Ming the Mechanic:
Neurocam
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 Neurocam2004-12-18 17:48
10 comments
picture by Flemming Funch

A posting on Metafilter about a mysterious, eh, project, called Neurocam.:
A billboard appears near a Melbourne freeway entrance inviting people to "Get out of their mind". "Those who follow the instructions on the neurocam website are assigned missions, with the threat of grave consequences should these tasks not be carried out. Individuals prove their mettle by completing progressively more complex, riskier assignments - possibly of questionable legality."

Is it an art project, a cult, a marketing ploy, a game or a psychological experiment? Neurocam says none of these. Melbourne's Age newspaper investigates (free reg sometimes req'd). You can also read some blogs from participants here and here. Plus it seems to have something to do with this place dealing in Human Possibility(TM), which makes as little sense as the rest of it.

Reading the second blog there... hm, very interesting. Kind of like The Game. I'd be very tempted to join if I were in Melbourne. Mindlessly delivering packages, without knowing whether they contain drugs or explosives. But it is fun to be a secret agent.

I bet it is a psychological experiment. It will show how thrilled we are to do stuff we don't really know the consequences of, if we're just played the right way.


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10 comments

18 Dec 2004 @ 18:25 by jstarrs : When I was younger...
...a friend and I put on something we called Club Tango Blue.
It was to run for one evening, in a gay nightclub that was to open later in the catacombs under the city.
We booked a young straight hip group to pull in lots of young kids.
This was followed by a group called 'Harry & Hilary' which consisted of a guy banging a piece of sheet metal, another guy on trombone and a cider-alcoholic on voice (sort of..).
After the two groups had finished, everyone was ushered into a room where we showed the most boring film of all time which was basically a 1950's documentary on how to sell vacuum cleaners.
To end, we had a couple of guys called The Power & The Glory - one on a drum machine and the other, a tall young guy in white shirt & black costume, read his wild, invective poetry?
When he started on at the pope & catholics in general, looking like Robert Mitchum (?) in Night of The Hunter, the place had already started to degenerate into a writhing, anarchistic semblance of hell.
The owner called the cops who arrested a large number of people...
I watched on from about 5 million miles away having taken some strong acid.
Moral?
After, I thought seriously about the consequences of doing something you're not sure of what the results are gonna be and if anyone's gonna get hurt!  

19 Dec 2004 @ 03:17 by ming : Consequences
But it was art, eh? Can't argue with that.  

20 Dec 2004 @ 08:03 by C Jones @203.173.47.176 : archavida is not neurocam
I have seen 'archivida is not neurocam' in a few places. Could some other shadowy organization be targeting or even infiltrating neurocam ? What is going on with all this ? What is archivida ?  

20 Jan 2005 @ 11:45 by edan @168.103.71.129 : neurocam
I've heard that neurocam isnt just in the US...it even says on the disclaimer page that Neurocam isnt confined to melbourne.

im just curious about what the whole thing is...I'm in the states, but my curiosity got the best of me, and i signed up. ive yet to recieve an email with any missions...but i did recieve a confirmation email saying they got my registration.


any of you recieve missions?

if so...what kinda stuff?  

26 Jan 2005 @ 19:51 by Rinchy @64.110.169.157 : i have been accepted
hey i just received that i have been acepted at neurocam but i havce to wait until they have an assigment for me so that means that i have to wait and then i will see if this was just a plot or a spygame let check... by the way what about Archavida what is that???? does anyone has anithing about it

rgvivayo@walla.com  

26 Jan 2005 @ 21:12 by ming : Neurocam
Actually I sent in an inquiry at first too, and they wrote back, but I didn't proceed with the real application. I figured it wouldn't work anyway if I weren't in Australia, but it still would be fun to see what happened.  

29 Apr 2005 @ 20:47 by MobyC @24.243.184.240 : ...Yet more clues....
Attention all staff and operatives.

Earlier today Mr. Neville Harris, head of Neurocam International's
Administration Division, tendered his resignation due to personal reasons.
This resignation will be effective as of close of business today (Friday,
April 28, 2005).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Harris for his 6 years of
loyal service to Neurocam International and I hereby wish Mr. Harris all the
best with his future endeavors.

Due to Mr. Harris resignation, however, the position of Administrator has
been deemed redundant and a new position has been created to address many of
the issues previously dealt with by Mr. Harris.

Mr. Miles Carrefour has been awarded the position of "Induction Officer"
within the Human Resources Security Division and will now handle many of the
tasks previously assigned to Mr. Harris.

Mr. Harris' e-mail address will remain active for fourteen days and all
correspondence from it will be forwarded directly to Mr. Miles Carrefour
(miles.carrefour@neurocam.com). After this two week period, Mr. Harris'
email account will be deleted from our system.

Regards,

Bridget Fischer
Chief Executive Officer
Neurocam International
bridget.fischer@neurocam.com  

8 May 2005 @ 10:10 by justin @203.164.169.189 : neurocam
hi i am justin imm just looking up info about neurocam wot ive red it hasnt rwally made sence imm from geelong thats next to melbourne. any way i sined up 2 neurocam and i didnt get it o said only about 7 out of 10 get in :(. i red 1 of the missions that people have put on the internet and there was this dude who had 2 put small red stickers with neurocam on them on as many art pieces as possible lol what 4??? lol y wood u do it? is there a reward. ive also red that u get respect from the main person sooo many people do it 2 get respect and hopefully they get to meet up with the people who made the site. but i think itz bulls^%t.  

27 May 2005 @ 23:50 by dayana @65.2.136.62 : what
i also received the confirmation,has anyone receive more info about what the whole neurocam is?  

21 Jun 2005 @ 05:04 by  @24.206.229.46 : Neurocam
Dude, it may be bullshit, but it's fun bullshit. And as for the stickers, spreading the word!  

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