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1/ I just want to address the Feinstein video with a little more clarity. I wrote the first version of my online book on Fourth Generation Warfare. I am now researching version 2.0 to get more into the epistemological depths of Fourth Generation Warfare. So, I just want to give
2/ my sense of the Feinstein video as a "lessons learned" point. We now exist in an attention economy. Everybody wants our eyeballs and clicks in a 21st century economy. Our brain, however, is not a 21st century brain. It is a millions of years old brain with a reptilian core.
3/ We get into fight or flight mode before we have even thought about it. About 95 percent of our thinking is subconscious and emotional. It is quick. It is survival. As social animals, on top of that reptilian brain, we have developed all sorts of mental shortcuts that allow us
4/ to process large amounts of data, ignore large amounts of data, categorize the data, etc. Most of the time those mental shortcuts work for us. We are not overloaded and we perceive and react correctly. But, those mental shortcuts can be hacked. In a video with children our
5/ concern is to protect our young. We will kill for our young. We will kill without thinking for our young. Even without sound our reptilian brain is watching out for the children. How do you hack that reptilian brain. Well the children are a cue, what Robert Cialdini called
6/ "pre-influence." We see a child and we automatically see vulnerability, the need for protection, pure idealism. You see an 80+ year old woman speaking to children and you might see a librarian scold or whatever images you have in your brain based upon your life experiences.
7/ So, without even words, you have been pre-influenced and your reptilian or mammal brain is going to put you on the protective side of the children. Then, the hack comes with the cuts. You hack those mental shortcuts with emotions. Anger, outrage, and fear press emotional
8/ buttons. You hit "like" "share" or "retweet" in a flash. You've been hacked. The producers of the edited video may not have had that intent. They may have honestly believed it encapsulated the entire exchange. And then on Twitter there was a good back-and-forth. So, here is
9/ the "lessons learned" point. We are now in an intense Information Warfare and Attention Economy situation. Domestic and foreign actors with malevolent intentions are going to try and hack your brain. If you feel anger, outrage, or fear, please analyze it. What is the cause?
10/ Is the cause real or contrived? I had to watch the edited video twice to realize there were some strategic cuts. We can all be fooled. Anybody who tells you that they cannot be fooled or duped or short-circuited is a liar. Straight-up they are lying. As we get closer to
11/ Democratic debates and more candidates in the race, malevolent actors are going to engage in high intensity mind-fucking. They are going to be using neuroscience and marketing studies to understand how to get your attention, get you outraged or fearful, and get you engaged to
12/ to do or not do what they want. They are going to micro-target you, trying to exploit your psychological vulnerabilities. Their behavior models are based on predicting your future beliefs and actions. You are going to be mind-fucked. So, goddamn prepare for it. Understand it.
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