transcranial doppler sonography, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

It is critical to understand that future applications will depend on multimodal methodologies and miniaturization technologies that are
still under development. Scanning devices will become smaller and more portable. The techniques will increasingly become cheaper and easier to use. Ultimately, disparate devices will merge into comprehensive brain scanning tools that provide extensive, integrated, interactive information about the brain in real time.

The capability of measuring the working brain in real time has potentially important implications for a number of practical applications relevant to defense and national policy issues. Predictions about future applications of technology are always speculative, but we are definitely far enough down the road of this emergent technology to reliably predict likely advances. These will include, but will not be limited to, quick and secure data transmission, reliable intelligence acquisition from captured unlawful combatants, enhanced training techniques, augmented cognition and memory enhancement of soldiers and intelligence operatives, screening suspects at checkpoints or ports of entry not covered by constitutional protections, and furthering the goal of soldier-machine interface devices and prosthetics. Many important and fast-advancing contributions in this field have already been made to clinical and battlefield medicine.

[spoiler]Sounded like EVE to me when I read it.  Except it's not.  Pg 227.[/spoiler]

[Esna Pitoojee]

After reading the sections on fMRI and MEG scans, all I could think of was "softscan!"

[lallara zhuul]

Big Brother getting the ability to read minds, what a wonderful concept.

The enhanced training, cognition and memory sound good but hardly a diagnostic technology can help in such a matter, because even though you can find the most efficient way of affecting the desired characteristics of the subject each subject is an individual making delivering of the desired characteristics something that happens case by case basis, making it all not very cost effective.

Meh.

[Louella Dougans]

augmented cognition and memory enhancement of soldiers and intelligence operatives... ...and furthering the goal of soldier-machine interface devices and prosthetics.

what happens when these enhanced soldiers retire from the forces?

Ex-servicemen find it hard enough to cope with civilian life as it is already. e.g. a high % of those that sleep rough in the UK spent time in the forces.

How are they meant to cope when they can recall every brutal thing they've seen in perfect detail, and have a sense of loss/diminishment when their interfaced devices are taken away?

You want machines, then build machines, don't turn humans into them.