Psychotronic warfare, the "Havana Syndrome" and the dystopian dimension of conflicts

We've been living in flames / We're eating our brains / Oh please don't let these tremors continue / Now you see me, a veteran / of a thousand psychic wars / My energy is finally depleted / and my armor is shattered / I've used up all my weapons / And I'm helpless and grieving / Wounds are all I'm made of / Did I hear you say this is victory? / Don't let these tremors continue / It's time we took a break / Send me to the rear / where the tides of madness swell / And I've slipped into Hell / Oh, please, don't let these tremors continue / Don't let these tremors continue / tremors continue / Don't let these tremors continue.

^{(Blue Öyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars)}

“They kill you with the wave! With the wave they kill you! The Russians, the Americans, the Vatican! …There are wave implants that torture, dominate and kill from afar. Millions of deaths in Italy.”

It was the mid-70s. Walking through the center of Milan it was common to come across delirious messages like the one above, written in block capitals on the sidewalks. It was equally easy to cross paths with CT (born Carlo Torrighelli), a strange character, author of those writings. He wandered around, with his rather modest appearance, showing signs warning citizens about the lethal waves spread, in his opinion, by the occult powers that decide the fate of the planet (especially the Vatican). I was eight or nine years old and, accompanied on walks by my maternal grandfather, I stopped curiously to read them, not without a certain fear due to the strangeness of that man. Then I asked my grandfather, who in the meantime was lighting a cigarette and waiting for me patiently: “Grandpa, why do you write those things? What do they mean?” He, looking for the right words, after a rapid analysis based on the acumen of common sense, gave me a synthetic but exhaustive answer: “It's matt.” (“He's crazy”, in Milanese dialect).

Certainly the good CT must have had some problems, but the topic that I am about to discuss presents many aspects that have to do with madness or, at least, with the attempt to induce it and, certainly, lends itself to discussions that often degenerate into conspiracy theories , in pseudo-science, in individual and collective paranoia. With a theme like that of psychotronic wars it's easy to lapse into "bar chatter", perhaps, in this case, that of Star Wars; I will then try to address it on the basis of the most accredited historical-scientific literature available and I will do so starting from the events recently defined as the "Havana Syndrome". I will proceed with my examination through a series of questions which, I think, originate from those I asked my grandfather when I was a child.

At this point, the first can only be: "What is Havana Syndrome?". An answer is contained in a short article, one of many that appeared online at the beginning of April:

An in-depth joint investigation of several media outlets (The Insider, Der Spiegel and CBS's 60 Minutes) concluded that the "Havana syndrome", the mysterious disease that has affected American diplomats in recent years (and which can cause brain damage), it could be linked to the use of sonic weapons by Russian intelligence. For Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov the story is not new, it is not the first time that the "Havana syndrome" has been traced back to Russia, but he denies the accusations...The phenomenon took its name from the capital of Cuba, Where the first case is believed to have been detected in 2016, but the new investigation suggests it may have happened in 2014 and in Germany…Symptoms found in several staff members of the US embassy in Havana in 2016 are headache, dizziness, nausea, tiredness, up to memory loss and sensory alterations (such as hearing impairment). In the long term, in some cases, brain damage and permanent injuries have been found. In addition to Cuba, other US diplomatic posts in Berlin, Vienna and Guangzhou have recorded cases. According to experts, possible causes include ultrasound-based "energy weapons" used by foreign governments.¹

In reality, there would be precedents represented by the so-called "Moscow Signal", emissions of low-frequency electromagnetic radiation that could influence the central nervous system, put people to sleep, interfere with decision-making ability and induce chronic stress. Throughout the Cold War, the Soviets reportedly used these microwaves against employees of the US embassy in Moscow.²

A picture emerges that prefigures the existence of unconventional weapons capable of acting on the human mind and physical structure, with devastating, if not downright lethal, consequences. We are talking about actions on the psyche in the physical domain, not in the cognitive one, in which we act with the now consolidated operations of psychological warfare, psyops, whose objective is thought, trying to influence it through messages conveyed to influence the choices and opinions of individuals. We are talking about something against which human beings can hardly defend themselves. While a person who is sufficiently "equipped" on a cultural and emotional level can stem an attack carried out by an adversary through propaganda or, at least, can evaluate its extent, it is practically impossible to escape the damage inflicted, for example, by an electromagnetic wave that strikes the brain.

To try to clarify this concept, here is another question: "What is a psychotronic weapon?" It is a weapon that emits certain electromagnetic frequencies capable of influencing the central nervous system and the neural activity of the brain, interrupting its normal activities. It is an application of the study of phenomena such as electromagnetism and biomagnetism. If available reports can be believed, the first use of psychotronic warfare was carried out by the Soviet side during the Cold War.

We are once again talking about a situation of absolute protagonism of the Kremlin in the development of such unusual forms of aggression. I would be naive and incorrect if I did not point out that the United States has also engaged in research & development of this type of armament, interested, as it obviously is, in ascertaining the consequences of their use and evaluating their effectiveness. In fact, there is evidence of the experiments of mind control carried out by the CIA: one of them is the project MK Ultra,³ dating back to the 50s and 60s of the last century and which, in any case, had nothing to do with either psychotronic warfare or psyops.

My attention, however, will be directed to what was probably achieved by the Soviet Union during the Cold War and by Russia after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, aware that the risk of appearing prey to millenarian delusions is always looming. Although the matter is somewhat controversial, as I anticipated, I will base my analysis on the reports of authoritative personalities in the field of military studies, first of all Lieutenant Colonel Timothy L. Thomas, author of the seminal article The Mind Has No Firewall. Thomas wrote:

A recent edition of U.S. News and World Report covered many of these "wonder weapons" (acoustic, microwave, laser) and noted that scientists are "searching the electromagnetic and sonic spectra for wavelengths that can affect the human behaviour". A Russian military article offered a slightly different perspective on the problem, declaring that “humanity is on the brink of psychotronic warfare” focused on the mind and body. The article discussed Russian and international attempts to control man's psychophysical condition and decision-making processes through the use of VHF generators, "silent tapes" and other technologies. An entirely new arsenal of weapons, based on devices designed to introduce subliminal messages or to alter the psychological and data processing capabilities of the human body, could be used to incapacitate individuals. These weapons aim to control or alter the psyche, or to attack the various sensory and information systems of the human organism. In both cases the goal is to confuse or destroy the signals that normally keep the body in balance.⁴

The publication US News and World Report to which Thomas refers, contains in fact an equally fundamental article by the investigative journalist Douglas Pasternak, entitled wonder weapons,⁵ which explores these issues in depth. Thomas, referring in this case to the experiments carried out by the US government, posed an important question and, quoting Pasternak again, sought an answer:

What technologies that have the potential to disrupt the data processing capabilities of the human organism have the United States explored? The July 7, 1997 issue of U.S. News and World Report described several designs to, among other things, vibrate the insides of human beings, stun or nauseate them, put them to sleep, heat them up, or knock them down with a shock wave. Technologies include dazzling lasers that can force pupils to contract; acoustic or sonic frequencies that make the hair cells of the inner ear vibrate and cause motion sickness, dizziness and nausea, or frequencies that make the internal organs resonate, causing pain and spasms; and shock waves that can potentially knock down humans or aircraft and that can be mixed with pepper spray or chemicals… These waves, which can penetrate buildings, offer a number of opportunities for militaries and law enforcement. Microwave weapons, by stimulating the peripheral nervous system, can heat the body, induce epileptic seizures or cause cardiac arrest. Low-frequency radiation affects the brain's electrical activity and can cause flu-like symptoms and nausea. Other designs sought to induce or prevent sleep, or to influence the signal coming from the motor cortex portion of the brain, ignoring voluntary muscle movements. The latter are called shockwave weapons, and the Russian government has reportedly purchased over 100.000 of them in the "Black Widow" version.⁶

In particular, Pasternak referred to the concern of the manufacturer of this device, version of another device called Myotron to be distributed to the police as a "non-lethal weapon", due to the large order from Moscow:

Upon contact with the Myotron it is as if millions of tiny needles are being sent through the body. This is the result of confusing signals from the motor cortex region of the brain.⁷ “It's horrible,” says William Gunby, CEO of the company that developed the Myotron. "It's not a toy." The Myotron cancels voluntary, but not involuntary, muscle movements, so as to maintain the victim's vital functions. Sales are aimed at women, but law enforcement and agencies — including the Arizona State Police and New York Supreme Court bailiffs — have purchased the device, Gunby says. A special model built for law enforcement, called Black Widow, is being tested by the FBI. “I hope they don't order it very soon,” he adds. “The Russian government just ordered 100.000 and I need to replenish my supplies.”⁸

In another article from the late 90s, Thomas is also quoted as saying that Russia was far ahead of the United States in so-called “psychotronic warfare” at the time.⁹ In another of his studies, however, not without a hint of skepticism, Thomas reported that the Russians had developed a computer virus, with the rather evocative name of Virus 666, capable of killing a person while looking at their computer screen:

There are reports that the Russians have developed the "666 Virus", which displays certain combinations of colors and numbers on a computer screen to influence bodily processes. According to a Russian report delivered by a scientist from the prestigious Russian Baumann Technical Institute at a conference on information warfare held in Washington, D.C.,¹⁰ the 666 virus was responsible for disrupting the bodily functions of more than 50 people, resulting in their deaths. Can things like this happen? Americans are doubtful, because there is no evidence that computer screens can be used to control or kill people. Most believe that such reports are not credible, even if Russian scientists, supported by very influential people close to the Russian leadership, are the source of this information. Is the 666 virus an attempt at Russian manipulation to get the United States to spend money on research and development of countermeasures?¹¹

The “scientist from the prestigious Russian Baumann Technical Institute” mentioned by Thomas was Doctor Victor Solntsev, a leading researcher on the relationship between information warfare and the data processing capacity of the human body:

Supported by a network of institutes and academies, Solntsev has produced some interesting concepts. He insists that man must be seen as an open system and not simply as an organism or a closed system. Being an open system, man communicates with his environment through information flows and means of communication. According to Solntsev, the physical environment, through electromagnetic, gravitational, acoustic or other effects, can cause a change in the psychophysiological state of an organism. A change of this kind could directly affect a computer operator's mental state and consciousness. In this case, it would not be electronic warfare or information warfare in the traditional sense, but rather in a non-traditional, non-US sense. It could include, for example, a computer modified to become a weapon by using its energy output to emit sounds that debilitate the operator. He could also include, as indicated below, futuristic weapons aimed at the “open system” of man. Solntsev also looked at the problem of "information noise", which creates a thick shield between a person and external reality. This noise can manifest itself in the form of signals, messages, images or other pieces of information. The main target of this noise would be the consciousness of a person or group of people. Behavior modification could be one goal of information noise; another might be to disrupt an individual's mental capacity to such an extent that they prevent reaction to any stimulus. Solntsev concludes that all levels of a person's psyche (subconscious, conscious, and "superconscious") are potential targets for destabilizations. According to Solntsev, a computer virus capable of affecting the human psyche is the Russian 666 virus. It manifests itself in every 25 frames of a visual screen, where it produces a combination of colors that supposedly induce a trance state in computer operators. The subconscious perception of the new pattern ultimately causes cardiac arrhythmia. Other Russian computer specialists, not only Solntsev, openly talk about this "25th frame effect" and its ability to subtly manage the computer user's perceptions. The purpose of this technique is to inject a thought into the viewer's subconscious. It may remind some of the subliminal advertising controversy that occurred in the United States in the late 50s.¹²

The mere thought that this type of weapon could be available to some terrorist organization must cause great concern. Thomas quotes the Russian writer and dissident Nikolai Anisimov, author of the book Psychotronic Golgotha and member of the Antipsychotronic Center of Moscow, as the one who coined the term "psychoterrorism" and defines "psychotronic weapons" as those that act to steal parts of the information stored in an individual's brain. These would then be sent to a computer, which reworks them according to the needs of those who need to control the individual and the modified information would be reinserted into the brain again. These weapons would be used against the mind to induce hallucinations, disease, mutations in human cells, a form of “zombification,” or even death. VHF, X-ray, ultrasound and radio wave generators are included in the arsenal.¹³

The book by Anisimov, who claims to have also been a victim of the Soviet government's psychotronic experiments due to his political opinions, is divided into five parts. In the first, the psychotronic technology to be used on the population and the unconventional types of modern weapons are presented. The responsibility of national psychiatric medicine and the secret services in carrying out what is defined as "a monstrous crime" is also widely underlined. The second part of the book essentially contains useful material for the international tribunal. Collects documentary stories of victims of psychotronic weapons. The chapters What is psychotronic terror? e Psychotronic torture and torment, contained therein, have the aim of guiding justice in the correct classification of the crimes identified. The third part recounts the unequal struggle of the human rights movement against the "monstrous crime" and contains a significant number of documents to support the arguments made. The fourth part reports some of the most significant examples that demonstrate the existence of this type of non-lethal weapons and their use against the population. The book concludes with stories, interviews and investigations.

Regarding “zombification”, it is no coincidence that Anisimov says the following:

In 1988, our organization was renamed the Committee for the Protection of the Population from Bioelectronic Terrorism. At the end of this year, new terminologies and renames appeared in the specialized literature. In 1989, by decision of activists, our Committee was renamed the Antipsychotronic Center for Human Rights "ZOMBIE". … Only in 1988, thousands of alternative medicine “treatment centers” appeared in the Soviet Union, equipped with ultra-modern medical and psychotronic equipment produced by secret factories. These centers make extensive use of the occult sciences, which are the basis of psychotronic technologies. As a rule, the names of the center managers are secret and the service personnel hold two higher education qualifications: one medical and one technical. It is not difficult, however, to guess where, when and on whom this particular equipment was tested. For example, the medical scientist and physicist I. Smirnov conducted experiments on prisoners in one of the Moscow psychiatric hospitals using psychotronic generators; the director of the Institute of Economics and Mathematics of the Siberian branch of the Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences, academician V. Kaznacheev¹⁴ and his colleagues conducted medical, biological and technical experiments on the patients of their clinic and the population of Novosibirsk, and academician N. Bekhtereva¹⁵ and her colleagues on the patients of the clinic located at the Brain Center, which she directs. The centers, with the blessing of the Ministry of Health, produce thousands of relays every year Zombified with “sorcerer” diplomas in their pockets. Kashpirovsky's television broadcasts,¹⁶ Chumak¹⁷ and other "miracle workers" fit into a single global system for the development of psychotronic weapons and are nothing more than obedient toys in the hands of criminal maniacs sitting at the control panels of psychotronic technical weapons.¹⁸

They are in a field in which every statement must be taken with caution and, however, the aspect of "zombification" as a consequence of psychotronic warfare is at the center of numerous investigations in studies aimed at this sector.

In 1998 German television made a documentary entitled Geheimes Russland: Die Zombies der Roten Zaren – The Zombies of the Red Czar. There are transcriptions of what is said in the documentary: below I report what is said at the beginning of the program:

NARRATOR: The Kremlin. Until recently the symbol of absolute power. The dream of the red tsars was a disciplined society that they could completely control. This dream once inspired George Orwell to write his darkly futuristic novel, “1984.” Autumn 1998 and [now] there is a new crisis in Russia. Years after the collapse of communism, citizens are crushed by both the economic collapse and the consequences of the old system that lasted more than seven decades. It was like a web of brute force and secret control that trapped citizens. Some of these methods, such as Stalinist camps, have been spread throughout the world. Regarding others, the victims themselves report them only very rarely. In this country many consider themselves victims: victims of armed conflicts or political repression. Victims of secret psychiatric experiments or the constant fear of "Big Brother".

(A young man is shown. He is in a wheelchair and has bandages all over his head. An old lady, presumably an assistant of Doctor Smirnov, attaches electrodes to various parts of his head and body.)¹⁹

The main protagonist of the documentary is the psychiatrist Igor Smirnov - already met in connection with Anisimov's book and in the transcript above - and the technology and psychoacoustic correction equipment he created to transmit messages directly into a patient's head for purposes therapeutic. Here, then, is another question that I think is useful to ask: What is the scientific legacy left by Igor Smirnov?

Igor Smirnov was the founder of psychoecology and director ofInstitute for Psychotechnological Research of Moscow.²⁰ The FBI turned to him for collaboration during the siege of Waco (Texas) in 1993, which later did not materialize. Upon his death in November 2004, he left the management of the Institute to his widow Rusalkina, his long-time collaborator. In an interview reported by the magazine Wired, Rusalkina reports a series of interesting data. According to Rusalkina, the Soviet army made use of Smirnov's psychotechnology during the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan in the 80s, claiming that it was used as much to combat Mujahideen, as well as to treat post-traumatic stress syndrome in Russian soldiers.²¹ After the fall of the Soviet Union, Smirnov moved from military research to treating patients with mental and drug addiction problems and most of his activities focused on what is called "psychocorrection": basically the use of subliminal messages to bend a subject's will and even change a person's personality without their knowledge. Rusalkina also made a gloomy prediction about the "arms race" in the field of psychotronic weapons, stating that such weapons are much more dangerous than nuclear weapons. By way of example, he reported the spread of numerous news reports in Russia relating to "zombies", i.e. innocent people whose memories would have been erased by mind control weapons. He then said that Russian special forces contacted the Institute during the 2003 siege of the Dubrovka theater in Moscow, in which several hundred people were held hostage by Chechen militants, only to then use gas instead of psychotronic instruments :

We could have stabilized the situation in the theater and the terrorists would have given up on acting. And of course it would have been possible to avoid the large number of victims and put the terrorists on trial. But the Alfa Group decided to follow an old method that had already been tested previously²²

The documentary also interviews people who claim to be victims of illegal experiments carried out by the Russian government to test mind control or "psychotronic" weapons. Among these, there is the testimony of Andre Slepucha, an electronic engineer who explains the modifications that must be made to a simple transistor so that it can be used as a measuring instrument for extremely low electromagnetic waves, to find out if there is a nearby source for the so-called psychotronic treatment (the Russian name for electromagnetic radiation mind control weapons). Slepucha stated that he was incarcerated as a political prisoner in the KGB prison in the Lubyanka in 1954 and experienced "psychotronic treatment" for the first time. He reported “loud sounds in the head and very strong auditory and visual hallucinations.”²³

In the late 90s, Duma deputy Vladimir Lopatin, after thoroughly examining the work done by Smirnov, moved to limit mind control weapons. His concerns stemmed from the fact that these resources were “…funded and used not only by the medical community, but also by individuals and criminal groups. Terrorists could also get hold of such weapons.” On the subject, he has written a compendious work dealing with the threat posed by psychotronic weapons and war, as well as the importance of public relations regarding this global threat. He also wrote about the proposed Russian federal law “Information-psychological security” regarding the protection and defense of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens and society. Internationally, Lopatin stood out as the most powerful public figure to advocate for a ban on mind control weapons. ²⁴

From the point of view of military applications in the strictest sense, one can read the conceptual elaboration of the Ukrainian philosopher Vladimir Muzhesky, which is also rather hermetic:

From a functional point of view, psychotronics has been divided into psychological warfare and eniogenic or bioinformational warfare. Both are relatively close to each other because they are based on related studies and share many research objectives. Thus, it was agreed to understand the term psychotronic warfare as military exploitation of bioinformatics technologies and its technological reinforcement complexes. … One of the fundamental principles of psychotronic technology is the correlation between human biological activity and the activity of a technological complex. As elements of the abstract defense economy, psychotronic generators are characterized by the spatialization of concepts in the context of synthetic neurosimulation of space. Therefore, the space of references becomes the space of replication, forming the hyperreal complex of neurospatial material by binding the atoms of human perception and processing with the atoms of technological data development. … On January 31, 1973, an experiment was carried out in a military unit which, if it had been known as CIA psychotropic research on soldiers, could have had a much greater public resonance: probably more than a dozen human rights conventions were violated humans. The complex that was tested is Radiodream. The objective of the experiment was to study the influence of modulated electromagnetic radiation on a human system. The first part of the experiments was carried out on personnel of military unit 71582 in Novosibirsk. The results were considered positive. According to the researchers' calculations, the Radiodream generator could be effectively used in a city of 100 square kilometers, with all inhabitants affected by the induction into a deep dream state. … According to Kaznachejev, one of the leading Soviet experts in bioinformation technologies, psychotronic warfare can be defined as the military use of psychotronic technologies including their means, methods, techniques and generators. It is also possible to define bioinformation or electronic warfare as related branches of military development. On the other hand, the essential definition of the subject of both is very ambiguous, which research experts usually explain as a symptom of the young age of the discipline. Regardless of their prototypical pragmatic unpredictability, the results of psychotronic technological developments were brought into mass production and military use because of their suggestive power. The result was not a leap to another spiral of the military economic race, but the formation, on a material level, of a certain plane of bioinformational immanence. …Hypothetically, it can become a metavirus, a form of organism that parasitizes hyperenvironments, reworking only the matter itself that emerges between human perception and its simulation reflected in electronic space. Potentially affected areas may include mass media, communications systems, remote control machinery and information networks. They all already present a syndrome of reflex neuralization: for example, the increasing exploitation of the 3D effect can be interpreted in this context as the neuralization of media originally based on perceptivity; computers simulate a banal model of space by mirroring neural functions and letting the brain return its functional reflection and correlate its spatial processing with it. There is always parallel processing involved in neurolization, imaginary chains fighting for real spatial status. Forced to synergize through virtual parallel processing, the human brain can only rely on abstract representations that do not possess any immanent spatial reference, but refer to the ultra-conceptual planes of human thought, to the operational arrangements of neurospace. … Another expert, Kholodilov, highlighted that many researchers focus on the technological device and neglect the role of the human operator. He believed that the effect of psychotronic generators was based on interaction with the operator's neurological system. The most important part of the psychotronic complex, he continues, is a trained operator. A human system programs the psychotronic complex, and in accordance with its program, the same complex can be used for a variety of purposes. Kholodilov's point of view is shared by Schepilov, a member of the research team at the Eniotechnology Center in Moscow. In his opinion, psychotronic generators are technological systems based on the emission of weak wave-type processes that interfere with neural and nervous activities. The operator's role is to detect, calibrate, direct and maintain this interference. Schepilov recalls incidents in which operators fell into psychosis due to improper use of the generator. According to him, numerous generators, which are currently available for military purposes, were specifically designed to harmfully affect the respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological systems.²⁵

The narrative of Neuromancer by Gibson turns into Muzhesky's nonfiction: the dimension of Matrix becomes reality.

Perhaps it is necessary to be a little less cryptic and, in this, Major I. Chernyshev's classification relating to the weapons studied or developed for psychotronic warfare comes to our aid,²⁶ as reported by the lieutenant. with the. Thomas in his essay. The types of weapons listed by Chernyshev are as follows:

- psychotronic generator, which produces a powerful electromagnetic emission capable of being sent through telephone lines, TVs, radio networks, power pipes and incandescent lamps;

- infrasonic generator, i.e. a device that works in the 10-150 Hertz band and which in the 10-20 Hertz band forms an infrasonic oscillation that is destructive for all living beings;

- generator of the nervous system, designed to paralyze the central nervous system of insects, which may have the same applicability to humans;

- ultrasound emanations capable of killing by hitting the vital internal organs without leaving traces on the victim's skin;

- silent cassettes, i.e. magnetic tapes (no longer used today), which inserted into a recorder, reproduce voices at frequencies too low to be heard, but detectable by the subconscious and therefore capable of influencing an individual. The Russians claim to have used similar "bombings", through computer tools, to cure alcoholism or smoking.

- effect of the 25th frame, mentioned previously, which consists of a technique in which every 25th frame of a film or video reel contains a message that is picked up by the subconscious. This technique, if it worked, could also be used to curb smoking and alcoholism, but it has broader and more sinister applications when used on a television audience or a computer operator.

To the psychotronic weapons listed, he also adds the psychotropic, defined as medical preparations used for induction trance, euphoria or depression. Called "slow-acting mines," they could end up in a prominent person's food or an entire city's water supply. Symptoms include headaches, noises, voices or commands in the brain, dizziness, abdominal pain, cardiac arrhythmia or even destruction of the cardiovascular system.

To further study Russian research and development in this sector, in 1991 Dr. Janet Morris, co-author of The Warrior's Edge, went to the Institute of Psychocorrelation in Moscow. Here she was shown a technique pioneered by another institution, the Department of Psychocorrection of the Moscow Medical Academy, in which researchers electronically analyze the human mind in order to influence it. The technique involves inserting subliminal command messages, using key words broadcast in "white noise"²⁷ or in musical pieces. Using very low frequency infrasound transmission, the acoustic psychocorrection message is transmitted by bone conduction. Regarding this issue, Morris pointed out at the time that troops exposed to bone-conducting sound waves cannot be defended with earplugs or other current protective equipment.²⁸ I would like to remind you that Morris, in addition to essays and articles on non-lethal weapons, military technology and other topics relating to defense and national security, has written numerous science fiction and genre works fantasy.

In my opinion, to conclude, the aspects indicated by Chernishev and significant from a military point of view, among those identified to destroy the human psyche, border on science fiction:

- extrasensory perception (ESP), to determine the properties and conditions of objects without ever coming into contact with them and "read" people's thoughts;

- clairvoyance, through the observation of objects that are just beyond the world of the visible and usable for purposes of intelligence;

- telepathy, for the transmission of thoughts at a distance and can be used for secret operations;

- telekinesis, for actions involving the manipulation of physical objects using the power of thought, causing them to move or break. This can be used against command and control systems or to disrupt the operation of weapons of mass destruction;

- psychokinesis, through interference with individuals' thoughts, both at a strategic and tactical level.

If all this, on the one hand, seems far-fetched, on the other it is conceivable that it could be achieved in a relatively simple way in the future. On the other hand, the rapidity of technological progress over the last twenty years demonstrates that the path is clear. And robotics, artificial intelligence and all forms of human-machine interaction that are evolving day after day, applied in the fields of medicine and physics to produce new hyper-sophisticated weapons, are going in this direction.

I am not yet prey to desperate millenarian fury, but I fear that one day I will become like the unforgettable CT