People aren’t machines. Imagine yourself as a terrorist leader.
The US Army is combing the area you’re hiding in and you’re just waiting for an opportunity to slip away to fight another day. The isolation and paranoia are mounting, and you’re wondering why you decided to put yourself and your compatriots through this terrifying time. News from the field: they raided one of your supply caches and captured your closest co-conspirator. What about my family? What would my father think of me right now?
And then a disembodied voice gently beckons you to surrender.
Sure, it could have an emotional effect - same as loudspeakers, only more intimate. But proposing that someone would "mistake the experience for some sort of divine intervention or a deteriorating mental condition" is a statement about a person's view of the factual reality you live in, which tends to remain intact even in stressful situations.
My issue is not with the funding of this project or with its use in counterinsurgency operations; it's with journalism that paints (mostly Muslim) terrorists as superstitious primitives, when in fact they are thoroughly products of modern society.
Typical members of modern society wouldn't assume that voices in their heads are being beamed in by the government. It's much more rational to think you have a deteriorating mental condition. If you believe in a personal god that communicates directly with people, that's also a viable option. That's a very common belief in the US.
> Typical members of modern society wouldn't assume that voices in their heads are being beamed in by the government.
Of course they would, if a) it was common, factual knowledge that the government actively uses such technology, and b) if they were a target for such government. a) and b) will immediately be true for terrorists, if this tech gets deployed.
The original complaint was about Muslims being depicted as superstitious primitives. Your current complaint is about Muslims being depicted as typical members of modern society rather than typical members of a future in which this type of weapon is common knowledge.
I think that even in such a future, mental deterioration and religious experience would remain viable potential explanations for hearing voices in your head. Even if you were 90% sure that it was the US government, that 10% chance that you're losing your mind or getting instructions from God is powerful.
You'd probably also be psychologically motivated to come up with an explanation that doesn't involve a large well-funded group of trained killers who are out to get you knowing exactly where you are and having their weapons trained on you.
>> Typical members of modern society wouldn't assume that voices in their heads are being beamed in by the government.
> Of course they would, if a) it was common, factual knowledge that the government actively uses such technology, and b) if they were a target for such government. a) and b) will immediately be true for terrorists, if this tech gets deployed.
Governments use propaganda, sure, but "beaming voices into people's head", without their knowledge? I haven't heard of it, definitely not common knowledge. Do you have a source?
>voices in their head are being beamed in by the government.
Good point! Maybe they should also work on a lizard-person suit, or the technology to actually replace all of someone's family with robots, to help those "paranoid delusions" along.
The US Army is combing the area you’re hiding in and you’re just waiting for an opportunity to slip away to fight another day. The isolation and paranoia are mounting, and you’re wondering why you decided to put yourself and your compatriots through this terrifying time. News from the field: they raided one of your supply caches and captured your closest co-conspirator. What about my family? What would my father think of me right now?
And then a disembodied voice gently beckons you to surrender.