Those of us of a certain age remember when LSD appeared in the early ’60s, and there were stories about CIA involvement among other Cold War activities. This book traces the whole, sordid, farcical, hideous history on the US side (and I’m sure British, Russian, French, Chinese and North Korean stories are horrific, too.)
In mid-20th Century, governments hoped to exercise mind control by chemical means. (Featured in pop fiction from ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ to the Jason Bourne series.) It turned out that while you can mess with someone’s mind, and even wipe it clean (‘brain washing’), you cannot rebuild a new personality.
The preferred method of mind-control today, of course, is digital re-programming thru features like Internet-promoted Big Lies that implant alternative realities; electronic implants for ‘performance enhancement;’ the proposed Singularity when a switch will be turned to make Earth a living computer, an Internet of Everything (IoE), with no idea what may result. (See my post about Digital ID cards, on Jan 27 at 1:50 pm)
The powerful continue to burn up the earth for their profit, leading to a climate catastrophe. At the same time they would corral us into a soporific, artificial, virtual, digital lobster trap where entry is easy and escape impossible.
Mindful of the terrors of our times, I’m emboldened to modify the words of Dylan Thomas:
‘Rage, rage against the dying of the organic. Do not go gentle into the dead-end, digital dystopia others have planned for us.’
Always remember: Nature bats last.
© 2021, Thomas Mahon