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TSA 2 - Advanced Thermosensory Stimulator Is A Dune Pain Box
The TSA 2 - Advanced Thermosensory Stimulator from Medoc reminds me of something I've heard of before...
(TSA 2 - Advanced Thermosensory Stimulator)
- Precise thermal pain stimulation temperature control
- External Control programming capability
- Rapid thermal stimulation rates- up to 13°C/sec
- Single and Dual Thermode configurations
- Enables external computer programs (such as MATLAB®) to interface with Medoc Main Station software using a closed set of commands and responses.
- Provides programmatic access to specific actions that can be applied during a typical test procedure.
Yes, I think it pretty much is a pain box from Dune (1965) by science fiction author Frank Herbert:
Paul slowly put his hand into the box. He first felt a sense of cold as the blackness closed around his hand, then slick metal against his fingers and a prickling as though his hand were asleep."What's in the box?"
"Pain." He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch... The itch became the faintest burning... It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat... . The burning! The burning! He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained.
(Pain box from Denis Villeneuve's 2020 film Dune)It stopped! As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped... "Take your hand from the box, young human, and look at it." He fought down an aching shiver, stared at the lightless void where his hand seemed to remain of its own volition. Memory of pain inhibited every movement. Reason told him he would withdraw a blackened stump from that box. "Do it!" she snapped. He jerked his hand from the box, stared at it astonished. Not a mark. No sign of agony on the flesh. He held up the hand, turned it, flexed the fingers. "Pain by nerve induction," she said. "Can't go around maiming potential humans. There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though."
(Read more about the pain box from Frank Herbert's novel Dune)
This is not the first time; see Raytheon Creates Pain Box From Dune.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/5/2025)
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