[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> Re: NOTHING WORSE

[Newmedia@aol.com]

Saul:

I can assure you that in 1955 -- when Chomsky was "discovered" at that 
conference at MIT -- a great many people *tried* to figure out what to do 
with this stuff . . . for "social engineering" (i.e. "mind control") purposes.

And, there is absolutely no doubt that the CIA was funding *all* of this 
research at that point.  No doubt.

The "conspiracy types" are the ones who aren't sophisticated enough to read 
Chomsky . . . not the CIA. <g>

Don't believe me?

Take a look at "Science of Coercion: Communication Research & Psychological 
Warfare 1945-1960" by Christopher Simpson.  Quite academic.  Not a whiff of 
"conspiracy" in it at all.

It's simply a fact that virtually *all* social science in the WORLD at that 
time was funded by the various intelligence agencies and simply a fact that 
virtually all research centers were headed by de-mobilized WW II 
"Psy-warriors."  

In the U.S. that funding relationship continued pretty much intact until the 
post-Vietnam era, when due to the "Mansfield Amendment," non-military "soft 
science" projects could no longer be funded through the Pentagon (i.e. the 
"black budget.")

All this was particularly true at MIT -- one of the premiere CIA research 
outposts to this day.  The post-Vietnam MIT Media Lab would have been 
military/CIA funded too but, under the new rules, Negroponte was forced to go 
out to "industry" for most of his funding.  The little invention of which he 
seemed the most proud in his best-selling "Being Digital" -- the digital 
"walk-through" of Aspen, CO -- *was* CIA funded, however.

How do I know about any of this?  

My father was a protege of Norbert Wiener and he was on the faculty of MIT 
from 1952-60.  Wiener tried to quit over and over and I've read much of the 
records on all this -- in the "archives" and the "dean's office" -- as well 
as knowing a good deal about it from my family.

Oh, yeah, Simpson -- who also wrote "Blowback", "The Splendid Blonde Beast" 
and "National Security Directives of the Reagan and Bush Administration" is 
something of a Chomsky protege . . .

Best,

Mark Stahlman


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