In his prophetic novel 1984, George Orwell described a facecrime: "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself - anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence." Have you ever said something resentful about government? Then you might be a potential terrorist and should be placed under surveillance. As dissent with government is at an all-time high, especially with those calling themselves "liberal" and "very liberal," what are the ramifications of this "practical" technology?
FTA:
Imagine using the same technology to locate a lone bomber before he carries out his terrorist act and to identify a troubled veteran or first responder ground down by tragedies and violence.
Stop imagining...
A Swiss professor working with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist who heads the Mind Machine Project there outlined how this program operates through computerized scanning of phone calls and electronic messages sent through e-mail and social networking mechanisms...
"The computer system detects resentment in conversations through measurements in decibels and other voice biometrics," he said. "It detects obsessiveness with the individual going back to the same topic over and over, measuring crescendos."
As for written transmissions scrutinized by the computer program, it can detect the same patterns of fixation on specified subjects, said Guidere, who has worked for years screening mass data that involves radicalization and ideological indoctrination...
He said lone bombers, in particular, are not mentally deranged but harbor hatred and deep resentment toward government. Their emotional spikes, Guidere explained, can be identified by the computer program.
The practical side is that once the individual has been identified, the information can be passed along to authorities so surveillance can begin, he said.
Technology identifies troubled individuals
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Oct 10, 2010 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=346
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