okay, so you all know that i’m fascinated by lies, lie detection and a whole bunch other things that neighbor elicitation, so i was thrilled when - right after i wrote about commercial brain scanning - i got a newscientist alert which turned me on to a new remote lie detector technology to be developed for government agency use…

…this is about the remote personnel assessment (RPA) device, from new scientist’s article, ” In a call for proposals on a DoD (department of defense) website, contractors are being given until 13 January to suggest ways to develop the RPA, which will use microwave or laser beams reflected off a subject’s skin to assess various physiological parameters without the need for wires or skin contacts. The device will train a beam on “moving and non-cooperative subjects”, the DoD proposal says, and use the reflected signal to calculate their pulse, respiration rate and changes in electrical conductance, known as the “galvanic skin response“…basically, at one level, a remote lie detector…(a quote from the same bit, “So it will be used as a “remote or concealed lie detector during prisoner interrogation“)..

btw, if you’re not already a new scientist subscriber, you might consider ordering a back issue from july of last year that featured a huge special called, “the deception special, the truth about lies” (one of the best issues of last year by far, covered everything from brain scans and mystics to magic and government)…

..and on an important aside, gotta offer up an apology to steve silberman, the author of the article in wired this month upon which my post of earlier this week was based (commercial brain scanning)…his full article is up online, and actually this is (i believe) the first time i’ve rambled without citation (it was print only when that post was pre-published on this blog)…at any rate, steve’s full article is very heady stuff and examines much more than just those companies mentioned…it also looks into the grants and research that bore this technology, the strange network of relationships between all of the players and generally makes for a great read without the recondite style that begets many advanced technology articles (hey, seriously steve, sorry and thanks for your email - delighted to know that you’re reading passingnotes!

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