Op-Ed: Mind control in mice – It’s real, and it’s effective. Just wait for the reaction.

Neuroscience lab to study of the nervous system. — Photo: © AFP

The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Korea has just opened Pandora’s Walk In Closet, Ensuite, and Mini-Bar with “ mouse mind control”. This could get a bit grim.

It’s an interesting tale with perhaps too many ramifications. Testing on mice is pretty common. Mice and humans share a lot of biological characteristics. They’re the typical guinea pigs (how to mangle a metaphor) for human testing in a lot of medical applications.

This current research, which is also being called a “neurological breakthrough” is like something out of a cliché-ridden old movie.

The control uses nanoparticle switches to control behaviors. The mice were made to socialize, do parenting, and be motivationally guided according to instructions. Sounds enticing, doesn’t it?

The tech is called Nano-MIND, an acronym for Magnetogenetic Interface for NeuroDynamics. That name, believe it or not, is almost self-explanatory. The nano switches are managed remotely by magnetic fields and act on a basic chemical agent called GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter. This GABAergic process is effectively an on and off switch.

There’s an additional optogenetic factor in the process, which “genetically engineers mechanisms into cells that can be readily activated by a light source.”

Meaning these behaviors can be turned on and off and directed by the nanoparticles accordingly. The driver behind this idea is therapeutic use.

You can imagine what the conspiracy industry will do with this.

I’m more than a bit tired of conspiracy theories being legitimized, and delegitimized, by such a superficial expression. It is an industry. It makes money. It sells paranoia in any form.

Excuse a bit of maybe too basic definition here, but I have a point to make later.

Conspiracies if they exist are not specifically to deceive you and your Sofa of Solipsism.

If they don’t exist, they’re just propaganda.

What does anyone have to gain by informing Your Self-Righteousness about a conspiracy if it does exist?

Nothing is ever done about conspiracies, real or imagined.

Right, now to the point.

This type of technology has been standard fodder for hack horror stories since forever. People are culturally pre-programmed to react to any sort of “control”.

Every lunatic with an agenda will think it’s Christmas. In the current shall we say not overstuffed with sanity world we insist on living in, that’s not good.

There’s a formula for these chicken feces:

“They” (there has to be a They) will use it to control people.

It’s a plot.

It explains the prevalence of idiots in society.

It’s why other people are such nuts.

It’s part of a Master Plan for tedious old jerks to take over the world. Again? Don’t they get tired of taking over this pole-to-pole sewer?  

Now another point that’s maybe somehow a bit more interesting.

This is good, useful, science. Despite the fact that the corporate nutcases will get involved at some point, it’s very high-value technology. It could be used for organic AI as a control. It could be very effective for rebuilding compromised or damaged human neurology.

That said – What if it gets weaponized?

The question is whether anyone will get those good points. It’s wank-candy for wannabe moronic megalomaniacs and other mediocrities. You could sell it to any fool. It’s “power over something”. This is the sort of thing that will get most of the attention about this tech.

I doubt if this idiotic world can deal with it. Neuroscience should be aware that it is basically a loaded gun being given to the people who’ve made this world such fun to live in.

Strongly recommend a shutdown for these processes be developed ASAP. Shutdowns are pretty obvious if you know the tech. These methods of control aren’t inaccessible. Mice aren’t human. If this tech gets to human trials, all bets are off for how it’s used.