Recently declassified DoD document details developments in maturing nonlethal technologies for warfare: “Some of the technologies are conceptual, such as an electromagnetic pulse that causes a seizure like those experienced by people with epilepsy. Other ideas, like a microwave gun to ‘beam’ words directly into people’s ears, have been tested. It is claimed that the so-called ‘Frey Effect’ – using close-range microwaves to produce audible sounds in a person’s ears – has been used to project the spoken numbers 1 to 10 across a lab to volunteers’.” (New Scientist)
A number of the schizophrenic patients with whom I work, some of whom have similar explanations for the voices they hear in their heads, would be interested in the report, which is available here (pdf). ‘Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they are not out to get you’, the saying goes. Perhaps it should be ‘Just because you are paranoid means they are out to get you’?
