US Patent: Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors
When analyzing MVs I've learned a habit of turning off the sound. Because, as I previously wrote, music is more powerful than we realize, and because it's simply annoying when the song then keeps playing in your head whole day
But now I came across video where a patent from
2001 is talked about, that changed my view of MVs and videos in general. Not that we didn't suspect it can also have an impact on us, but I didn't expect it could be in this (technological) way, rather spiritual or psychological.
Even tho lately I keep thinking about whether spiritual really is a thing in a way I understood it my whole life, at the end it might all end up being explained 'scientifically'. But that's topic for another time and another comment, lol.
I was so intrigued by the video I had to read the patent myself. Here is a summary.
/Patent quotation/
Certain monitors can emit electromagnetic field pulses that excite a sensory resonance in a nearby subject, through image pulses that are so weak as to be subliminal. This is unfortunate since it opens a way for mischievous application of the invention, whereby people are exposed unknowingly to manipulation of their nervous systems for someone else's purposes. Such application would be unethical and is of course not advocated. It is mentioned here in order to alert the public to the possibility of covert abuse that may occur while being online, or while watching TV, a video, or a DVD.
Computer monitors and TV monitors can be made to
emit weak low-frequency electromagnetic fields merely by pulsing the intensity of displayed images. Experiments have shown that the 1/2 Hz sensory resonance can be excited in this manner in a subject near the monitor. The 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can also be excited in this fashion. Hence, a TV monitor or computer monitor can be used to manipulate the nervous system of nearby people.
(This patent referred to older study
A device involving a field electrode as well as a contact electrode is the "Graham Potentializer" mentioned by Hutchison (1991). This relaxation device uses motion, light and sound as well as an alternating electric field applied mainly to the head... Certain cutaneous (skin) receptors may then be stimulated and they would provide a signal input into the brain along the natural pathways of afferent nerves. It has been found that, indeed,
physiological effects can be induced in this manner by very weak electric fields, if they are pulsed with a frequency near 1/2 Hz. The observed effects include
ptosis of the eyelids, relaxation, drowsiness, the feeling of pressure at a centered spot on the lower edge of the brow, seeing moving patterns of dark purple and greenish yellow with the eyes closed, a tonic smile, a tense feeling in the stomach, sudden loose stool, and sexual excitement, depending on the precise frequency used, and the skin area to which the field is applied.
It has been found that the resonance can be excited not only by externally applied
pulsed electric fields, but also by
pulsed magnetic fields, by
weak heat pulses applied to the skin, and by
subliminal acoustic pulses. Since the resonance is excited through sensory pathways, it is called a sensory resonance.
The implementations of the invention are adapted to the source of video stream that drives the monitor, be it a computer program, a TV broadcast, a video tape or a DVD. For a computer monitor, the image pulses can be produced by a suitable computer program... can be run on the Windows 95(R) or Windows 98(R) operating system.
For a TV monitor... a
live TV broadcast can be arranged to have the feature imbedded simply by slightly pulsing the illumination of the scene that is being broadcast. This method can of course also be used in making movies and recording video tapes and DVDs.
/End of quotation/
And this was in 2001. I have a bad feeling this was fully embraced and improved by media, game industry, entertainment industry... and then you wonder why are people so tired and horny. When they have monitors glued to their face whole day. Could be one of the reasons.
Link to the patent:
patft.uspto.gov