There was a big news story yesterday about Mark Zuckerberg being grilled by Congress on how Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and others, is somehow responsible for the suicide deaths of teenagers who were addicted to social media. Much of the content entailed bullying and blackmail, which in turn caused immense distress for the victims. The rate at which young people are killing themselves over online cognitive warfare is growing and parents do not know what to do. We need to discuss the repercussions of this phenomenon while taking into consideration the possibilities of cyberpsychosis and the attack on our cognitive liberty. Tonight on Ground Zero, Clyde Lewis talks about METADEATH - DECLARING COGNITIVE WARFARE.
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I may be late to the party but recently I have been watching Newsnation undefined I wanted to see the world without the Fox News, and CNN blinders on. I am still trying to get used to the style of the broadcast so I now just have it on in the background while I study, and write my thoughts down.
One of the big stories yesterday was about Mark Zuckerberg who again was grilled by Congress on how Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and others is somehow responsible for the deaths of several teenagers who were addicted to the services, decided to kill themselves.
These teenagers were allegedly abused by bullies and were sexually exploited on the service- one was blackmailed because of nudes he sent to someone undefined and so he committed suicide.
Rather than suing or arresting the perpetrators the parents decided to sue Meta for damages.
Zuckerberg has again been put into what the Soviets once called a show trial, where authorities beat up on a person and afterward no laws are passed and nothing gets done undefined it’s like back in the days when they used to berate cigarette companies for selling their products to teenagers undefined and when it is all said and done undefined nothing is done.
It is all showmanship undefined there is no justice for the parents and kids are caught is what can be called an act of Cognitive warfare.
It used to be that bullying was confined to halls and gym classes of the public school system. But now teenagers, are addicted to social media where they are continually bullied and harassed, and this is hard on the psychological makeup of a child.
They become withdrawn, and depressed, and some in the end kill themselves.
Many of us have heard the horror stories of the Blue Whale Challenge which was reported to be an online undefinedsuicide gameundefined aimed at teenagers who set 50 tasks over 50 days.
There was the Momo scare where the hideous face of a ghoul would appear in Childrenundefineds videos showing kids how to cut themselves to undefinedget the job done.undefined
Tide Pod challenge also was able to weed out those who were sitting in Darwinundefineds waiting room undefined and the Choking challenge where one of the teenagers that was named in the congressional hearing died of asphyxiation.
Sixteen-year-old Carson Bride of Lake Oswego Oregon had just gotten a new job at a pizza restaurant, his mother, Kristin Bride, said, and the family had been celebrating at home. He wrote his future work schedule on the kitchen calendar after dinner, said goodnight, and went to his room for bed. But the next morning, Kristin says, the family woke to “complete shock and horror”: Carson had died by suicide.
Kristin soon discovered that in the days leading up to his death, her son had received hundreds of harassing messages on Yolo – a third-party app that at the time was integrated into Snapchat and allowed users to communicate anonymously. Search history on Carson’s phone revealed some of his final hours online were spent desperately researching how to find who was behind the harassment and how to put an end to it.
After Carson’s death and the harassment Kristen says contributed to it, the mother tried to take action to prevent such tragedy from striking again but found herself running into walls. She says she contacted Yolo four times only to be ignored until receiving a single automated response email. She filed charges against Snapchat and the two anonymous messaging apps it hosted in May 2021, in a partially ongoing suit. Days after the suit was filed, Snapchat removed Yolo and LMK, the other app, from the platform, and a year later the company banned all apps with anonymous messaging features.
The rate at which young people are killing themselves over online cognitive warfare is growing and parents do not know what to do.
Knowing one’s vulnerabilities is important, but knowing when a cognitive attack is taking place is just as vital. This requires a high level of awareness and a basic understanding of the different methods used. For example, it is essential to maintain awareness about the information we unknowingly share that can be used against us.
Young people are not aware of these dangers undefined because parents are not aware of what is happening to them. They know that internet platforms are addicting but they feel helpless. They do not know about algorithms and how the internet is designed to throw people down rabbit holes.
It can lead to involuntary entrapment.
This is how the Metaverse can become a dangerous hangout for some people.
There have been hundreds of lawsuits filed in the US against social media firms in the past two years by family members of children who have been affected by online harms. Lawyers and experts expect that number to increase in the coming year as legal strategies to fight the companies evolve and cases gain momentum.
A master complaint was filed combining lawsuits from more than 400 plaintiffs across the US against social media firms for their “role in creating a youth mental health crisis through their addictive services”. The suit distills the claims into 18 counts, alleging that the social media firms have created defective and addictive products that would knowingly cause harm to young users and failed to warn parents and children of those effects. Other counts include violations of consumer protection laws and enabling the distribution of sexually explicit content to minors.
The suit targets TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, YouTube owner Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta, and Snapchat owner Snap Inc. It includes not only cases of suicidal behavior following harassment but broader harms alleged to be caused by social media.
The master complaint alleges that the social media products were “defectively designed” in that they create “an inherent risk of danger”. Dangers cited include the risk of “abuse, addiction and compulsive use by youth which can lead to a cascade of harms”. Harms listed include dissociative behavior, social isolation, damage to body image and self-worth, suicidal ideation, and self-harm.
Social media firms have spoken out against the suit, with YouTube stating that the allegations are “simply not true”.
During the recent Senate hearing, Zuckerberg was challenged to apologize to the families who suffered the losses of their children.
He turned around and did just that.
Zuckerberg and four other leaders of social media companies were reprimanded for not doing enough to safeguard kids online.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing opened with videos of people describing being sexually exploited on Facebook, Instagram, and X, with Sen. Lindsey Graham telling Zuckerberg he had undefinedblood on his hands.undefined
undefinedYou have a product thatundefineds killing people,undefined said Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, drawing applause and cheers from many of those attending the crowded hearing.
The committeeundefineds chair, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, also bashed the social media platforms for failing to protect children from being sexually exploited online.
undefinedDiscord has been used to groom, abduct and abuse children. Metaundefineds Instagram helped connect and promote a network of pedophiles; Snapchatundefineds disappearing messages have been coopted by criminals who financially extort young victims,undefined Durbin said in his opening statement.
Challenged by Missouri Republican Josh Hawley to apologize to victims in the room, Zuckerberg stood up, and turned around, telling those seated behind him that their experience was part of why Meta had invested so much undefinedto make sure nobody has to go through the types of things your families have had to suffer.undefined
Zuckerberg declined to commit to Hawleyundefineds suggestion that he set up a victimundefineds compensation fund.
Zuckerberg repeatedly refuted a link between Facebook and teen mental health, saying undefinedItundefineds important to look at the science, and the bulk does not support that.undefined Later, in speaking on the same topic, Zuckerberg said undefinedIt doesnundefinedt mean individual people donundefinedt have issues.undefined
The entire affair looked like a beatdown where again political leaders can pretend to care, put the verbal beatdown on people like Zuckerberg -and pass no laws or even arrest those who commit these crimes against kids.
Child health advocates say social media companies have failed repeatedly to protect minors.
This is similar to people blaming gun manufacturers when someone with a gun shoots up a mall or a school or when tobacco companies are to blame for people getting lung cancer.
Who is to blame?
The internet can be a war zone at times and I agree that we are seeing the results of cognitive warfare undefined but who is to blame for these deaths? Is it the companies? The Senate? The parents?
This appears to be a difficult topic to answer.
This is another problem that needs to be addressed and of course, the answer is found in new technological breakthroughs that can help to identify cognitive attacks through algorithms and artificial intelligence, but also with real-time pattern and signature recognition. General awareness and technological solutions may alert us to cognitive attacks in good time and help in determining the best way to respond.
However, methods of cognitive resilience should be taught in the public school system. There need to be lessons on how to identify grooming, practices that lead to sextortion, and how to cope and handle online bullying and harassment.
There also needs to be information in the community about these abuses and the warning signs of being a victim of cognitive warfare.
Within the Cognitive Warfare Concept, cognitive resilience is defined as “the capacity to withstand and recover quickly from an adversarial cognitive attack through the effective preparation of groups and individuals.” To create cognitive resilience, we must look at the current ways in which cognitive activities are conducted, and by which means.
There are now weapons that can be used by foreign governments to implement mind control -and I am sure many of us are exposed to these types of manipulation daily undefined the only question is are we strong enough or are your children strong enough and educated enough to recognize these tools of manipulation?
Currently, such future developments include ways to read thoughts and emotions, which can enable measurements of the effect of cognitive activities. All of which can be used against you not only by your enemies undefined but by your government as well.
A few days ago it was revealed that The National Security Agency buys certain logs related to Americans’ domestic internet activities from commercial data brokers.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies sometimes purchase potentially sensitive and revealing domestic data from brokers that would require a court order to acquire directly.
It comes as the Federal Trade Commission has started cracking down on companies that trade in personal location data that was gathered from smartphone apps and sold without people’s knowledge and consent about where it would end up and for what purpose it would be used.
Well, it is obvious why undefined information is key in the cognitive war that has been declared on the American people by its government.
Data is like oil undefined it’s constantly being drilled and sold. Wars are being fought over the information that shapes our reality.
It’s like we’ve struck oil in our backyards, but instead of crude, it’s zeroes and ones flowing through the fiber-optic pipelines. It’s the new gold rush, and there’s a mad scramble for control.
This isn’t just about who gets the biggest slice of the digital pie—it’s about baking an entirely new societal hierarchy. And here’s the kicker: as we increasingly lean on AI for everything from deciding which shoes to buy to diagnosing COVID-19, we’re inadvertently weaving a web of dependency. Are we nurturing a generation of tech-savvy savants or sleepwalking into becoming AI’s unquestioning slaves?
This is why we have to open our minds to the idea that with all of the information we carry in our hands every day, there is someone or some government intelligence agency that has declared cognitive warfare on us.
There are other rapid developments in the fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology. In nanotechnology, we see the development of nanorobotics, nanosensors, and nanoenergy sources making in-body processes possible.
Bioartefacts linked to nanorobotics can stimulate perception, cognition, and behavior.
You need to understand why Elon Mush calls his brain chip implant Telepathy.
The idea of Mind control is no longer a topic of the fringe but a very real weapon in cognitive warfare exercises.
How many times have we heard stories of suspects in mass shootings saying that before they acted out they were plagued by nightmares, panic attacks, depression, and, in a few cases, hallucinations? Reliable and sane individuals all of a sudden become unpredictable and strange.
We know that people do have psychotic breaks- but if we believe the media this is an epidemic that is being exploited for discussion on gun control.
Could it be something else that is triggering these acts of violence?
According to a new paper in the Journal of Neural Engineering, things like Prosthetic memory, synthetic telepathy, and silent spectrum tools are part of the advanced bio-hacking tech that DARPA admits to have upgraded for military use.
Much of what they have revealed has been part of conspiracy lore about mind control tech. What was once top secret is now common and proudly upgraded to control an individual or give them the ability to interact with machines and tools of active denial applications.
This is real James Bond tech; however, much more advanced and some say much more insidious.
Currently, it is possible to store 2.14 × 106 bytes of data on DNA. This organic material could enable human-machine interfaces and is often seen as the 47th human chromosome.
Neural nanotechnology can be used to bring nano-sized robots close to a neuron via the bloodstream and make it possible to link the human brain directly to a computer, making use of artificial intelligence in the process. But we must keep in mind that this is a two-way street: such an artificial intelligence will, in turn, be linked to a human brain.
How will this improve our way of life undefined it just seems to complicate what can be seen as a fragile system undefined the human psyche.
We need to discuss the repercussions of this combination and hopefully take into consideration the possibilities of cyberpsychosis.
It is important to reiterate that cognitive warfare is no longer science fiction. Cognitive warfare is a fact of the modern age and everyone, whether civilian or military, is a potential target. Cognitive attacks are aimed at exploiting emotions rooted in our subconscious, bypassing our rational conscious mind. This is achieved by exploiting biases, fallacies, emotions, and automatisms, but also through nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology.
In cognitive warfare, the ultimate aim is to alter our perception of reality and deceive our brains to affect our decision-making.
We are commonly unaware of such attacks before it is too late and they have already affected their targets. Therefore, we must protect ourselves by raising awareness and developing a system of indicators and warnings that can provide real-time information. The use of artificial intelligence can show us the preferred way to react to a possible cognitive attack.
The human mind is becoming the battlefield of tomorrow, and this means that every person is a potential target. Warfare is no longer a purely military concept; it has become much broader and more complex. In the future, there will only be one rule in warfare:
There are no rules.
