The future is here: Mind control and torture in the digital era

Abstract

Torture, understood as a relationship of domination in which one person breaks the will and impedes the self-determination of another human being, taking control of all aspects of the victims’ life and trying to change the core elements of their identity to the perpetrator’s interests (Pérez-Sales, 2017), will increasingly come to be linked to new technologies, artificial intelligence, the use of media and internet, and to new forms of lethal and non-lethal weapons. The author reviews the implications of modern technology for the contemporary fight against torture and some of the emerging civil society initiatives that aim to face them.