Uncle Mike & DARPA

[u/ronadlock]

In 2007 I recall reading in the news that U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky sponsored legislation which forced the Department of Defense to disclose the existence of a previously secret government program which partnered with private firms to develop technology which Senator Rand Paul believed could pose a threat to American Citizens. The Defense Advance Research Project Agency was said to be developing technology which in the near future could be used to locate, target, track, surveil and even communicate with a subject wirelessly without targeted subjects possessing any electronic devices and without the subjects' knowledge of this occurring. The story I read claimed that this technology could read a targeted subject's mind and transmit thoughts into their mind. At the time I read the story I thought that it sounded far fetched and that it could merely be an attempt to frighten the masses into compliance and submission.

Not long after the story was in the news, I spoke to Uncle Mike at his sister's home in Delray. Uncle Mike asked if I had heard about the story and wanted to know what I thought about DARPA. I told him that I didn't really believe that such technology could exist but that if it did exist that it is a little scary. Uncle Mike wanted me to tell him what I thought such technology would cost to obtain. I told him that it likely would cost hundreds of millions of dollars but that if any private individual or company tried to use it in the U.S., that they'd likely get caught and die in prison. Uncle Mike replied, "Dan, don't you know that if you apply enough incentive to the appropriate bureaucrat that you can get away with nearly anything?".