Artificial Telepathy: A "Non-Lethal" Weapon?

Artificial Telepathy machine cannot possibly be advertised and sold on the open market for obvious reasons: they would utterly destroying the privacy of many, many people. "Peeking" into the lives of others would quickly pervert itself into stalking, mind rape, privacy violation, identity theft and information theft on a massive scale.

Public sale of Artificial Telepathy technology would inevitably result in the stealing of bank account numbers, PIN numbers, passwords, trade secrets, etc., which in turn would inevitably translate into actual theft. The damage to the economy could be catastrophic, and the sudden disappearance of privacy – all privacy – might literally cause society as we know it to melt down.

For all of these reasons, Artificial Telepathy may be rightly called a "non-lethal" H-Bomb. The damage done to society by release of such technology would be nightmarish. See for example the dystopian film Strange Days (1995, starring Ralph Fiennes) in which dream thieves use a technology called "SQUID" to jack into the minds of people, record their experiences, and sell those experiences on disc:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Days_(film)

See also the film "Artificial Telepathy" (Dir. Mitchell Cox), from which the movie poster (above) is taken:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~visualaffects/vault/details/15196.html

No one would die as a direct result of the Artificial Telepathy’s use. It is a "non-lethal weapon."
But nothing would ever be the same again.

Most scientists and lawyers understand this. Indeed, if the maker of an Artificial Telepathy weapon tried to sell the product on the open market, the number of people who would line up to sue that manufacturer would probably circle the Earth.

Third in line would be a lawyer representing every voice-hearer and human rights advocate in the Western hemisphere. That’s a large number of people.

Second in line would be a lawyer bringing a massive class-action suit joined by every paranoid corporation that has a trade secret to hide. That is, almost every corporation in the world.

First in line would be the United States government. Every copy of the machine, its blueprints, and its patent documents, would be immediately seized and locked away on the grounds of national security.

The miltary reasons for grabbing up this technology and suppressing it are obvious: With Artificial Telepathy, there is no such thing as a surprise attack. And without the element of surprise, war becomes impossible. Artificial Telepathy machines could potentially put every single G.I. Joe at the DOD out of work. And as far as the Department of Defense is concerned, any technology that puts them out of work is a weapon of mass destruction.

Even if it doesn’t kill anyone.

Translation: No one gets one of these weapons but Uncle Sam. The United States Department of Defense has no objections to weapons of mass destruction. It just objects to anyone else owning one.

Although any government would strictly forbid public ownership of such technology, every government would certainly want to use the Artificial Telepathy machine itself. Far from destroying such a weapon, most military service branches would probably compete for possession of one, as would every law enforcement organization and every intelligence agency under the sun. Some would argue that the machine ought to be destroyed, but others would find that the lure of knowing exactly what the "enemy" is thinking is far too intoxicating to pass up.

An Artificial Telepathy weapon is, after all, a spy agency’s dream.

Conclusion: If or (more properly) when an Artificial Telepathy machine is developed, it will certainly be classified as a weapon – specifically a "Non-Lethal Weapon." It will never be released on the public market. The public will be given no clue that it exists, and the military branches of different countries will fight fiercely among themselves for possession of this cool new toy.

Within the U.S. military branches, the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines will probably squabble with the intelligence community, law enforcement and the Department of Justice for possession and control, then finally settle on a scheme for sharing control among themselves. Most likely they will combine forces (and budgets) to build and manage new weapons based on the first Artificial Telepathy technology. If the weapons work, everyone will claim to be the proud Papa. If the cover is blown, and Congress launches a massive investigation, the program will be orphaned. Everyone can back off and point fingers at each other.

Joining forces means everyone wins, and nobody is to blame.

Given this conclusion, we can now ask ourselves a simple question: Where would the military hide its deep-black research program into Artificial Telepathy, if such technology exists?

Answer: They would hide Artificial Telepathy under cover of a Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program.

Question: Does such an organization exist? Answer: Oh yes. See the next post.