The Prince by Machiavelli is indeed a classic! And the other link is pretty amazing! I've included a snippet for interest...

Thanks for the additions AC!

“In the last decade, advances in the science of the brain have begun to yield significant results. The results of the research are startling, challenging and, if misused, will be frightening. The certainty to be expected from the research is that it will continue to proceed.

The idea that people can be impacted by external signal generators which create, for example, pulsed electromagnetic fields, pulsed light and pulsed sound signals is not new. The following information demonstrates some of the possibilities and gives hints of the potentials of the technology. On the positive side, researchers in the field of light and sound are making huge progress in a number of areas, including working with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, stroke recovery, accelerated learning, drug/alcohol addiction and enhanced human performance. The research has shown that certain brain states can be influenced in a way, which causes changes within the brain itself. These changes allow individuals the possibility of influencing specific conditions in the mind and body otherwise thought beyond our direct control.

The military and others interested in such things have also focused a large amount of research into this area for the purpose of enhancing the performance of soldiers while degrading the performance of adversaries.

What is known is that great strides in the area of behavior control are now possible with systems developed and under development by most sophisticated countries on the planet. These new technologies represent a much different approach to warfare which our government is describing as part of the "Revolution in Military Affairs".”

by Nick Begich, MD © 2006
Extracted from: "Controlling the Human Mind” 2006