Holy Cow! They built a 1920's-style ray gun!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

i believe Tenebras has already addressed this right after your post upthread. it’s about introducing a weapon that will be used on top of what is being used now, and that it will be used needlessly/excessively simply because it’s convenient and non-lethal.

i will not be addressing on the use of this device in a crowd control situation, as it is not my point of contention. my concern is with this as a torture device. i maybe blissfully ignorant of the armada available to torturers, but i do not believe this is just another tool among the many choices they have. this is a device that can conveniently inflict immediate and excruciating pain indefinitely without causing permanent harm. (and without evidence?) this has mass market potential! anyone can be a master torturer with one of these. productivity will increase and prisoners will sing its praises with added fervour and obedience.

in the end, it is probably pointless to fight the march of technology. what can be done, will be done. what can be abused, will be abused. one may expound upon how this is the godsend weapon that will save lives, but you cannot ignore the fact that it will be used to introduce hell* on earth by the unscrupulous.
*this isn’t entirely hyperbole. my definition of hell is to burn for eternity, and this thing can roast you for as long as they want without killing you right?

OMGLASERGUNPEWPEWPEW

42

Bah. You can torture people perfectly effectively with a carbonated beverage, or a bucket of water and a towel, or two baths, one full of ice water and the other hot water. The fact that people have invented such complicated methods as training dogs to rape prisoners says more about the mentality of torturers than any technical challenges involved.

This device might find a niche among gadgethead sadists, but more likely it’s just too clinical and non-interactive for most torturers, who tend to be a fairly hands-on bunch of people.

43

Carbonated beverage? As in, “tell me the location of the rebel base or I will force the entire planet of Alderaan to drink a glass of Mountain Dew”?

44

No, as in “here, spend a few minutes enjoy the refreshing sensation of 7-up squirted into your sinuses. Sign the confession, or I’ll keep refreshing you until I have used up all 12 cases. Then I’ll move on to the coca-cola”
Used to be quite popular with the Mexican police, as well as numerous other organisations with an open-minded view of human rights.

45

my imagination fails me if you would choose slow cooking over 7-up.

… but there’s really no reason why you can’t have both.