Cognify and Lumberjack The Monster: Redemption or Fabrication of Psychopaths?

Imagine a technology capable of reprogramming a criminal's mind, making them feel as if they've served a lengthy sentence in just a matter of minutes. That’s Cognify, a disruptive concept redefining the idea of rehabilitation. Cognify arises as a response to the limitations of the current prison system, inspired by advances in applied neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Its creator, molecular biologist Hashem Al Ghaili, conceived this technology as a quick, effective alternative for social reintegration, convinced that traditional rehabilitation rarely achieves deep transformation in inmates. Cognify employs an advanced brain implant along with high-immersion virtual reality to “play” with the minds of prisoners, making them experience a prolonged sentence within a short time. Convicts relive life behind bars, over and over, through simulations designed to be so realistic and psychologically impactful that they feel they've endured years of a hard sentence.

The proposal is simple but powerful: the criminal can choose between a real sentence or a virtual one. Prison, as we know it, fails in most cases to rehabilitate. Cognify, by contrast, promises to reprogram the criminal's behavior, reduce recidivism, and ultimately help them reintegrate into society. It’s a modern and less extreme version of the “Ludovico treatment” imagined by Anthony Burgess in A Clockwork Orange, the 1962 dystopian novel that addresses the limits of behavioral correction. In this work, the protagonist, Alex, a violent young gang leader, undergoes extreme aversion therapy to cure his violent impulses. Burgess criticizes this psychological manipulation as an invasion of freedom and a reflection of totalitarianism. The novel has been acclaimed not only for its complexity and linguistic style (using its own slang, “nadsat”) but also for its exploration of ethical, psychological, and philosophical issues, becoming a key reference for examining the limits of free will and behavioral control.

Could Cognify reduce crime rates in an effective and swift way? With technologies like Neuralink, it seems more possible than ever. But the ethical doubts are inescapable: is this truly helping these individuals or merely manipulating their minds, turning them into programmed beings, subjects of an experiment that makes them lab rats? Is “brainwashing” in the name of justice truly fair? The line between redemption and control becomes blurred, and that’s precisely what makes Cognify as fascinating as it is unsettling.

This idea brings to mind the recent film Lumberjack The Monster, directed by the prolific and controversial Takashi Miike. With over 100 films in his career, Miike is a legend in Japanese and global cinema, known for his provocative style and ability to push the boundaries of morality and good taste. From Audition (1999) to Ichi the Killer (2001), his works constantly challenge the norm, blending horror, extreme violence, and dark humor in a combination that has defined his unique vision. Miike has been equally praised and criticized, yet his influence is undeniable. His films, filled with unexpected twists and morally ambiguous characters, explore humanity's darkest side, addressing themes of alienation, violence, and social decay. In this sense, Lumberjack The Monster is a significant addition to his filmography, presenting a dystopian and brutal vision of the attempt to manipulate human behavior.

In Lumberjack The Monster, two scientists create a brain chip to “cure” psychopathy, but the experiment has terrifying consequences: the children on whom they test the chip grow into adults emotionally devoid, incapable of empathy. In a sinister twist, a “created” psychopath decides to exterminate these “monsters” born from the experiment, while one of the psychopaths, with a defective chip, pursues him to maintain his own violent nature. Miike’s film brings to mind American Psycho and Dexter, where the protagonist becomes both predator and prey in a society corroded by its own attempt at control. With a mix of violence and dark humor, Miike immerses us in a story filled with irony and chaos, where the line between victim and executioner blurs in a twisted game of morality.

Miike's genius lies in his ability to unite seemingly incongruent elements, creating forced associations that, under his lens, find coherence in a context of unprecedented intensity and originality. In Lumberjack The Monster, Miike explores the ethics of technology and human nature in a way that invites reflection. Like Miike’s narratives, Cognify challenges us to question just how far justice can, or should, go in manipulating the minds of those it seeks to redeem. Thus, Miike reminds us that in the pursuit of total control over human behavior, we may become architects of monsters we cannot even begin to understand or control.