Comments on 'Paranormal State' Ad Billboard Makes You Hear Voices
Advertisers are now using an 'audio spotlight' to put their message right into your ears. (Read
the complete story)
"Here's an enjoyable and interesting description of this audio spotlight technology.
"
(Bill Christensen 12/13/2007 9:39:25 AM)
"You posted this without a Sci-fi reference. I would definately look at Neil Stevenson's "Diamond Age" for a very similar, yet even more invasive, form billboard advertising."
(Meditating Bear 12/14/2007 3:18:48 PM)
"MB - I'll look that up; however, thanks for getting me to think harder. I realized that there is a pretty good match with the subliminal billboard from an early J.G. Ballard story."
(Bill Christensen 12/14/2007 6:33:43 PM)
"L. Sprague de Camp's "The Exalted" is an early (1940) story that includes an Ultrasonic sound project, called a Soft Speaker - ".. There's the soft-speaker, for instance --
"What's that?"
"It's like a loud-speaker, only it doesn't speak loudly. It throws a supersonic beam, modulated by the human voice to give teh effect of audible sound frequencies when it hits the human ear. Since you can throw a supersonic beam almost as accurately as you can throw a light beam, you can turn the soft speaker on a person, who will then hear a still small voice in his ear apparently comming from nowhere." "
(Harold Miller 1/12/2008 9:13:40 AM)
"Harold - thanks for contributing this quote - see the new entry for Soft Speaker."
(Bill Christensen 1/12/2008 10:30:42 AM)
"The billboard that is in use in NY for this series, is a simplified version of an ultrasound weapon that is used by organized crime to try to force people to kill themselves or very extended periods of time, pointed at their homes, and the FBI is not helping victims. This can be shown, please help spread awareness of this weapon. Give your children a choice. Learn about this crime from: www.youtube.com/rhyspaulhovey"
(Rhys Hovey 1/21/2008 10:37:54 AM)
"It's an invasion of personal space and privacy. It should be outlawed."
(R 11/23/2008 4:56:13 PM)
"Bill, do you have ANY idea how many people are being terrorized by this type of 'machine'? Perhaps you should look into sites that inform you on mind control, how to stalk someone, how to drive a person crazy, etc. You should be ashamed of yourself. Research, you fool."
(Tina 11/24/2008 3:43:11 AM)
"Tina, apparently you missed this sentence from my article: 'I find myself wondering if perhaps there will be an increase in the number of people who check themselves into mental health services for a quick schizophrenia check-up...' However, you write 'do you have ANY idea how many people are being terrorized by this type of 'machine'?' My guess would be 'zero.' Sounds goofy to me.
As far as R's suggestion that this device is intrusive and violates privacy, I'd agree with that."
(Bill Christensen 11/24/2008 7:29:21 AM)
"
No Bill, as you are using it, and if anyone were using it to advertise, it's wrong. We can turn off a TV or a Radio, but with your machine, there's no control. It's therefore wrong. Perhaps you will say that a person can just move away from the area it's being directed toward, but why should anyone be forced by an uninvited sound or voice to move so they can escape it? Tina is correct.
You need to do some research on people who are being terrorized and harassed by machines like yours and others. There ultrasonic and infrasonic machines that are being used to deprive people of sleep and make them think they are hearing voices. And while some may be ill, many are not, nor are they goofy, as you suggest.
I'm sure you know Bill, you're not the first to bring this machine to public attention. It was developed by F. Joseph Pompei of MIT where he called it ... "Audio Spotlight", and made it commercially available in 2000 by his company Holosonics, which according to their website claims to have sold "thousands" of their "Audio Spotlight" systems. Disney was amongst the first major corporations to adopt it for use at the Epcot Center, and many other application examples are shown on the Holosonics website. (Source - ABC news 21 August 2006."
"HyperSonic Sound was made by Elwood "Woody" Norris, founder and Chairman of American Technology Corporation (ATC). He announced he had successfully created a device which achieved ultrasound transmission of sound in 2002. ATC named and trademarked their device as "HyperSonic Sound" (HSS). In December 2002, Popular Science named HyperSonic Sound the best invention of 2002.[citation needed] Norris received the 2005 Lemelson-MIT Prize for his invention of a "hypersonic sound". Commercial adaptation of the device has occurred at ATC." And while you may not be using your machine at high levels... "Exposure to more intense ultrasound over 140dB near the audible range (20-40kHz) can lead to a syndrome involving manifestations of nausea, headache, tinnitus, pain, dizziness and fatigue."
Think of the uses to control and harass people it could and does have in the wrong hands in the USA and other nations. The Japanese and Koreans have it. I wonder who else. Again, I say, use of it needs to be controled under laws to protect people and right now, I don't believe there are any except in one or two states.
But, Bill, since you know a lot about it, can you tell people what they can do to block or stop such sounds if they don't want them to reach them? Can you do anything to help people avoid such sounds instead of annoying them in a library? You may laugh and thinks is some kind of game, but it's not.
"
(R 11/25/2008 7:29:53 AM)
"R - first, it's not 'my machine'; I've written a couple thousand articles and I don't own the stuff I write about. Yes, I know I wasn't the first to write an article about it, yes, I know who developed it (see my 2005 article Hypersonic Sound (HSS) - Loudspeaker Just For You). As far as not being able to control it, once you're out in public you have no control over what you hear, smell or see. I've poked around on the internet and I've never found a serious article that says this technology was used to attack anyone. Can you find a reference? As far as wrongful use is concerned, there must be a thousand things to be more worried about than this technology. Anyway, find me references for actual cases in which people have been injured or harassed, and I'll print them."
(Bill Christensen 11/25/2008 11:45:26 AM)
"There's some confusion about Bill that needs to be cleared up, before we go on. He's right, it's not his machine. The video that accompanies the articles is about Dr. F Joseph Pompei, the developer of the Audio Spotlight, not about Bill Christensen. Sorry about that Bill.
However, Bill, we have a lot more control over what we hear, smell and see in public than you think. There are laws against excessive noise and the loudness of music in many cities and states. There are controls on where and even if people can smoke tobacco or burn garbage or even the kind of garbage they burn. There are laws controlling the emission of pollution we add to our air from trucks, cars and factories. There laws concerning how much pollution goes into our water. There are regulations on what is seen on billboards, on TV and radio. There are even laws on where and how high we construct building in some cities. These are just a few of the controls we have, but there are all kinds of environmental laws to protect us especially when we are in public because that is where the individual has the least control. So your statement "once you're out in public you have no control over what you hear, smell or see." isn't true.
When talking about references for people who are experiencing electronic harassment, all you need to do is google or yahoo search the phrase "electronic harassment" and you will come up with plenty of research for an article. I really hope you write one. It would be great if you did. The information is there. I wouldn't be writing even this much if the information and references weren't available to the public.
You will also find all kinds of machines and devices people can buy and use to harm others or get revenge for what reasons they may have against whoever they have in mind. You may come back and say, "You know, ultrasonic sound doesn't go through glass or walls." and that may be so right now, but infrasonic sound does, and with technology advancing rapidly, I wouldn't be surprised by any thing some have come up with nowadays.
If you write an article, I would enjoy reading it, Bill, I'm sure.
"
( 11/25/2008 3:29:36 PM)
"Check this site out Bill and let us know just how 'goofy' you think this form of harassment and 'terrorism' is. And you might want to send a 'goofy' letter to all the individuals who have been harassed, attacked, terrorized and such and tell them it's all their heads.
http://www.democraticfundamentalism.org/2005/psychotronics/victims.htm"
(Tina 11/26/2008 3:17:33 AM)
"Okay, I've taken a look. It's very hard for me to take sites that rely on Russian mind "science" seriously. I also note that some of the sites listed on democraticfundamentalism.org do not exist. I did not find any articles that mentioned that millions, or thousands, or hundreds or even 'tens' of people have actually been affected.
There are more pressing matters that require our attention. Tobacco products kill 400,000 people every year. Obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable death. We were all shocked by what happened on 9/11, but the same number of people die every month on American roads.
I think that keeping an eye on what our government is developing is a good idea. I've reported on some of the different technologies you've mentioned, and listed some their science-fictional precursors. It's a good idea to debate whether or not government or private industry should have these technologies at their disposal.
However, just look at what the government and corporations can do already with carefully tuned advertising ('propaganda'), along with the appeals to fear and patriotism that have worked on human beings for millennia. Not to mention deliberate use of torture methods, like waterboarding. Let's work on these real problems rather than worrying about the potential for weapons that are decades from being ready for use.
Finally, I'd recommend that anyone who seriously believes that their behavior is being manipulated from space, or that electromagnetic waves are being used to inject thoughts into their minds, should seek appropriate medical care from trustworthy and caring professionals."
(Bill Christensen 11/26/2008 9:18:53 AM)
"There is no need to be defensive if you've done the work to look into a truly complex problem that is happening all over the world; but like most people who don't want to really look into it seriously and study both the real and the whacky, you attempt to dismiss it.
The fact is, some people who are experiencing what we are talking about do not need professionals because they aren't mentally ill and some have seen many professionals, have been completely checked out and nothing is wrong with them. Yeah, you will find people who are mentally ill; who've attach themselves to the problem as a way to explain their illness, but there are far too many Americans who are targeted individuals but are not mentally ill.
Of course, if you deny the importance of the issue by parading a long list of "more important concerns", you can go your merry way without knowing or doing much about it, that is, like most people, you can stick your head deeply up, uhm, I mean "in" the selfish sand while you pretend to care, but you don't care.
You're just baffled like so many when they first discover such a complex problem: Electronic harassment and abuse in the United States by Americans against other Americans.
Let me know if you ever get serious about the subject.
"
(Sorry Bill...but 11/26/2008 6:38:52 PM)
"If anyone is really interested, study the Myths and Facts...
http://www.catchcanada.org/"
(Myths and Facts... 11/26/2008 7:32:45 PM)
"A Word About Mental Illness
This situation is often perceived to be mental illness. Differentiating between mental illness and a true multiple stalking and technological harassment situation takes time. Victims may also have developed mental illness as a result of the trauma. As mentioned on various mobbing websites, this activity is so traumatic that it can cause mental illness in an otherwise healthy individual. Therefore, mental illness is not necessarily an indicator or proof that the situation is not happening.
For these reasons, it is important to give a person the benefit of the doubt and to remain open-minded and receptive to the idea that something is happening that is not merely attributable to a delusion. It took many years for mobbing to become publicly acknowledged, and victims of this crime face the same uphill battle.
The Martha Mitchell Effect
When seeing a helping professional, many victims often experience what is known as the "Martha Mitchell Effect":
"Sometimes improbable reports are erroneously assumed to be symptoms of mental illness (Maher, 1988). The 'Martha Mitchell effect' referred to the tendency of mental health practitioners to not believe the experience of the wife of the American attorney general, whose persistent reports of corruption in the Nixon White House were initially dismissed as evidence of delusional thinking, until later proved correct by the Watergate investigation.
Such examples demonstrate that delusional pathology can often lie in the failure or inability to verify whether the events have actually taken place, no matter how improbable intuitively they might appear to the busy clinician. Clearly there are instances 'where people are pursued by the Mafia' or are 'kept under surveillance by the police', and where they rightly suspect 'that their spouse is unfaithful' (Sedler, 1995). As Joseph H. Berke (1998) wrote, even paranoids have enemies! For understandable and obvious reasons, however, little effort is invested by the clinicians into checking the validity of claims of persecution or harassment, and without such evidence the patient could be labeled delusional."
(Bell, Vaughan et. al. "Beliefs About Delusions". The Psychologist. Vol. 6 No. 8. August, 2003) "
(From "CATCH" 11/26/2008 7:35:47 PM)
"Thank you CATCH for comments and facts. However I am concerned that since you are Canadian, people, such as Bill C., won't believe you....an unfortunate self-centered popular view of many Americans who's heads are truly in the sand. And the problem with foreign scientists, Bill? Check out the unending list of individuals who have won the Nobel Peace Prize: the list is woefully short of American citizens. Foreign technology has allowed the world...yes Bill, even us Americans....to maintain our vehicles, microwaves, bicycles, radios, TVs ad infinitum.
As a professional in the field of human behaviour, I have heard horrendous stories of every abuse imaginable. Because it has happened to you, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. "
(professional counselor 11/27/2008 4:18:19 AM)
"My last sentence should read: Because it HASN'T happened to you, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
(professional counselor 11/27/2008 4:34:32 AM)
"Below is a book about victims of stalking(not just your 'normal' stalking). A book has been written, hummmm, could it be Bill may be wrong?......Absolutely!
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/hojo/2001/00000040/00000003/art00001"
(hummm 11/27/2008 4:36:06 AM)
"Okay, let's see. Professional counselor - find me the list of Russian Nobel prize-winners who have won for their work in paranormal or similar mind 'science' research. Also, through friends who are physicians at one of the best teaching hospitals in the country, I have also heard a variety of cases of people with terrible stories of being stalked and bullied by government agents or terrorists - only to have these 'problems' disappear with appropriate diagnosis and treatment. I doubt, PC, that you believe everything you hear, either. Hummmm - this thread is about technologies like Audio Spotlights and whether they are being used, or could be used, to drive millions of people crazy, not about stalking. This site is for people who are interested in reality-based research in technology and the imaginative authors who helped the process. CATCH- this site (and this thread) is not about people who don't like the way they are treated by other people, which probably includes all of us at one point or another. There will always be bullies - all the way up to our current Bully-in-Chief - and there always will be, it's a part of human nature; learn to deal with them. There will always be groups of people who try to 'peck' at those who are different, and there always will be, it's human nature and it always will be; learn how to deal with them. "
(Bill Christensen 11/27/2008 8:16:58 AM)
"Perhaps this site might aid those who continue to stick their heads in the sand. I have to think that since so much is written about this type of stalking, warfare, terrorism, (whatever you want to call it) towards individuals and groups that there must be some grain of truth to it. Although the Paranormal State billboard was meant to be, for lack of a better word...'cute'....it is really quite disconcerning.
http://www.schizophonia.com/installation/trauma/trauma_thesis/index.htm"
(a reader 12/14/2008 10:13:53 AM)
"Mr. Bill Christensen needs a guided tour of all the psychiatric ward of Veterans and State hospitals in this country alone. Let alone have him try all the psychotropic drugs such as thorazine and many others that have been prescribed by a worthless medical science. Then maybe a guided tour of all the family lives that he can and has screwed up. Should this science be an everyday chance of life. We can go back to the burning of a military personell records center in St. Louis Mo, Murray Federal Center and even farther back in history as to the true reason why these federal record places were destroyed as to conceal the evidence of mind control experiments."
( 4/9/2010 2:59:31 AM)
"I could think of a few other things to say to that Miss instead of that "nice shirt" she's "got on"...:-) "
( 4/22/2010 12:33:36 PM)
"Police (at least in Brazil) is using a thing like this to induce suspects to cooperate, to break their emotional state and discovery personal things. I found myself near to be insane because such thing. Thanks God I discovered their dirty game, and I'm stronger now.
I think this is illegal. If not, it should."
(Carlos 1/17/2011 4:21:55 AM)
"hi im a big fan of audio spotlight,,as i will ask you,,how can it be used to torment and decapacitate people? i mean can this be used for organized gang stalking? is it built into my tv monitor? asguard,,,and how can it be countered or used against the people using it to attack others psychologically?"
(dilligaf2003 4/20/2011 7:55:17 PM)
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