Thought Control Demonstration 

 The 1984 future is already here.  I was watching the 
demonstration of a beta monitor on TV.  The user wore 
head phones with sensors in them that sensed alpha and 
beta brain waves.  The device was connected to a 
computer that could signal switches such as for lights 
going on or chairs going up or down.
    When the volunteer put the head phone device on 
their head, the female demonstrator asked them to try 
raising and lowering the chair they were in.  As they 
listened to the demonstrator you could see the beta 
wave display go higher on the screen indicating the 
participant was listening the girl explaining the 
device.  She was anxious to point that out.  When the 
participant listened, the beta wave display would go 
higher on the screen and the female demonstrator would 
say:  "see you're listening to me."  It was obviously 
the demonstrator's favorite part as her eye brows went 
up and her poster straightened when she said it.
    Inadvertently what the demonstrator was doing was 
pointing out the most intense application for this 
devise;  monitoring the user's attention.  Imagine an 
instructor trying to make sure a student understood 
what they were saying.  The instructor could watch the 
beta wave display while as the student listens.  
Imagine a company explaining an important manufacturing 
process to new employees, in order to increase 
productivity and eliminate costly mistakes.  Imagine 
interrogation.
    The delight in the female demonstrator's 
explanation belayed a new found power she seemed to 
enjoy.  This expression of power belays an 
institutional value for this device that may soon 
become apparent in the work place and beureaucratic 
agencies, I fear, and invade our freedom of thought.
	
Ken Bushnell
July 2012