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‘Stun Ray’ Will Blind You Into Submission
‘Stun Ray’ Will Blind You Into Submission
Imagine this: A uniformed policeman is pursuing a fleeing criminal through the streets and while he huffs and puffs, the prey is speeding out of sight. The inspector whips out a mean-looking gun and zap! A flash of blinding white-light shoots out and the running man freezes, as if struck by lightning. I’m not talking about those classic Nintendo video games with the Star Wars-inspired beam guns. I’m talking about today, with a newly patented technology created by Genesis Illumination. Genesis has created the latest in a line of dazzle-weapons: a StunRay that can cause “temporary incapacitation…when illuminated by the [light] beam.” That’s right. It’s a high-intensity superbeam that blinds you into submission. Let’s break this thing down and take a look inside. http://www.patriotfiles.com/forum/im...2011/32669.png The StunRay emits a controlled swath of white light, which claims to be about 10 times more intense than an aircraft landing light. (The company’s website says it is bright enough to read a newspaper a mile away). Using bright light to incapacitate your foes is an old military idea — weaponeers have been trying it out since World War II, at least. Newer models tend to be laser-based, like the “dazzlers” being used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as the Neodymium Yttrium Aluminium Garnet laser envisioned by BAE Systems to blind pesky pirates at sea. The StunRay is a little different; it uses bright light, not a laser. Apparently, the ray works by sending the optical nerves into overdrive because of surplus stimulus to the retina. Todd Eisenberg, the laser’s inventor, told Scientific American it was the “inverse of blindness.” Physically, the gun is small and light, weighing about as much as a bag of flour. The width of the beam itself is adjustable so the weapon wielder can change its severity based on the threat level. It’s also got an infrared illumination tool for covert surveillance operations at night. According to the patent claim, incapacitation occurs due to “disorientation, reduced cognitive abilities or temporarily loss of fine and gross motor skills.” Although that sounds pretty medically debilitating (doesn’t “reduced cognitive abilities” sound suspiciously like impaired brain function?), Todd Eisenberg says the victim will not suffer any lasting injury. The StunRay is part of a legacy of non-lethal weapons developed by imaginative engineers. Compared to the Anti-Pirate Puke Spray— a high-pressure hose system that squirts an unknown barf-inducing chemical onto pirates—and the gruesome heat-shooting pain gun that was briefly deployed in Afghanistan as well as a Los Angeles prison, the StunRay is relatively mundane, technically. But the feeling when it hits you? Anything but. Illos: Genesis Illumination http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011...to-submission/ |
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