6 According to the Pentagon: Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, “Summary of Mental Disorder Hospitalizations, Active and Reserve Components, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000–2012,” Medical Surveillance Monthly Report 20, no. 7 (July 2013): 4–11.
7 SUBNETS: “SUBNETS Aims for Systems-Based Neurotechnology and Understanding for the Treatment of Neuropsychological Illnesses,” Department of Defense, press release, October 25, 2013.
8 chips wirelessly transmit: George Dvorsky, “Electroconvulsive Therapy Can Erase Unwanted Memories,” iO9, December 23, 2013.
9 “incorporate near real-time”: “SUBNETS,” DARPA News, October 25, 2013.
10 “notes on a piano”: Emily Singer, “Playing Piano with a Robotic Hand,” MIT Technology Review, July 25, 2007.
11 “The Intrinsic hand”: Jonathan Kuniholm, “Open Arms,” IEEE Spectrum, March 1, 2009.
12 Dean Kamen: Kamen interview with Scott Pelley, CBS News, 60 Minutes, April 10, 2009.
13 yet to find a partner: Rhodi Lee, “FDA Approves DEKA Arm System,” Tech Times, May 10, 2014.
14 “debt we owe”: “From Idea to Market in Eight Years: DARPA-Funded DEKA Arm System Earns FDA Approval,” DARPA News, May 9, 2014.
15 “turn a valve”: Interview with Noel Sharkey, September 2014.
16 Even the cooks: Interview with LANL cooks, March 2014.
17 Kenyon and his team: Kenyon’s DARPA contract is administered through the University of Michigan as part of the New Mexico Consortium (NMC). Kenyon says, “The NMC is sort of an incubator for LANL. It’s a place where scientists like myself can work with a team of students and pursue risky ideas that would be hard to pull off within the confines of LANL itself.”
18 simulating the primate visual system: Quotes are from interviews with Garrett Kenyon, March–November 2014.
19 world’s record: “Science at the Petascale,” IBM Roadrunner supercomputer, press release, October 27, 2009.
20 Tianhe-2: Lance Ulanoff, “China Has the Fastest Supercomputer in the World—Again,” Mashable.com, June 23, 2014.
21 points inside: Kenyon noted that the computer room contains a number of different machines.
22 “Regeneration is really coming alive”: Quotes are from interviews with David Gardiner and Sue Bryant, June 2013–October 2014.
23 children born with mutations: Ngo Vinh Long, “Vietnamese Perspectives,” in Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War, ed. by Stanley Kutler (New York: Scribner’s, 1996).
24 a human uterus: Stephanie Smith, “Creating Body Parts in a Lab; ‘Things Are Happening Now,’” CNN, April 10, 2014.
25 make body parts: “Ears, Noses Grown from Stem Cells in Lab Dishes,” Associated Press, April 8, 2014.
26 laboratory-grown beef burgers: Maria Cheng, “First Reaction: Lab-Made Burger Short on Flavor.” Phys.org, August 5, 2013.
27 “One can imagine”: S. Hawking et al., “Stephen Hawking: ‘Transcendence Looks at the Implications of Artificial Intelligence—But Are We Taking AI Seriously Enough?’” The Independent, May 1, 2014.
28 “these [autonomous] systems”: Interview with Steve Omohundro, May 2015; See also “Autonomous Technology and the Greater Human Good,” Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, November 21, 2014, 303–15.
29 “human-machine interaction failures”: Interview with Noel Sharkey, September 2014.
Chapter Twenty-Six The Pentagon’s Brain
1 sharing his idea: Interview with Charles Townes, April 2014.
2 SIGMA group: Interview with Doug Beason, who is a member. Beason, a physicist and the former chief scientist, U.S. Air Force Space Command, is the author of fourteen science-fiction books, eight with collaborator Kevin J. Anderson; Email correspondence with Arlan Andrews.
3 “Those responsible”: Jenna Lang, “Sci-fi writers take US security back to the future,” Guardian, June 5, 2009.
4 brain-computer interfaces: R. A. Miranda et al., “DARPA-Funded Efforts in the Development of Novel Brain-Computer Interface Technologies,” Journal of Neuroscience Methods (2014). The term was coined by Jacques J. Vidal, in 1971.
5 DARPA’s stated goal: M. L. Cummings, “Views, Provocations: Technology Impedances to Augmented Cognition,” Ergonomics in Design (Spring 2010): 25.
6 “Human brain activity”: DARPA, Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS) Solicitation no. BAA07-25, April 11, 2007.
7 DARPA scientists: R. A. Miranda et al., “DARPA-Funded Efforts in the Development of Novel Brain-Computer Interface Technologies,” Journal of Neuroscience Methods (2014).
8 “groundbreaking advances”: Ibid., 3, 5.
9 DARPA program managers: Ibid., 10-13. The four DARPA program managers are William D. Casebeer, Justic C. Sanchez, Douglas J. Weber, Geoffrey S. F. Ling.
10 augmenting cognition: Quotes are from Jason, MITRE Corporation, “Human Performance,” 70, 72.
11 “The Jason scientists”: Quotes are from interview with Michael Goldblatt, April 2014.
12 “For commanders”: Quotes are from Defense Science Board, “The Role of Autonomy in DoD Systems,” 2012, 2, 19, 46, 48. “Among the key challenges moving forward,” according to the DSB, “is advancing tests and evaluation capabilities to improve trust for increasing autonomy in unmanned systems.”
13 “probability and consequences of failure”: Department of Defense Directive no. 3000.09, November 21, 2012.
14 “the effect of narrative”: Miranda et al., 9.
15 “We would all benefit”: Interview with Paul Zak, October 2014.
16 “erase fear”: Bret Stetka, “Can Fear Be Erased?” Scientific American, December 4, 2014.
17 DSB chairman Paul Kaminski: Information according to his White House biography. Kaminski had a twenty-year career as an officer in the Air Force. He served as director of Low Observable Technology and was responsible for developing and fielding the Pentagon’s stealth programs. Later, as under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology, he had responsibility for an annual budget that exceeded $100 billion. See also “Dr. Paul G. Kaminski, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, 2011 Ronald Reagan Award Winner,” Missile Defense Agency, digital archive.
18 DSB members: Email correspondence with Major Eric D. Badger, public affairs officer for the DSB Executive Director; Department of Defense press release, January 5, 2010; DSB, Appendix D—Task Force Membership, 109, Appendix E—Task Force Briefings, 110. Also participating in the DSB report advising the Pentagon on the role of autonomous weapons systems were briefers from the defense corporations Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, General Atomics, SAIC, and QinetiQ.
19 “chicken-and-egg”: Barber, VIII-76.
20 military-industrial complex: Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Radio and Television Address to the American People,” January 17, 1961, UCSB.
21 “The battlefield is no place”: Cited in Van Atta et al., Transformation and Transition, Volume 2, V-19.
LIST OF INTERVIEWS AND WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE
Dr. Ken Alibek: Virologist, former deputy director Biopreparat, USSR
Dr. Jorge Barraza: Social psychologist, Claremont Graduate University
Colonel Doug Beason, Ph.D. (retired): Physicist, former chief scientist U.S. Air Force Space Command
Chris Berka: Co-founder of Advanced Brain Monitoring, Inc.
Major David Blair: Technologist, MQ-1B instructor pilot, AC-130 gunship pilot
Dr. David A. Bray: Information technologist, chief information officer, FCC; former information chief for Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response, Centers for Disease Control
Rebecca Bronson: FBI records administrator
Dr. Susan V. Bryant: Regeneration biologist, former dean of the School of Biological Sciences and vice chancellor for research, UC Irvine
Colonel Julian Chesnutt (retired): Former program officer, Defense Clandestine Service, DIA
Colonel L. Neale Cosby (retired): Former SIMNET principal investigato
r, DARPA
Bernard Crane: Lawyer, Washington, DC
Dr. Tanja Dominko: Biotechnoengineer, stem cell biologist, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Allen Macy Dulles: Student of history, Korean War veteran, son of Allen Welsh Dulles
Dr. Jay W. Forrester: Computer pioneer, founder of system dynamics
Ralph “Jim” Freedman: Former nuclear weapons engineer, EG&G
Dr. David Gardiner: Regeneration biologist, professor of developmental and cell biology, UC Irvine
Colonel John Gargus (retired): Former special operations officer, U.S. Air Force
Lieutenant Colonel Peter A. Garretson: Transformational strategist, U.S. Air Force
Dr. Marvin Goldberger: Former Manhattan Project physicist, founder and chairman of the Jason scientists, science advisor to President Johnson
Dr. Michael Goldblatt: Former director, Defense Sciences Office, DARPA
Dr. Kay Godel-Gengenbach: Academic, daughter of William Godel
General Paul F. Gorman (retired): Former commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM), special assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Richard “Rip” Jacobs: Former engineer, VO-67 Navy squadron
Dr. Garrett T. Kenyon: Neurophysicist, Synthetic Cognition Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Paul Kozemchak: Special assistant to director, DARPA
Edward Lovick Jr.: Physicist, former Lockheed Skunk Works stealth technologist
Sherre Lovick: Engineer, former Lockheed Skunk Works stealth technologist
Robert A. Lowell: Radiation scientist, satellite technologist
Colonel Douglas Macgregor, Ph.D. (retired): Former squadron operations officer, Battle of 73 Easting
Master Chief Petty Officer Craig Marsh (retired): Former master explosive ordnance disposal technician, Combined Joint Counter-IED Task Force Troy, Iraq
Montgomery McFate, J. D., Ph.D.: Cultural anthropologist, former senior social scientist, Human Terrain System, U.S. Army
Cullen McInerney: Former military contractor, former U.S. Secret Service
Eugene McManus: Former technician at BMEWS J-Site, Thule, Greenland
Timothy Moynihan: Pastor, former soldier and operations officer, U.S. Army
Dr. Walter Munk: Oceanographer, former Jason scientist
Captain C. N. “Lefty” Nordhill: Former aircraft commander, VO-67 Navy squadron
Alfred O’Donnell: Former nuclear weapons engineer, EG&G
Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Ph.D.: Neurologist, Harvard Medical School, director of the Berenson-Allen Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation
Dr. Robert Popp: Former deputy director, Information Awareness Office, DARPA
Dr. Leonard Reiffel: Nuclear physicist
Robert E. Reynolds: Former air crewman, VO-67 Navy squadron
Michael E. Rich: Assistant U.S. attorney, Department of Justice
Jeremy Ridgley: Former soldier, Eighteenth Military Police Brigade, U.S. Army
Rob Rubio: Business director, Advanced Brain Monitoring, Inc.
Colonel Jack W. Rust: Commander, U.S. Navy, NRO
Dr. Charles Schwartz: Physicist, former Jason scientist
Dr. Noel Sharkey: Emeritus professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, England, chairman of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control
Brigadier General Andrew Smith (Australian Army, retired): Former director, Combined Planning Group, Headquarters, U.S. CENTCOM
Colonel Edward Starbird (retired): Son of General Alfred Starbird
David J. Steffy: Former air crewman, VO-67 Navy Squadron
Lieutenant Colonel Hervey Stockman (retired): U-2 pilot, CIA and U.S. Air Force
Clifford Stoll: Astrophysicist
Robert Surrette: Former senior acquisition executive, CIA
Joan Dulles Talley: Jungian analyst, daughter of Allen Welsh Dulles
Lieutenant Colonel Troy E. Techau (retired): Former biometrics technologist, Identity Dominance Operations, U.S. CENTCOM
Elizabeth Terris: Neuroeconomics researcher, Claremont Graduate University
Kip S. Thorne: Theoretical physicist
Colonel Jack Thorpe, Ph.D. (retired): Creator and founder of SIMNET
Dr. Charles H. Townes: Inventor of the laser, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1964
Andrew Tudor: Nanofabrication and nanoscale researcher, physical intelligence, UCLA
Dr. Richard H. Van Atta: Senior research analyst, IDA
Eric Van Slander: Archivist, National Archives
Jim Wagner: Former co-pilot, VO-67 Navy Squadron
Captain Barney Walsh (retired): Former co-pilot, VO-67 Navy squadron
Tom Wells: Former engineer, VO-67 Navy squadron
Dr. James M. Wilson: Virologist, former special assistant to the director for weapons of mass destruction, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command
Dr. Paul J. Zak: Scientist, neuroeconomist, Claremont Graduate University
Dr. Joseph J. Zasloff: Social scientist, former RAND analyst for the Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Project
Dr. Alan Zelicoff: Epidemiologist, former senior scientist in the Center for National Security and Arms Control at Sandia National Laboratories
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