# Can a computer crawl inside your head and tell you what to do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839 "2021-08-31T17:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mu34tant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@mu34tant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mu34tant)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/1 "2021-08-31T17:40:00Z")
If millions of rna computers can be injected into your body with instructions to hamper virus growth, is it possible for a computer to give audible instructions from within the skull? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/2 "2021-08-31T17:45:29Z")
If the first part is true, then yeah, why not? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/3 "2021-08-31T17:46:31Z")
RNA is not a computer. It’s a molecule that enables cellular organelles called ribosomes to assemble proteins. There is an inverse correlation between people hearing voices in their heads and getting vaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/4 "2021-08-31T17:58:08Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > If the first part is true, then yeah, why not? Just in case anyone might have not understood, the first part is NOT true, because, as [Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii) pointed out, rna is not a computer. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/5 "2021-08-31T17:58:12Z")
One way of looking at humans is to consider us as a bunch of self-emergent AIs running on wetware systems. There are strains of fungus that hijack crabs or ants and turn them into “zombies” that exist to spread the fungus. The protozoan parasite _Toxoplasmosis gondii_ possibly alters human behavior. I would seriously consider the possibility that an engineered virus/bacteria/fungus/protozoan infection might be able to elicit targeted behavior changes. That isn’t quite the same as a bunch of microscopic robots or computers that make you hear voices, but it is in the ballpark. Here is a link to an article about Toxoplasmosis. > **[Humans with latent toxoplasmosis display altered reward modulation of...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5579228/)** > > Latent infection with Toxoplasma gondii has repeatedly been shown to be associated with behavioral changes that are commonly attributed to a presumed increase in dopaminergic signaling. Yet, virtually nothing is known about its effects on... ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/6 "2021-08-31T18:01:53Z")
> [@mu34tant](#): > > If millions of rna computers can be injected into your body with instructions to hamper virus growth, is it possible for a computer to give audible instructions from within the skull? If this is happening to you, _please_ get in touch with a doctor. An internet forum is not the place to learn about “audible instructions from within the skull.” Please. Do it now. You don’t know me from a hole in the wall, but I’ve had my problems, and gotten help for them. But I never got any help, or even useful information, from anonymous people on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/7 "2021-08-31T18:06:39Z")
For the instructions you must listen to your heart. [https://explosm.net/comics/1377/](https://explosm.net/comics/1377/) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/8 "2021-08-31T18:16:27Z")
I think maybe not the best sort of (comedic) advice to offer the OP under the circumstances. Ya know…? ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/9 "2021-08-31T18:18:47Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > If this is happening to you, _please_ get in touch with a doctor. This is good advice. If, however, you are asking purely as a hypothetical situation, out of curiosity or for use in a work of fiction or a role-playing game, I have one other idea. Rather than a swarm of microscopic computers causing a person to hear voices, it can allegedly be done more easily by long-range hypersonic devices which can be focused on a small area affecting only one person or a small cluster of people. They can be sent an audible message that no one else around them can hear. > **[LRAD® (Long Range Acoustic Device™), HSS Hypersonic Sound Technology -...](https://www.psychologicalharassment.org/news/technology/1337-lradr-long-range-acoustic-device-hss-hypersonic-sound-technology-youtube-videos)** > > Videos about HSS Hypersonic Sound and the LRAD systems used to transmit sound messages, highly directional beams of focused ultrasound over great distances. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/10 "2021-08-31T18:23:35Z")
Closed on August 31, 2021, 6:23pm UTC ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/11 "2021-08-31T18:24:18Z")
[Moderating] I’m closing this thread temporarily until a GQ mod can take a look. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-computer-crawl-inside-your-head-and-tell-you-what-to-do/949839/12 "2021-08-31T19:53:32Z")
And I’m a GQ mod, and leaving it closed. If you’re hearing voices inside your head, you need to talk to a doctor, not random people on the Internet.