The Army Wants You … to Be a Virtual Lab Rat
February 7th, 2012Via: Wired:
American soldiers already prep for war using virtual worlds. One day, the Army hopes, you’ll join the GIs in a military-approved digital realm.
In the Army’s latest call for research proposals, the service is looking for ways to develop a “Virtual Laboratory of Aggregate Behavior,” or VLAB. Put simply, the program would yield a digital domain wherein hundreds or thousands of civilians could assemble and partake in “randomized controlled trial experiments” of the Army’s design.
But if you’re thinking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — think again.
The Army’s not looking to train civilians in the ways of war-fighting. Instead, they want a platform that can offer more robust testing for behavioral theories. For example, how a community is apt to react during a crisis, or how and why certain social networks end up coalescing while others fall apart. Right now, the Army’s solicitation complains, behavioral hypotheses often depend on small-scale tests of five or 10 people. Those tests are then extrapolated, via logic or computational models, to yield society-wide conclusions.
Related: Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation
finally got round to watching chris carters harsh realm, and boy that man is scary good. tv doesnt do carter justice, either he is in the know and doesnt give a f*ck, or he is a very talented guesser. i assume his accuracy only serves to crazy up anyone who suspects conspiracy in the first place, in the eyes of fox viewers nationwide. but great intro for the uninformed, who later find out it was All true.
as for the “randomized controlled trial experiments” im guessing people will go out of their way to participate. incentivize bad behavior and what do you expect