Is the Moment of Truth craze sweeping the streets of Afghanistan? It soon could be, once US Army soldiers are issued hand-held lie detectors.
Highlight from the full article on MSNBC (here):
The new device, known by the acronym PCASS, for Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, uses a commercial TDS Ranger hand-held personal digital assistant with three wires connected to sensors attached to the hand. An interpreter will ask a series of 20 or so questions in Persian, Arabic or Pashto: "Do you intend to answer my questions truthfully?" "Are the lights on in this room" "Are you a member of the Taliban?" The operator will punch in each answer and, after a delay of a minute or so for processing, the screen will display the results: "Green," if it thinks the person has told the truth, "Red" for deception, and "Yellow" if it can't decide.
The article also includes this gem:
Both the proponents and critics agree on one thing: This new device is likely to be less accurate than a polygraph, because it gathers less physiological information.
So, that seems, kind of, not-so-great to me. But, why would you expect a $7,500 device to be accurate?
The article also says that the device cannot be used on US personnel, but come on - you would totally use it to pass the time in the barracks. It's like the ultimate game of truth or dare. I just picture the scene from Strange Brew where the brothers are playing with the electroshock therapy machine. Take off, eh! It's my turn!
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