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LED Incapacitator And The Minority Report Game
The LED Incapacitator, a fearful beam weapon developed by Intelligent Optical Systems of Torrance, California, has been contracted for development by Homeland Security.
(LED Incapacitator - flashlight weapon)
Apparently, this flashlight-like device has light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that produce superbright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths.
The result? Disorientation, and (even better) nausea with vomiting.
Readers, here's your chance to help Homeland Security. This fall, Phase 2 research will begin with the LED Incapacitator being tested on volunteers at Pennsylvania State University's Institute of Nonlethal Defense Technology. According to Bob Lieberman of Intelligent Optical Systems, "“There’s one wavelength that gets everybody."
“There are often confrontations at border crossings with suspected illegal aliens or drug runners,” Lieberman says. “You don’t want to hurt or kill them, just take them into custody. With this,” he smiles, “they don’t need to know English to comply.”
Now for the Philip K. Dick connection. Several readers mentioned a connection with his story The Minority Report. However, I just finished rereading it (in its original context - the January, 1956 issue of Fantastic Universe, natch) and I couldn't find any instance of a "puke stick" or any other such thing.
Apparently, a similar device is a feature of some sort of game version, perhaps Minority Report: Everybody Runs. I'd appreciate it if readers could clear this up for me, and possibly provide me with a screenprint of the device itself, by using the comment section.
Meanwhile, read more at Homeland Security. Thanks to Zac and others for writing in.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/15/2007)
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