![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/\ncyborgbugs.gif\")
The Pentagon’s defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects
\n that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions.<\/p>\n
The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects
\n can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled
\n later.<\/p>\n
Experts told the BBC some ideas were feasible but others seemed "ludicrous".<\/p>\n
A similar scheme aimed at manipulating wasps failed when they flew off
\n to feed and mate.<\/p>\n
The new scheme is a brainwave of the Defence Advanced Research Projects
\n Agency (Darpa), which is tasked with maintaining the technological superiority
\n of the US military.<\/p>\n
from the BBC<\/a><\/p>\n Darpa, of course, are the clever darlings who really<\/strong> invented Our favorite part of the article is a breif review of other US attempts ANIMALS IN WARFARE<\/strong><\/p>\n WWII<\/strong>: Attach a bomb to a cat and drop it from a dive-bomber on to Nazi WWII:<\/strong> Attach incendiaries to bats. Induce hibernation and drop them from Vietnam War<\/strong>: Dolphins trained to tear off diving gear of Vietcong divers also from the BBC<\/a><\/p>\n Incomplete list. We are reminded of the strange But the most bizarre chapter in his career occurred Back in the 50’s, though, they were still groping for ways to self-direct The idea was to have a bird in the nosecone of each Interesting, and the focus of the third year of The butterflies sound promising, though…<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Pentagon’s defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions. The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into … Continue reading
\n the internet (get real, Al Gore), named at that embrionic stage Arpanet.
\n Not all their
\n projects, however, have turned out quite that well…<\/em><\/p>\n
\n to use animals in warfare. To wit:<\/em><\/p>\n
\n ships. The cat, hating water, will "wrangle" itself on to
\n enemy ship’s deck. In tests cats became unconscious in mid-air<\/p>\n
\n planes. They wake up, fly into factories etc and blow up. Failed to wake
\n from hibernation and fell to death<\/p>\n
\n and drag them to interrogation, sources linked to the programme say.
\n Syringes later placed on dolphin flippers to inject carbon dioxide into
\n divers, who explode. US Navy has always denied using mammals to harm
\n humans<\/p>\n
\n and somewhat sad case of Richard Hernstein, know among Harvard undergraduates
\n back
\n in
\n the day as the "Pigeon Professor."<\/em><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/\nbugggm.jpg\")
Hernstein, who as a grad student had demonstrated
\n his slavish dedication to the advancement of science and blind obedience
\n to
\n his Harvard mentor, B.
\n F. Skinner, by volunteering his firstborn son while still an infant
\n to be placed in a "Skinner Box" in a Harvard Psych lab, basically a featureless,
\n neutral environment, a padded white sterile capsule, where every stimuli
\n could
\n be controlled,
\n measured and observed, would later become famous for his controversial
\n work linking intelligence with genetic (and racial) differences between
\n indivuals.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n during the Korean War when his early work with visual acuity, intelligence
\n and pigeons
\n came to the attention of the boys in the Pentagon. Probably Darpa, if
\n it existed back then, or its predecessor. At the time they were hard
\n at work on the seeds of the technology that would later come to be
\n know
\n as
\n "Smart
\n bombs";
\n guided missiles, laser guided bombs, camera-in the-nosecone weapons,
\n heat-seeking, etc. <\/em><\/p>\n
\n the explosives, and one of the ideas they were exploring was animal-directed
\n bombs. Pigeons have excellent eyes – they can spot a tasty morsel of
\n regurgitated fried dough from hundreds of feet in the air. Hernstein
\n had shown that pigeons could be trained to peck at certain shapes on
\n a piece of paper, in a photograph, or on a touch-sensative screen.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n bomb or missile, pecking at an image of the target projected on a screen
\n from the nose
\n of the missile, and steering it accordingly. According to Hernstein himself
\n during and aside in the course we took from him (and the only thing
\n we remember from that course), the result of three years of top secret
\n research
\n and several million taxpayers dollars was the realization that although
\n the pigeons performed well, accuracy was not within acceptable limits. <\/em><\/p>\n
\n research, was the fact that if THREE pigeons were lodged in each bomb,
\n and their pecking triangulated, the
\n resulting accuracy WAS within the target range. However, with
\n three pigeons and all of their necessary equipment, there was no room
\n left in the bomb for explosives. Another brilliant innovation wrecked
\n on the shoals of martial realities.<\/em><\/p>\n