Mind-Controlling Battle Helmets

The DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been trying to get inside the minds of soldiers for a while now, but a new ultrasound technology could let them get even further. Working under a DARPA grant, a researcher at Arizona State is developing an ultrasound technology that could be implanted in soldiers’ helmets, which would allow soldiers to manipulate their brain functions to boost alertness, relieve stress, or even reduce the effects of traumatic brain injury.

Manipulating the brain to enhance a soldier’s capabilities and maintain mental acuity on the battlefield has long been a topic of interest for DARPA and various military research labs, but the technology to do so remains limited. Deep brain stimulation (DBS), for instance, requires surgically implanted electrodes to stimulate neural tissues, while less-invasive methods like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) possess limited reach and low spatial resolution.

But Dr. William J. Tyler, an assistant professor of life sciences at ASU, writes on the DoD’s  “Armed With Science” blog: “To overcome the above limitations, my laboratory has engineered a novel technology which implements transcranial pulsed ultrasound to remotely and directly stimulate brain circuits without requiring surgery. Further, we have shown this ultrasonic neuromodulation approach confers a spatial resolution approximately five times greater than TMS and can exert its effects upon subcortical brain circuits deep within the brain.”

Tyler’s technology, packaged in a warfighter’s helmet, would allow soldiers to flip a switch to stimulate different regions of their brains, helping them relieve battle stress when it’s time to get some rest, or to boost alertness during long periods without sleep. Grunts could even relieve pain from injuries or wounds without resorting to pharmaceutical drugs. More importantly, in the periods after brain trauma ultrasound technology could reduce swelling and metabolic damage that is often the root cause of lasting brain damage.

This brings me to the part that I want to talk about; the morality and the ethics of doing something like this. To start off it seems like DARPA wants a soldier that will not feel pain and when that will stay sane during combat. As one commenter said “DARPA, if you want to turn people into robots you should probably start by making better robots and work less at dehumanizing people. Chances are you're gonna cause more brain damage then you'll prevent, not to mention the unwanted dependency soldiers might experience if they leave that thing on for too long. Taking off the soldier's helmet could be comparable to amputation if left on for too long. And what do you think would happen if the thing malfunctions in the middle of the field. Think before you act.”

In addition there’s the possibility of abuse of the system by soldiers themselves or even by a higher command. As another commenter said “I could see a small amount of satisfaction from the soldiers hacking it to aim it at the pleasure center of the brain. ...that is until they became so addicted that they pleasured themselves to starvation.” Also the experience of shows how the commanders can misuse their subordinate troops: “I was in the Military in the early 1980's. We were playing "war games" once and we were all in full chemical suits. The commanding officer called the enlisted people together and asked who the lowest ranking individual was. A young kid came up and the officer told the guy that he was now part of “Operation Canary". Then he told him to remove his gas mask and take a deep breath.

The idea behind it was we needed to know if there was gas around and if there was gas we could determine what kind by the reaction of the enlisted guy. There was a medic there with stuff to counter gas exposure, but still that was messed up.”

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