The CIA's Quest for Mind Control: Torture, LSD and a 'Poisoner in Chief'
<i>Gottlieb wanted to create a way to seize control of people&#x27;s minds, and he realized it was a two-part process. First, you had to blast away the existing mind. Second, you had to find a way to insert a new mind into that resulting void.</i><p>You don&#x27;t need LSD for this, just expose yourself to media (news, social media, &quot;influencers&quot;, etc) and they will helpfully convince you that everything you thought before you encountered them was bad&#x2F;racist&#x2F;sexist&#x2F;conservative&#x2F;etc. They&#x27;ll also give you opinions about specific groups of people, and certain people in particular (all of whom you haven&#x27;t met, nor will you ever meet), and reinforce that every day you continue to consume from them.<p>Then it&#x27;s just a matter of swallowing wholesale whatever else they feed you after that.<p>Online, platforms with downvote systems (HN included) present the apparent legitimacy of certain views over others, and help reinforce what you <i>shouldn&#x27;t</i> be thinking or voicing (don&#x27;t get greyed out by posting that!).<p>The net result is we&#x27;ve sleepwalked into being controlled anyway, except that we contort ourselves justifying why &quot;this is different&quot;.