The nonlethal Active Defense System (ADS) just sounds like a bad idea
Science has been used for both good, and ill. We all know it. We all live with it. It’s one of those things that good scientists think about. Is this learning going to benefit the world, or destroy it. Now, I think the development of nonlethal weapons is a good thing. Killing a person should be the absolute last resort, and when you’re dealing with a mob, well lethal force shouldn’t be an option. Fine.
So via Wired News, I learned about the Air Force’s new Active Defense System. Here’s a description from the article:
The crowd is getting ugly. Soldiers roll up in a Hummer. Suddenly, the whole right half of your body is screaming in agony. You feel like you’ve been dipped in molten lava. You almost faint from shock and pain, but instead you stumble backwards — and then start running. To your surprise, everyone else is running too. In a few seconds, the street is completely empty.
Okay I’m not liking the sound of this. It works by using a beam of millimeter waves, smaller than the waves used in microwaves. The effect is supposed to be nonlethal or cause permanent (or any they claim) damage. Get this:
The beam produces what experimenters call the "Goodbye effect," or "prompt and highly motivated escape behavior." In human tests, most subjects reached their pain threshold within 3 seconds, and none of the subjects could endure more than 5 seconds.
"It will repel you," one test subject said. "If hit by the beam, you will move out of it — reflexively and quickly. You for sure will not be eager to experience it again."
Why don’t they spend time and energy on stuff like those gooey balls from The Incredibles? Or maybe some kind of foam that hardens to make a barrier? Or super sticky Silly String? Maybe an incredibly noxious smell? Why cause pain? Why tap into that part of our being (the don’t hurt me part)?
I don’t get it.
Tags: ADS, Active Defense System, Goodbye effect
4 Comments
Ack. Sounds absolutely dreadful. Who thinks up this stuff?! They’re either totally twisted or having conscience issues.
On the one hand, I don’t want our soldiers to get hurt. On the other hand, do we have to resort to tools like these which is pretty much torture?
That’s the rub for me too. I don’t want soldiers or cilivians to get hurt. There just has to be a better way.
I’m sure they’re working on the Hug technique of getting protesters to leave an area.
Goey Balls: Results in detainees. Someone has to process them and then pay for the illegal detention / human rights legal battles that ensue. Plus, what happens if one hits someone in the head. Suffocation is bad for governments.
Noxious Smell: Tear gas. Been done. Masks make an appearance. Tree huggers cry.
Barriers just give the more zealous protestors a challenge, something to get over. How many times have you seen police standing behind a barrier that is being pushed, shaken, or breached by the protestors.
The reality of the situation is that by the time a situation esalates to the point where the police have to forcibly remove the crowd, the potential for both sides to be injured (really injured, not just feeling uncomfortable). This is a chance to protect police officers from an overzealous crowd, and the crowd from overzealous police officers.
There’s a diference between enticing an unruly crowd to disperse by making them uncomfortable and hurting them. I’d argue that feeling this effect approach your pain threshhold gives you a chance to get away before any damage is done. I’d rather face an invisible pain field tht will diminish as I run than get hit in the sternum by a rubber bullet an get knocked to the ground and have a bruise the size of my fist for the next 3 weeks. Or worse, be hit in the head and suffer some sort of brain damage.
This technology basically gives the police a new way to create a consequence for crossing their barrier. Right now if a crowd gets out of control and knocks down a fence they are subjected to tear gas and physical confrontation…it’s not secret, the rio police are on the front line in a show of force. What difference is a baton or gun to this? If they cross, they will soon learn what will happen.
When I was young I was washing a dish. I turned the hot water on and filled the sink with suds. My dad said, “Watch out, that will be hot.” Without listening I plunged my hands in. With a yelp I pulled them out and swung them about, and then ran to my dad lamenting my scalded hands. He didn’t say “I told you so,” but I did learn not to touch the hot water. Did it hurt? Hell Yes. For about 10 seconds. Then I moved on
Now the protestors will be told to go “or else.
The first time they will get scalded, but hoefully they have more intelligent than a 7 year old and perhaps learn.
Ed, You make excellent points. True, once it gets to the point where police feel that threatened, the choice between rubber bullets and batons vs brief searing pain … yeah.
I guess the pain response is the one that work to get people to leave, and not really hurting people is better than bashing heads.