A brief, weird history of brainwashing
MIT Technology Review -

On an early spring day in 1959, Edward Hunter testified before a US Senate subcommittee investigating “the effect of Red China Communes on the United States.” It was the kind of opportunity he relished. A war correspondent who had spent considerable time in Asia, Hunter had achieved brief media stardom in 1951 after his book…

In related news

  • A brief history of Wawa

    Wawa wasn't built in a day — but over two centuries plus. Here's a quick rundown. 1803: Wawa started off as an iron foundry in New Jersey.
  • A Brief History of the Future: Episode 3

    Wednesday, April 17 at 9 How do the stories we tell shape the boundaries of our beliefs about what is possible? From the dawn of time, stories are how humans have made sense of the world. This episode emphasizes the fundamental role stories play in our lives, our inclination towards dystopian narratives, and the potential for bigger, better stories to unleash the power of human imagination and creativity moving forward.
  • A Brief History of Kill Lists, From Langley to Lavender

    The Israeli online magazine +972 has published a detailed report on Israel’s use of an artificial intelligence (AI) system called “Lavender” to target thousands of Palestinian men in its bombing campaign in Gaza. When Israel attacked Gaza after October 7, the Lavender system had a database of 37,000 Palestinian men with suspected links to Hamas More