Air Force’s Top Brain Wants a ‘Social Radar’ to ‘See Into Hearts and Minds’

January 20th, 2012

Another one for your bulging For-Fuck’s-Sake-Roll-Eyes file folder.

Via: Wired:

Chief Scientists of the Air Force usually spend their time trying to figure out how to build better satellites or make jets go insanely fast. Which makes Dr. Mark Maybury, today’s chief scientist, a bit of an outlier. He’d like to build a set of sensors that peer into people’s souls — and forecast wars before they erupt.

Maybury calls his vision “Social Radar.” And the comparison to traditional sensors is no accident, he tells Danger Room. “The Air Force and the Navy in this and other countries have a history of developing Sonar to see through the water, Radar to see through the air, and IR [infrared] to see through the night. Well, we also want to see into the hearts and the minds of people,” says Maybury, who serves as the top science advisor to the Air Force’s top brass.

But Social Radar won’t be a single sensor to discover your secret yearnings. It’ll be more of a virtual sensor, combining a vast array of technologies and disciplines, all employed to take a society’s pulse and assess its future health. It’s part of a broader Pentagon effort to master the societal and cultural elements of war — and effort that even many in the Defense Department believe is deeply flawed. First step: mine Twitter feeds for indications of upset.

More FFS: Special Forces Get Social in New Psychological Operation Plan

Posted in Dictatorship, Perception Management, Social Engineering, Surveillance, Technology, War | Top Of Page

One Response to “Air Force’s Top Brain Wants a ‘Social Radar’ to ‘See Into Hearts and Minds’”

  1. Miraculix says:
    January 20, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    Definitely an eye-roller, as our host implies, but also a clear-as-day “tell” as to the nature of those making dystopian decisions for us at the management level.

    As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better evidence that full-blown sociopaths are manning the controls than a story such as this one.

    Must. Control. Population. Can’t. Trust. Anyone.

    Doesn’t this guy realize how much he comes of a complete nutjob and a wanker here?

    Of course he doesn’t, which is why he got the job in the first place. A little cog in a VERY big wheel who imagines himself crucial to it’s very existence. No need to atomize the evil at this level, just turn the fool loose with a clearly-defined mission statement and let the havoc begin.

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