Much of the classic, foundational research on personality, conformity, obedience, group polarization, and other such determinants of social dynamics—while ostensibly civilian—was funded during the cold war by the military and the CIA. The cold war was an ideological battle, so, naturally, research on techniques for controlling belief was considered a national security priority. This psychological research laid the groundwork for propaganda wars and for experiments in individual “mind control.” The pioneering figures from this era—for example, Gordon Allport on personality and Solomon Asch on belief conformity—are still cited in NATO psy-ops literature to this day.
In a 2014 interview, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, speaking then as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that such open-source data initiatives, and in particular the study of social media such as Facebook, had entirely transformed intelligence-gathering. He reported that traditional signals intelligence and human intelligence were increasingly being replaced by this open-source work and that the way in which intelligence agents are trained had been modified to accommodate the shift. A growing portion of the military’s $50 billion budget would be spent on this data analytics work, he claimed, creating a “gold rush” for contractors. A few weeks after this interview, Flynn left the DIA to establish the Flynn Intel Group Inc.
It was by no means inevitable that dual-use research at the intersection of psychology and data science would be employed along with illegally-obtained caches of data to manipulate elections. But dual-use research in psychology does seem to present a specific set of dangers.
But the development of behavioral technologies intended for military-grade persuasion in cyber-operations is rooted in a specific perspective on human beings, one that is at odds with the way they should be viewed in democratic societies.
If these technologies are becoming the core of America’s military and intelligence cyber-operations, it looks as though we will have to work harder to keep these trends from affecting the everyday life of our democratic society.
These principles are described in the first part of Bill Cooper's 'Behold a Pale Horse', where social engineering- enabled by the collection of comprehensive socioeconomic big data- is likened to a biological warfare version of WWIII
Because the end result of this social engineering is the same as more typical warfare: death, destruction, demoralization.
First commandment: never click on anything that could be construed as expressing your emotional or intellectual state or world view, never fill any opinion polls, write reviews or give advice, if you are forced to do it lie.
It didn't start with Facebook. Or Google. Those were just new methods brought out as the population got too wise to the old methods. Technologies that claimed to put power in the hands of users who knew that 20th-century mass-information systems were being used to deceive and manipulate them. But in the end, all technology serves best, those who can best afford it. Therefore any "innovation" in technology, which inevitably adds to existing expenses, will be adopted most quickly and efficiently by those with the most resources. Thus the elites will always be in control of the newer, "better" technology and will be in position to use it against the interests of the majority.
The only way to win is to WALK AWAY. Technology cannot and will not save you from either the government or corporate control.