IEEE Spectrum April, 2017 - 41

machine would not just be controlled through
inputs provided by a keyboard or joystick;
it would interact directly with the human mind,
using sensors that monitor brain activity.
ARPA's biocybernetics program funded a raft
of researchers tapping brain signals, such as
Jacques Vidal, a UCLA researcher who coined
the term brain-computer interface. "Can these
observable electrical brain signals be put
to work as carriers of information in mancomputer communication or for the purpose
of controlling such external apparatus as prosthetic devices or spaceships?" Vidal wrote in
a seminal paper in 1973. Within a few years,
Vidal's research yielded promising results: In
one experiment, test subjects were able to
move an electronic object through a maze on
a computer screen just by thinking.
Those were fantastic times, according to
Emanuel Donchin, then a professor at the
University of Illinois who was funded by
Lawrence for research on detecting and interpreting brain signals. ARPA wasn't the only
agency supporting such work, but it was the
most important.
On the other hand, ARPA programs like biocybernetics were often outrageously optimistic about their military applications. "Soon, for
example, a computer monitoring electrical
brain activity of an aircraft pilot...should be
able to determine whether a warning signal

not only had been seen but that the pilot understood its significance
and intended to respond appropriately," one early program description
read. "I made it up," Lawrence recalled of some of the more fantastical
applications. The challenge of biocybernetics was weighing the fantastical applications it offered-brain-driven computers and mind-controlled
aircraft-with the reality that such work was decades away.
l aW r e n c e ' s b r a I n - d r I v e n co m pute rs were on the edge, but so
was killing bunny rabbits to communicate with submarines or funding
an Israeli magician to remotely view Soviet bases. ARPA was a place in
the early 1970s that tolerated and even encouraged exploring such outlandish ideas, but unlike some other agencies, it required good science.
In one final meeting to discuss ARPA's possible funding of parapsychology, Lawrence sat with Lukasik and CIA officials who had been funding
such work. At the end, one of the CIA officials turned to Lawrence and
said, "Dr. Lawrence, what do you think about all this?"
At that point, Lawrence's investigation of psychic phenomena had
introduced him to a colorful array of mystics and frauds. "You have
been wasting your money," he exploded in frustration. "Every damn
dime of this is nonsense."
There was dead silence. Lukasik quickly changed the subject, and no
one ever asked Lawrence to look at parapsychology again. Nor did ARPA
ever fund a psychic program. "I worked so long, and so hard, and dealt
with so many fools and charlatans," Lawrence later recalled. "There is
no question in my mind that all of it is bunk."
Geller's advocates, who believed the magician could help the United
States spot Soviet submarines, looked on Lawrence's conclusion with
great disappointment. But Lawrence helped save ARPA from the embarrassment that befell the intelligence community when it was revealed
the nation's spies had spent tens of millions of dollars on psychics. And
for those who questioned whether ARPA's open-ended investigation of
parapsychology was a good idea at all, the reality is that the same attitude that allowed Lawrence to meet witches and psychics also enabled
him to pursue the brain-driven computer.
The intelligence community's support of psychics continued through
1995, producing claims of successful results but little in the way of scientific evidence. Biocybernetics, on the other hand, blossomed. It was an
audacious idea in the early 1970s, when the ability to read brain signals
was crude at best. By 2013, however, biocybernetics had spawned an
entire industry of brain-computer interfaces used for such diverse applications as commercial video games, car sensors, and tools that allow
"locked in" patients, those with no way to communicate with the external world, to type messages and control external devices. Applications
that were once decades away are now being built, and Lawrence's early
vision is becoming a reality.
As for parapsychology, Lawrence joked years later that maybe he
should not have been so forthright with his criticism, instead playing
it out even longer. "At the very least," he said, "I could have met some
more witches." ■
the X-team: brought together in this photo collage, these men each played

a part in arpa's dabbling with the paranomal in the 1970s. pictured here are
[clockwise from left] physicist russell targ, arpa psychologist george lawrence,
physicist hal puthoff, arpa director stephen lukasik, and magician uri geller,
all shown as they appeared during that era.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum April, 2017