Nexilist Notebook

A great deal of ink has been spent justifying and condemning torture in the “war on terror”. This is a waste of paper. We can get the intelligence that we need from prisoners without torture, which is often unproductive any.

1.There is a brain scanning technique that can tell very accurately when someone is lying. When you are telling the truth, you pull facts from memory and speak them. When you are lying, you have to remember what is true, fabricate the lie and then speak it. There are brain areas that are active when you lie that are not active when you tell the truth.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/lying.html

2. There is another brain scanning technique that can tell when someone recognize something. All you need to do is wire someone up, show them images of what you are investigating and their brain will tell you when they see something they recognize. They don’t even need to speak!

http://www.bookrags.com/Neuroimaging

3. There is a third technique that can tell when someone thinks they remember something but they are wrong and the memory is false.

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002606.html

4.And finally, there is a technique that can utilize magnetic fields to block or interfere with brain function in a specific location. I wonder what would happen if someone was trying to lie while the brain stimulator was interfering with areas that are needed for concocting a lie?

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171201506&cid=PT-popular-leftcol

With these techniques, a great deal of useful information can be extracted without threatening or torturing the subjects.

The equipment is expensive but so is the incarceration of many suspects in Gitmo and overseas in other countries. If the purpose of holding these people is really about getting information, we can do that easily. On the other hand, if the purpose is revenge, punishment and/or intimidation, then perhaps torture IS required to meet the goals of the US administration.