20/12/2024
1.2. 雙重用途神經科學:治癒的必要性與傷害的必要性
一個值得注意的重點是,在醫學和軍事科學中,科學和技術用於雙重用途的成果和行動有著悠久的歷史。這一點至關重要,因為掌握神經活動、認知表現以及神經生物學健康和常規運作的基本要素,對於治療目的和最終的武器化而言,都成為同樣有價值的研究領域。自第一次世界大戰以來,我們已經在核子、化學、生物、航空、航海、車輛、通訊和衛星系統等領域多次目睹這種情況,即每一項旨在明確賦予社會利益的技術,都可以被重新導向,轉而用於有害和致命的軍事目的。(編譯:神經打擊武器已被秘密地用於軍事目的,而正式運用於軍事目的的時間可能比想像中的還要早。)
1.2. Dual use neuroscience: the healing imperative versus the harming imperative
One salient point worth noting is the traditional history of using science and technology for dual-use outcomes and operations in medical sciences and military sciences. This is vitally important as grasping domains of neural activity, cognitive performance, and essential elements of neurobiological health and routine operations become the equally valuable domain of research for therapeutic purposes as well as eventual weaponization. We have witnessed this numerous times since the First World War in the areas of nuclear, chemical, biological, aeronautic, maritime, vehicular, communication, and satellite systems where every technology designed to expressly confer societal benefits can be redirected to instead for harmful and deadly military purposes.
─Robert McCreight 《The war inside your mind: unprotected brain battlefields and neuro-vulnerability, page 2》
https://securitystudies.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/221/The_war_inside_your_mind_unprotected_brain_battlefields__McC_Feb_5_2024_XX.pdf
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當智庫其實不難,難的在於當到內褲去了。(就沒在用功嘛...)
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From Neuroweapons to ‘Neuroshields’: Safeguarding Brain Capital for National Security
August 10, 2023 | Harris A. Eyre, William Hynes, Geoffrey F. L. Ling, Jo-An Occhipinti, Rym Ayadi, Michael D. Matthews, Ryan Abbott, Patrick Love
Introduction
Economic security has become a top priority for the West following the disruptions caused by COVID-19, the Ukraine War, and the growing threat of near-peer competitors. In a recent report, “From Markets to Minds: The Role of Brain Capital in Economic Security,” we explained how investing in brain capital (i.e., an individual’s cognitive, emotional, and social brain resources) could help build more resilient economies. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of brain capital in optimizing national security. Specifically, we explore the dangerous potential of neuroweapons, the need for a “Neuroshield” to protect democracies from the risks of mis- and disinformation, the implications of neural enhancement via brain-computer interfaces, and other innovative research agendas related to national security and brain health. We argue that it is critical for policymakers to develop clear guidelines and policies to protect brain capital and recognize how it can be utilized to enhance national security. In order to develop novel data and solutions in this area, we also propose the creation of an action group on brain capital for national security, hosted by the Brain Capital Alliance and the Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Protecting Brain Capital Against the Use of Neuroweapons
One key national security concern is the potential use of neuroweapons by hostile actors. Neuroweapons encompass biological agents, chemical weapons, and even directed energy targeted at the brains and central nervous systems of enemy combatants. According to some observers, neuroweapons have the potential to disrupt everything — from individual cells in a body to societies and geopolitics.[1]
Neuroweapons aren’t a new phenomenon. In the 1980s, the U.S. Army explored alpha-2 adrenergic receptor antagonists as incapacitating agents; these same drugs are now prescribed in lower doses to treat Tourette’s Syndrome. In 2002, Russian special forces used an unidentified gas (later named a derivative of the anesthetic fentanyl) to end a hostage crisis in a Moscow theater. And some medical doctors suggest that Havana Syndrome — a set of unexplained medical symptoms first experienced by U.S. State Department personnel stationed in Cuba in 2016 — may have been the product of a neuroweapon.[2] Even now, calmatives — agents that render individuals calm and compliant — are seen as potentially useful for riot control and counterinsurgencies.[3]
Understandably, there are serious ethical concerns about the use of neuroweapons and what could happen if they got into the wrong hands. For example, in 2021, U.S. officials accused China of using emerging biotechnologies to try to develop “brain-control technologies” through military applications that included gene editing, human performance enhancement, and brain-machine interfaces.[4]
Even the U.S. Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Project,[5] launched in 2013, has gone in some questionable directions. The BRAIN Project was initially presented to the public as having the potential to produce research with vast beneficial health implications. However, much of the funding went through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — a military organization. When science and military are mixed through dual-use research, the priorities of the latter often dominate the trajectory of the former.[6] In 2013, the U.S. National Institutes of Health reported that the BRAIN Project was looking to develop electromagnetic modulation as a new technology for brain circuit manipulation, heralding a shift in research from drug research to brain circuit research. Specifically, the project intended to explore optogenetics, which involves injecting neurons with a benign virus that contains genetic information for light-sensitive proteins.[7] The brain cells then become light sensitive themselves, and their activity can be controlled with millisecond flashes of light sent through embedded fiber optic cables. This kind of research has alarming implications, and the development of these kinds of technologies should be heavily regulated.
To advance brain science and ensure neuroweapons of this type are not developed or used, it is essential that major players in the Americas, Asia, and Europe collaborate as they each have comparative advantages and have focused their research in a coordinated and coherent way in the past. The recently launched China Brain Project (CBP) could offer opportunities for international cooperation with researchers at the U.S. Brain Initiative and the EU Human Brain Project.[8] The CBP seeks to understand the neural basis of cognitive functions, diagnose and treat brain disorders, and conduct brain-inspired computing — research that could complement the work being done in the U.S. and EU.
Above all, it is crucial that brain science is used to improve brain health and is not used for harmful purposes. International treaties banning the development and use of neuroweapons should be strictly adhered to.
Designing a ‘Neuroshield’ to Safeguard Brain Capital From Mis- and Disinformation
Beyond banning the use of neuroweapons, defending our intellectual resources from the dangers of social media — where mis- and dis-information can spread rapidly — will be crucial to protect the national security interests of Western nations.
The term “brainwashing,” loosely defined, emerged in 1950. It captured various concerns about the future uses of psychology in warfare and domestic life, and the potential for new technologies to control and manipulate human minds. The phrase “battle for men’s minds” was reportedly first used by one of the founding members of the CIA, and popularized by President Dwight Eisenhower. Killen (2023) outlines some of the ingenious and sometimes transgressive experimental methods for studying and proposing countermeasures against Soviet efforts at mind-control.[9] He details how these procedures took on a strange life of their own, escaping the confines of the research lab to become part of the 1960s counterculture. Much later, in the early 2000s, they resurfaced in the war on terror.
Now, however, there is a much more frightening and pervasive tool that could be used for a form of mind control: social media. The advent of social media has ushered in a transformative era for disinformation, turning various platforms into some of the most powerful propaganda machines in history. With the vast reach and influence of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, disinformation campaigns can now spread rapidly and widely, targeting diverse audiences with tailored narratives and false information. Moreover, emerging artificial intelligence technology allows hostile actors to generate false images, videos, and speech that are virtually indistinguishable from real content.
A recent study conducted by MIT scholars found that false news on Twitter spread faster and more broadly than true stories.[10] The decentralized nature of social media enables the amplification of disinformation through user-generated content, making it increasingly challenging to distinguish between fact and fiction. The ability to manipulate algorithms and exploit echo chambers further compounds the problem, as disinformation can easily reinforce pre-existing biases and beliefs.[11]
The attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, highlights how mis- and disinformation can result in a direct threat to national security. In this case, insurrectionists — fueled by mis- and disinformation about American democratic institutions, processes, and elections — stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in an attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. Their actions directly threatened America’s democracy and rule of law. This alarming event reveals that combating disinformation should be a top national security priority.
Another problem that could harm our democracy and impact the upcoming 2024 U.S. elections is the rise of “deepfakes.”[12] Deepfakes are videos of people in which their faces or bodies have been digitally altered so that they appear to be someone else. While deepfakes are not a new phenomenon, the rapidly improving capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), coupled with AI’s growing accessibility, have dramatically increased the risks of deepfakes. Producing convincing deepfakes once required significant resources and technical expertise, but it can now be done easily — at trivial cost by individuals with very little technical sophistication — making it difficult for the public to determine what’s real and what’s not.
These are complex challenges, requiring concerted efforts from technology companies, governments, and individuals alike. We were buoyed to see the recent Biden-Harris administration’s National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive approach aimed at addressing both immediate and long-term cyber workforce needs.[13] The initiative will include equipping every American with foundational cyber skills — a strong step forward. Aligned to this is a new U.S. Department of Education K-12 cybersecurity resilience effort, which includes the establishment of a Government Coordinating Council (GCC), as well as the release of the Department’s three K-12 Digital Infrastructure briefs, including “K-12 Digital Infrastructure Brief: Defensible and Resilient," co-authored by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Other nations and international organizations are also taking important steps forward on these issues. For example, NATO recently intensified efforts to counter “hybrid challenges,” including disinformation campaigns and malicious cyber activities, and is “strengthening [its] ability to prepare for, deter, and defend against hybrid tactics that seek to undermine our security and societies.”[14] The European Commission recently announced a €1.2 million project to deepen its understanding of how disinformation about war, elections, and gender emerges and spreads.[15] The United Kingdom also launched a Rapid Response Unit to combat fake news,[16] and Sweden recently set up a Psychological Defense Agency.[17] Counter-influence campaigns in Western countries have begun to “pre-bunk” (or inoculate against) weaponized disinformation, in one case by “tell[ing] the public to anticipate false narratives, but not listen to them.”[18] The challenge now is to replicate such programs worldwide — a difficult task given that states themselves are often behind various cyber threats.
Taking a multi-pronged approach and finding novel solutions will be key. Winter et al. (2022) call for a neuroscience-based understanding of mis- and disinformation susceptibility and resilience.[19] This includes promoting initiatives to help people identify, avoid, and repel misinformation. It also involves detecting and preventing the spread of misinformation, fostering information literacy/cognitive immunology, improving fact-checking, and pre- and de-bunking false information. Similarly, Norman et al. (2022) call for investment in research for new solutions (e.g., infodemiology, cognitive immunology).[20]
Along these lines, we propose the creation of an alliance of brain scientists, publishers, and media leaders to define a code of conduct with respect to the notion of objectivity of information. The debate surrounding media independence in our current polarized environment is rife, both in political and media circles, as reflected in A.G. Sulzberger’s influential article “Journalism’s Essential Value.”[21] However, conclusions drawn on the basis of journalistic ethics need to be enhanced by what we know about the functioning of the brain and its susceptibility to bias. Together, we can produce a “Neuroshield,” comprised of a set of regulatory protections, a code of conduct for the media world, and a toolkit empowering citizens to protect themselves and their cognitive freedom against the onslaught of disinformation. The manipulation of information, particularly through social media platforms, has become a powerful tool for propaganda and shaping public opinion — with significant implications for democracy and geopolitics. Creating a Neuroshield that protects cognitive freedom and strengthens regulatory safeguards is essential in the face of the disinformation challenge.
Managing the Emergence of Dual Use Brain-Computer Interfaces
Similar to neuroweapons and mis- and disinformation, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could have enormous national security implications. BCIs refer to systems that establish a direct pathway between a brain and an external computer such as a PC, a robotic arm, a speech synthesizer, or a wheelchair. In a military setting, BCIs could, for example, enable service members to operate a drone hands-free on the battlefield or help Air Force pilots learn more efficiently and get into aircraft cockpits faster.[22] Such neurotechnologies have the potential to radically alter future wars.
Although there is still considerable missing knowledge and lack of understanding regarding the biological processes and mechanisms involved in BCIs, several countries are already advancing BCI innovations for both civilian and military usage. As BCI technology progresses, democratic nations will need to make decisions about how to manage their investments in military applications of neuroscience research and emerging neurotechnology.
Recently, Kosal and Putney put forward an analytical ethical framework that “attempts to predict the dissemination of neurotechnologies to both the commercial and military sectors in the United States and China.”[23] This framework also articulates important national security implications of BCIs, including the difficulty of setting international ethical and legal norms for BCI use (especially in wartime operating environments), and data privacy risks (e.g., hackers could steal data related to a person’s brain signals). As research into BCIs continues, these national security risks must be evaluated and addressed.
https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/neuroweapons-neuroshields-safeguarding-brain-capital-national-security
#萊斯大學貝克公共政策研究所(James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy)
This policy brief explores the dangerous potential of neuroweapons, the need for a “Neuroshield” to protect democracies from the risks of disinformation, the implications of brain-computer interfaces and other national security considerations related to brain health.