To Reach Afghans, Pentagon Drafts Mimes, Storytellers, Wizard of Oz

Not really sure where to put this or what to make of it. On one level it deals with the war and its increasing surreality. On the other it evokes images of shady alleged government covert and mind-control-related programs...deserved or not, "The Wizard of Oz" in particular has often sinister connotations among conspiracy theorists for alleged use in old mind-control initiatives, etc.

To Reach Afghans, Pentagon Drafts Mimes, Storytellers, Wizard of Oz


The Pentagon’s ultimate team of technologists is looking to looking to bridgethe cultural divide in Afghanistan — with storytelling, pantomime and the Wizard of Oz.

After nine years of conflict, the U.S. military is still having trouble finding common ground with warzone locals. One way to fill that breach, Darpa figures, is through “interactive stories.”...

...To come up with its storytelling tools, Darpa’s Information Processing Technologies Office is hoping to go beyond its usual cadre of neuroscientists, artificial intelligence specialists, and gadgeteers. The agency also wants contributions from “art, literature, film, dance, games development, advertising and public relations, advertising, grass roots organizing, collective decision making or any other discipline for which the respondent can make an argument that the approach bears on this task.”

There will be some technology involved — this is Darpa, after all. But the agency is encouraging “very non-traditional approaches to this problem...

More at source
www.wired.com...-26471#ixzz0sBX7T2Wa


[edit on 6/28/10 by silent thunder]

Hopefully imaginary boxes protect you from IEDs.

2nd