 |
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)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion (Back On) ( 10 )
Related News Stories - (" Weapon ")
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
Navy Shoots Down Drone, With Help From Dr. Benton Quest
Okay, so maybe it's not quite a parapower ray gun - but it works, in the real world.
DARPA's Upward Falling Payload Like Leinster's Wabbler
'The Wabbler plunged into the water... It dived swiftly... slowly, it settled downward.'- Murray Leinster, 1942.
Arafat Poisoned With Polonium?
'"This man was poisoned with a super-powerful radium salt," Rab Crane declared...'- Edmond Hamilton, 1938.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
'Hello, Computer!' Google Now Highlighted at IO13
'Hello, computer!'
Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
CARMAT Bioprosthetic Total Human Heart Replacement
'George Walt's corporate existence proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...'
Personal Sniffer Robots
'...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'
Physical Exam? We've Got Apps
See the future of handheld, personal medical devices.
The Interplanetary Internet, Vint Cerf Speaking
'This was the center of Interplanetary Communications.'
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'
Japan's Nursing Home Robot Plan
Let's make the Roujin Z-0001 Robotic Bed!
Samsung Smart TVs With Gesture Control
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
Swiss HCPVT Giant Photovoltaic 'Flower'
'...leaning against one of the slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector.'
Mini-Livers Made By 3D Printer
Organleggers may experience an employment downturn.
Smartphone Sensor System Tracks Gunfire
'Sound trackers on the roof could zero in on weapons action...'
Bacteria Now Make Biofuel Like Oil
'They have ... germs that eat pretty near anything, and produce oil as a waste product.'
