Mind control

Mind control for fun and excitement, in the dark Swedish film LFO

What if you discovered the frequencies that allowed you to reprogram other people’s brains? It leads to a lot of fun parties, and some very dark consequences, in the new Swedish film LFO (Low Frequency Oscillations.) Here’s the official synopsis of LFO, from director Antonio Tulben: LFO is a dark comedy/drama/Sci-Fi about a man who…

Trailers Charlie Jane Anders Apr 17

Real-Life Mind Control Let a Human Wag a Rat’s Tail

Mind control is the inevitable endgame of just about every user interface. You know, Star Wars-style mind-controlled arms. But what about controlling other beings? Scientists have managed to enable a human to wag rat’s tail with his mind. Bio-drones away. Researchers at the Harvard Medical School in Boston led by Seung-Schik Yoo whipped up the…

Tech News Eric Limer Apr 5

DUPE: This Is a Quadrotor You Can Control With Your Mind

Physical remote controls might be nice when it comes to precision, but they’ve got nothing on mind-control when it comes to awesome. Using an EEG headset, a computer, and some serious thought-power, researchers have developed a quadrotor you can steer with your brain. Developed at Zhejiang University, the Flying Buddy 2 is controlled with a…

Gadgets Eric Limer Sep 1

Brain Shift Radio Controls Mood with Music—Awesome or Creepy?

In Philip K. Dick’s book Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep? (a.k.a. Blade Runner), the lead character Rick Deckard and his wife alter their mental states with devices called Mood Organs. Rising in the morning, Deckard dials in a “businesslike professional attitude,” while his vengeful wife selects no fewer than six hours of “self-accusatory depression.”…

Tech News Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey - Evolver.fm Jul 20

Could we create a perfect society by tweaking two areas of the human brain?

Want to create an egalitarian utopia? A rigid hierarchical hellscape? (Or an egalitarian hellscape and hierarchical utopia, depending on your politics?) You might just need to stimulate or suppress two crucial parts of the human brain. We’ve long since outgrown the idea that the mind is an ephemeral presence that can’t be tampered with physically.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 10

Vladimir Putin Confirms Russian Zombie Radiation Gun

Russia and America have been uneasy pals for a while now, but that could all go down the drain in a microwaved hurry: the Rooskies are testing an energy weapon capable of causing extreme pain and mind-control. Russian zombies burning an American flag. Australia’s Herald Sun reports the beam weapon, trotted out by Russian defense…

Tech News Sam Biddle Apr 5

5 Ways Cyborg Insects Could Change The World

Scientists have made amazing progress lately in turning insects into cyborgs. Almost every week, there’s another news story about cyborg insect first responders, or cockroach fuel cells. Soon enough, when someone plants an eavesdropping device in your house, it’ll literally be a “bug.” Why do insects make such great candidates to become cyborgs? And what…

io9 Sophie Bushwick Feb 29

Haier’s Brain-Controlled TV Doesn’t Actually Control Anything

On the floor of CES, tucked away in Haier’s booth is a TV set advertising BRAIN CONTROL. I was immediately intrigued. Could I think about wanting to watch the latest episode of Teen Mom and have it automatically flash on screen? I had to find out. Well sadly, this psychic link with our TVs is…

Tech News Adrian Covert Jan 11

The Scientist Who Controlled People with Brain Implants

Brain implantation and manipulation is a mainstay of science fiction. Often, characters can gain extra memory or get smarter, by having chips placed within the brain. (Or you can wind up mind-controlled by a psychopath. It’s a mixed bag.) But in real life, one scientist made huge strides towards creating workable brain implants. In the…

io9 Keith Veronese Dec 28

Hackers Claim to Control Siri with Brainwaves (UPDATED)

Forget meagre voice commands for iPhones, these guys claim to have come up with a way to control them with their minds. Did these two random dudes just accomplish something that’s defeated scientists for decades? Or is it all bullshit? Project Black Mirror is in the very early stages of development—these two guys, named Ollie…

Tech News Brent Rose Nov 11

Cerebro Now Used For Slot Car Racing

Slot car racing is the ultimate way to determine superiority between friends. And now this mind-controlled version ups the ante, since it means the winner also possesses superior mental capabilities. Using an off the shelf Scalextric slot car set, a Neurosky MindWave EEG headset, an Arduino, some in-between circuitry, and a few custom scripts running…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Oct 18

Nikita does an awesome tribute to Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s craziest supervillain plot

Remember when James Bond’s arch-nemesis Blofeld opened a clinic where he would treat women and help them to stop being allergic to chickens? And while he was teaching women to love chickens, he was also turning them into mass-murderers? Apparently the people making Nikita do. Last Friday’s episode was a great take on the “supervillain…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Oct 3

The anime propaganda films of a Japanese death cult

Before their sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo cult released a series of bizarre anime recruitment videos starring their bearded leader Shoko Asahara levitating, phasing, and using other ridiculous supernatural powers. It’s pretty jarring to see a fringe group that would eventually commit senseless mass murder depicting itself as…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 6

Out-of-control hypnotism ruins high school fun day

A high school in Mocoa, Colombia recently hired hypnotist Miller Zambrano Posada to entertain a group of 590 youth for a student fun day. For 700 pesos (40¢), the students were promised clowns, jugglers, and a mesmerizing display of casual mind control. What they got instead was a group freak-out. Reports Hispanically Speaking News: Twelve…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 5

Could You Create a Mind-Controlled Minion in Real Life?

Mind control is a favorite plot device in science fiction. It typically calls for a powerful manipulator to turn other people into drones using some extremely complicated-sounding, but often unexplained, process. It’s a neutral power, used by heroes (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and villains (The Riddler) alike. Moral ambiguities aside, let’s take a look at whether pop…

io9 Keith Veronese Sep 1

People Who Gained Superpowers From Being Brainwashed

We all act like being mind-wiped and reprogrammed is such a bad thing — but is it always? Sometimes having your personality or identity scrubbed away like so much grout scum is just a great way to make room for new stuff. Like killer ninja skills. Or superpowers. Mind-control and mind-wiping are common themes in…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Aug 31

Could probiotic yogurt be changing your behavior?

Mice are less anxious when they eat a diet that includes the kind of probiotic yogurt you can buy in the health food sections of most stores. The yogurt includes Lactobacillus rhamnosus, a bacterium that lives in the guts of humans and many other animals, and is believed to contribute to healthy digestion. It also…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 31

The pornographic psychological warfare campaigns of World War II

During World War II, the Axis propaganda campaign took a turn for the bawdy when Japanese and German forces began distributing porno pamphlets among Allied troops. The central thesis? It was much better to stay home and get laid rather than risk your neck fighting Fascism. The eminently readable PsyWarrior have a detailed collection of…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 31

Your dinnerware may be sabotaging your diet

Most people make upwards of 250 food-related decisions a day. Sound high? That’s because researchers believe the majority of these decisions are made unconsciously, and that many of our eating habits are actually driven by subtle environmental cues. How we manipulate these cues can have a huge impact on our eating habits. There are two…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 31

10 mind control clichés (and how to avoid them)

Mind control yarns are a staple of science fiction, but they tend to fall back on the same tropes. Fortunately for you, I’ve developed a character that blows all those tried-and-true formulas to smithereens. Join us as we reinvent the mind control tale. 1.) Mind controllers compensate for a lack of physical prowess More often…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 31

Mind control for fun and excitement, in the dark Swedish film LFO

Real-Life Mind Control Let a Human Wag a Rat’s Tail

DUPE: This Is a Quadrotor You Can Control With Your Mind

Brain Shift Radio Controls Mood with Music—Awesome or Creepy?

Could we create a perfect society by tweaking two areas of the human brain?

Vladimir Putin Confirms Russian Zombie Radiation Gun

5 Ways Cyborg Insects Could Change The World

Haier’s Brain-Controlled TV Doesn’t Actually Control Anything

The Scientist Who Controlled People with Brain Implants

Hackers Claim to Control Siri with Brainwaves (UPDATED)

Cerebro Now Used For Slot Car Racing

Nikita does an awesome tribute to Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s craziest supervillain plot

The anime propaganda films of a Japanese death cult

Out-of-control hypnotism ruins high school fun day

Could You Create a Mind-Controlled Minion in Real Life?

People Who Gained Superpowers From Being Brainwashed

Could probiotic yogurt be changing your behavior?

The pornographic psychological warfare campaigns of World War II

Your dinnerware may be sabotaging your diet

10 mind control clichés (and how to avoid them)

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