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From: ylikoski@csc.fi
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Habeas Animus
Message-ID: <1990Aug17.233943.1@csc.fi>
Date: 17 Aug 90 23:39:43 GMT
Sender: usenet@nic.funet.fi
Organization: Finnish Academic and Research Network Project - FUNET
Lines: 61

Currently, I'm reading the book BRAINSTORMS by Daniel C. Dennett
(Harvester Press) as a part of my Licensiate/PhD program.

On pages 248-249, in the article Mechanism and Responsibility, Dennett
writes:

"... Our paradigm here is the idea --- still fortunately science
fiction --- of the neurosurgeon who "rewires" me and in this way
inserts a belief or desire that was not there before. ... For
instance, the mad scientist might discover that flashing the letters
of the alphabet in the man's eyes at a certain speed would cause him
(in virtue of his imprefectly rational design) to believe that Mao is
God."

Before continuing this entry, I want to say that this entry is
actually true, and that this is not a bad joke and I'm not paranoid
(even though you will have to take my word for it).

There is an internationally known intelligence agency whose services
are international and which is not the CIA, and which is extremely
active here in Finland.  I will call them simply the CSSO (the
Committee for the Security of the State of Oz).

Their agents are familiar with, and use, the kinds of methods which
Dennett above calls "still fortunately science fiction".  The rest of
this entry contains information involving how.  (Imagine what could -
and would - have happened if the notorious national socialist Adolf
Hitler had had methods of this kind!)

I recommend that the reader find a copy of the book Conceptual
Structures by John F. Sowa (Addison-Wesley).  On page 70, there is a
picture of what happens in the brain of a person when he sees a cat.
Sowa has forgotten something very, very essential. In addition to data
structures (Conceptual Graphs), there are in the brain of the person
*procedures* which read, write, and generally operate on the
conceptual graphs.  If a hostile person has timing information
involving the neurological procedures of the victim, it is possible to
damage the victim very severely.  (I would write some examples here
but someone could die as a result.)

I also recommend that the reader find a copy of Scientific American
(June 1990, Volume 262, Number 6) and get familiar with the article
"Biosonar and Neural Computation in Bats", which "opens the way to a
deep understanding of how the central nervous system processes
auditory signals".  I remark that someone could have done experiments
like that on humans, and possess information like that about humans.

One of the grounds of the legislations of the Western states is the
so-called Habeas Corpus.  The Habeas Corpus says, in essence, that one
may not hurt the body of another person.  I feel we need some sort of
explicit Habeas Animus: it should be explicitly forbidden to hurt the
mind of another person.

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Antti (Andy) Ylikoski              ! Internet: YLIKOSKI@CSC.FI
Helsinki University of Technology  ! UUCP    : ylikoski@opmvax.kpo.fi
Helsinki, Finland                  !
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"A diamond is a piece of coal that did not disintegrate under
pressure."