[Lecture One: Excerpt—Forbidden Frontier]
The General stood on the stage behind a podium and spoke.
“If we have learned anything from warfare, it is this: The battlefield extends beyond saber, musket and canon, mustard gas and machine gun, tanks, aircraft-carriers, jets, nuclear warheads, the Weather Gauge, and even exotic, High-Energy Weapons. Our battlefield extends beyond this physical realm and reaches straight into the minds of every soul on this planet. This battlefield may divided or unified toward victory or peril.”
The General scanned the auditorium.
“To put it simply, Cadets, a bullet can tear a body and take a life. Taking lives is easy, and any commander can tell you this. But the sole purpose of warfare is not necessarily to kill your enemy… It is to force your enemy into submission. To control them. To guide them under your will. That is war…”
The General lifted his palms.
“In a way, we make our enemies cry uncle and perform what we command.”
The General dropped his hands, stepped out from behind the podium, and stood beside it, leaning on its edge of lacquered wood.
“Ironically, what is commanded is usually something an enemy’s population would willfully do, even enthusiastically do, because it could be made in their best interests to do so… However, for the leaders and controllers of these populations, this is a major transgression. It is a threat to Their Power over Their People, and hence, this is why war happens in the first place. You will learn all about this in your studies here at The Academy.”
The General glanced at the lectern and checked his notes.
“Now, let’s talk about what else you need to be learning… You need to study new technologies, Cadets. Developed and developing, cutting edge, computer technologies, surveillance technologies, microbiological technologies, nano technologies…”
The General tucked his hands into his pockets and began strolling the stage.
“You need to study easily hidden technologies, Cadets. Covert technologies…”
The General stopped and stood at the front of the stage.
“Subversive Technologies.”
The General scanned the students. All were paying attention.
“Our world has advanced to a point where nay a bullet or bomb might be fired or dropped. Our battlefield is no longer the stricken desert suburb, the rural European forest, or the burning jungle… Our new battlefield, a once Forbidden Frontier, lies inside the human skull… It is The Mind, Cadets. That's what I'm talking about. The Mind!...
“The Brain can now be hacked and controlled to a degree previously thought unimaginable, and all of you—And I mean every single one of you sitting in this auditorium—you have been effected by it. You have been brainwashed, controlled, and coerced, to some degree, by foreign powers and domestic ones for your entire lives, these powers influencing your own personal beliefs, individual psychologies, your actual perception of reality… I am sorry to tell you this. I hate telling you this! But the bullets and bombs of our new battlefield, The Brainscape, they have been firing and dropping for a long, long time.”
The General walked back to the podium, stepping behind it and gripping its edges.
“Only a few of you might understand exactly what I am talking about right now. Either by some type of observational humility, or through some type of pattern recognition brilliance. for most of you, what I say may be incomprehensible.”
The General scanned.
“Do any of you know what I am talking about?”
The General raised a hand to his ear, cupping his palm and listening to the auditorium. Every Cadet sat silently. None responded.
“No?… I didn't think so. Let's do a history lesson!”