Brain Washing and Mind Control: From the Cold War to Today (Study Group)

Description: From the infamous MK Ultra program to modern day developments, governments have long been interested in developing brainwashing technologies. This three-part study group will examine the attempted historical and contemporary applications of technology to control the thoughts and actions of people, and the human rights implications thereof.

October 17th, Session 1: Historical Background of Mind Control

• Motives behind studying techniques for mind control in the Cold-War era in both the Eastern and Western blocs
• Objectives of attempted brainwashing
• Overview of the secret programs in different countries

October 31st, Session 2: The MKUltra Program

• Analysis of the specific techniques: psychoactive drugs, electrical shocks, hypnosis, and sensory deprivation
• Procedures for the recruitment of human subjects
• Successes and failures of the program
• Long-term damage to test subjects and human-rights violations

November 14th, Session 3: Current Politics and Modern Technology

• The political situation of the post-Cold-War era
• Intelligent wearables, the miniaturization of implants, and the consequences of portability
• Decoding and stimulating capabilities of the latest brain-computer interfaces in action:
  • Detecting attention levels in Chinese classrooms
  • Controlling drones by thought in the Western military

This event is only open to HUID holders. Preregistration is required. Please be sure to register separately for each session you plan to attend.

Moderator/Facilitator

Lukas Meier is a Fellow-in-Residence at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics who specializes in artificial intelligence, medical ethics, and neurophilosophy. Before joining the Safra Center, Lukas was a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Lukas studied philosophy at the University of Oxford and political science at the University of Göttingen. As part of a team developing an algorithm for ethical decision-making in the clinic, he also spent a year at the Technical University of Munich. His doctoral thesis, completed at the Universities of St Andrews and Heidelberg, linked the topic of brain death to the debate on personal identity. After exploring questions of distributive justice and triage in the COVID-19 pandemic, his current research focuses on the interrelation between brain-computer interfaces, machine intelligence, and consciousness. Lukas teaches in ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, political philosophy, and medical ethics.