In the 1950s and 60s, the CIA launched a covert program called Project MKUltra to explore mind control techniques. Under the guise of science, they tested LSD, hypnosis, sleep deprivation, and psychological torture on unsuspecting people — often without their consent.

Victims included psychiatric patients, prisoners, and even soldiers. Some experiments took place in hospitals and military bases like Edgewood Arsenal. Much of the documentation was destroyed in the 1970s, and the full extent of the program is still unknown.

It’s a disturbing reminder of how science can be misused when oversight disappears.

  • ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    14 hours ago

    It also included fucked up behavioral conditioning experiments (or at least these were adjacent to mkultra) to test people’s response under interrogation.

    One notable case from this was Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who was subjected to extreme duress without informed consent. The study used students essays and interviews to then subject them to “vehement, sweeping, and personally abusive” interrogations designed to “break” them.

    Note that Kaczynski was by many reports brilliant at mathematics and as a result of this was accepted to Harvard at 15 years old, starting at 16. The study happened in his second year, sometime when he would’ve been 16-17. Further, while there are reports that while he was very academically gifted he was fairly emotionally unprepared for college though tbf most of these came to light after his infamy.

    https://behavior.org/unabomer-extreme-reaction-behavior-modification/

    https://www.history.com/articles/what-happened-to-the-unabomber-at-harvard