Smellograph

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is funding a "proof of concept" study that it hopes could lead to a smell-based lie detector! No, this is not from The Onion. It's from UPI Homeland and National Security Editor Shaun Waterman:

http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/03/09/DHS_wants_to_use_human_body_od...

DHS's solicitation for this project is available here:

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=bfcc4f4721b96f38...

And for more on the East German secret police's infamous (and useless) "smell register" of dissidents, see this article from the website of the German state radio, Deutsche Welle:

http://tinyurl.com/stasi-smell-register

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• lie detector
• smell
• odor
• dhs
• department
• of
• homeland
• security

[bennyb5g]

Didn't the Stasi use these smellographs to try and "sniff out" dissidents? If they detect anything, it'd probably be pheromones/testosterone or whatever. If not, they're probably just fake toys to give off the impression that the dissidents they suppress are evil liars.

[AntiPolygraph]

They maintained a large collection of cloth swatches marked with the odors of dissidents in the belief that dogs could later be used to identify them.

[justinlee37]

You can't just put on a tie and say something is asinine without explaining why it is asinine. Just because you are wearing a tie does not mean we are going to take what you say for granted. Why is their research unrealistic? How about explaining your position instead of using straight rhetoric and talking to us like we are plebes.

[AntiPolygraph]

As Dr. Alan Zelicoff noted in remarks before the National Academy of Sciences polygraph review committee in 2001, "From a medical and scientific standpoint, it is not sufficient to measure well that which should not be measured in the first place." No link has been established between human odors and *any* cognitive state. So to examine human odors in an attempt to identify the specific cognitive state of deception is premature.

[doctorespinoza]

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

- Alexander Solzenhitsyn

[doctorespinoza]

I think the fundamental view that polygraph users subscribe to is that evil and good can be located and distilled. That there is an "evil" lobe of the brain. That there is a "lie" circuit. And it will forever be one test away from them. As our tools increase in sophistication, they will forever be on the verge of "finding evil".

[justinlee37]

Furthermore, a major part of your argument is just "Reductio ad Hitlerum." You are undermining your own cause by talking to us like we are children.

[Telegenesis]

I think that it would only lead to discrimination based on diet.

[Aaron518]

Wow,that just takes this idiocy to a new level. I can't believe that's not a joke. Whats their criteria for what a "truthful" smell is compared to a "lying" smell?