China could produce a “coronavirus bioweapon” as well as deploy robots that are controlled by devices implanted into human brains in future warfare against the United States, according to a provocative new report by researchers.
The report, titled “Plagues, Cyborgs, and Supersoldiers: The Human Domain of War Research,” lays out several scenarios of possible future conflict.
The existence of the report was first written about by independent journalist Lee Fang.
“We see a complex, high-threat landscape emerging where future wars are fought with humans controlling hyper-sophisticated machines with their thoughts,” wrote experts at Acquisition and Technology Policy Program of the RAND National Security Research Division.
The researchers warned that American troops could be victimized in future wars by “synthetically generated, genomically targeted plagues.”
One scenario envisions China unleashing a novel coronavirus against sailors of the US Pacific Fleet in the South China Sea in 2028.
“Public health officials find that the virus is different enough from [COVID-19]…that the new virus is granted its own designation as SARS-CoV-3,” the report states.
“It easily evades immunity from prior COVID-19 infections and vaccinations and is exacerbated in spread by the ongoing monsoon season that keeps people indoors.”
As US naval forces are incapacitated by the virus, “the Chinese military mounts an assault on Taiwan in the first week of October as the rains clear, and its military captures the island in 46 hours,” according to the forecast.
The new virus doesn’t affect the Chinese military because its soldiers and half of the Chinese population “has been unwittingly vaccinated for SARS-CoV-3 under the pretense of a standard COVID-19 booster campaign.”
Another scenario details the use of BCIs — “brain-computer interface” — similar to the technology being developed by firms such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which aims to cure diseases by having a chip installed in the brain send commands to an output device.
One potential threat to US national security envisioned by the RAND researchers has “octogenarian congressional leaders” use “state-of-the-art BCIs” which are “implanted into their brains.”
The device “enables them to move and speak normally, particularly with the help of political allies who conceal their true condition.”
But a flaw in the technology “affect[s] the users’ temperament in subtle and inconspicuous ways,” according to the analysts.
As a result, the aging lawmakers “have episodes of erratic behavior, forgetfulness, and irrationality, and they take a belligerent approach with their fellow members of Congress, allies, and partners.”
“The US populace is demoralized. Once-friendly countries begin to distance themselves from the United States,” according to the study.
The paper warned that China was gaining on the US in its advancement of BCI research and that “several organizations based in China were found to use ‘biotechnology processes to support Chinese military end uses and end users, to include purported brain-control weaponry’.”
This story originally appeared on NYPost
