On Tue, Apr 17, 2018 at 6:24 AM, Rob O'Connor <xxxxxx@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

What would be plausible is a 'control helmet' as a near-future restraint device. It would use transcranial coils to jam the motor cortices of the cerebrum, preventing the initiation of voluntary movement. Potential side effects would include seizures, strokes and death.

It would also be possible to induce involuntary movements - a 'puppeteer device', so to speak - if the cortices could be mapped to sufficient resolution ("What happens if I poke this bit of brain?")

We wouldn't need to understand now the brain creates voluntary muscle commands. "All" we would need to know is how to differentiate between these and the INvoluntary ones. A control helmet (or collar) could then allow transmission of the latter while blocking transmission of the former. If even finer detailed knowledge of transmission profiles were available, such a device could be given the ability to allow passage of voluntary transmissions that comply with a captor's order ("Follow this guard.") while blocking all others.

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein

"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville

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"It has been my experience that a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger." Newton Knight (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), to a scoffing Confederate tax collector facing the weapons held by Knight's young children and wife.