It doesn’t get more SFnal than this:
The Sierra Nevada Corporation claimed this week that it is ready to begin production on the MEDUSA, a damned scary ray gun that uses the “microwave audio effect” to implant sounds and perhaps even specific messages inside people’s heads.
I wasn’t really scared about the gun, until I thought about what was written next:
The pulses create a shockwave inside the skull that’s detected by the ears, and basically makes you think you’re going balls-to-the-wall batshit insane.
Thankfully, civilians probably wont have to worry about the gun, it’ll mainly be used to track down bad guys by the military. But what other uses can this device be put to? Will it just be another tool for the miltary, or will we find other commercial uses? In recent memory, that description really reminds me of the device used in Iron Man by Obadiah Stane, but the MEDUSA can’t be blocked out by headphones.
[Story from New Scientist, via Slashdot], [image by Nic Name]
it’ll mainly be used to track down bad guys by the military — and of course, anyone being tracked down by the military is by definition a bad guy. So it will, by definition, never be used improperly. Convenient!
There are great advertising uses – Doritos could broadcast into your brain.
Otherwise – how easy would you be to convince that you’re going mad if the existence of such technology is widespread?
it is already in use for advertising for one of those psychic shows on US tv, a billboard projects voices to a particular spot in NYC that if you move through it you hear them
TODD –
Yes, it’s definitely something similar – used to advertise the show “Paranormal State” in a SoHo district in NYC. More info: http://adage.com/article?article_id=122491
I’m not sure what the difference is between this and the ad version though – range, maybe?