Reply #62: 1979

[HamdenRice]

I don't think this is looney at all. I remember back in 1979-1980 when I was in college, Carter was president and Reagan and Bush were running (first as rivals, then running mates). The Church Committee and other investigations had defanged the CIA and a lot was coming out in the media.

In particular, I have this vivid memory of watching a documentary on one of the major networks (there was no cable where I lived in 1979-80) about recently declassified information on the CIA with my roomate. It shocked the crap out of us. One image in particular I remember was a grainy film of a CIA scientist with what looked like a giant joystick (they didn't exist yet, as didn't PCs) and -- get this -- a cow. The scientist would move the joy stick to the right, and the cow would turn to the right. The scientist would move the joystick to the left and the cow would turn to the left!

We were absolutely bugging out in our apartment!

This kind of news abruptly ended when Reagan was elected.

I also remember about that time reading a book by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's Dr. Evil, that was about the future of international relations. I recall he specifically wrote that armed conflict between the US and third world countries would soon be obsolete because the US already had the technology and capacity to used planes and satellites to instantly narcotize entire populations -- put them to sleep temporarily but non fatally using ultra sound, etc. He even talked about how this had been an option in the Iran hostage crisis. He suggested, I think, that the real international action was with the Soviets because all the other countries were easily controlled.

I know that this all sounds utterly bizarre like "tin foil hat" stuff, but this was common media currency in the late 1970s.

I sometimes wonder if the late 1970s was a window into technology that the US had but did not want to reveal it possessed -- yet.

If so, then what a waste that the US is still using high velocity lead, mostly, to solve military problems.