Hearing voices in your head?

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
If you're hearing voices, don't reach for that Prozac just yet. It turns out that you just might be on the receiving end of MEDUSA, a new US military weapon in development that just might make you a tad doubtful of your sanity. :eek:

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. Short for Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio, MEDUSA creates the audio effect with short microwave pulses. 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 bat**** insane. The MEDUSA can also "produce recognizable sounds" and is aimed primarily at military uses, but New Scientist revealed there are other uses in the works, too.

And if you're thinking ear plugs are this thing's Kryptonite, think again. Lee Sadovnik of Sierra Nevada Corp. said normal audio safety limits are off the table since the sound bypasses the eardrums and emanates from within the skull. "The repel effect is a combination of loudness and the irritation factor," he said. "You can’t block it out."

Wet blanket James Lin of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois in Chicago wants more testing done, however, because of the perceived health ramifications of such a device. Lin said lower, whisper-level intensities work fine, but the higher incapacitating levels expected by the military could fry more than a few brains out on the battlefield. "I would worry about what other health effects it is having," Lin said. "You might see neural damage."

And those "other uses" hinted at above? Try subliminal advertising; or suggestive subconscious comments that you don't really "hear" but can influence decision-making anyway. Or, alternatively, the beam can be ramped up to 11 and just kill you outright. WIN!

Fun Gizmodo Fact: The MEDUSA is useless against a raging pack of schizophrenics. [New Scientist via Danger Room]
[via MagHeap]


I can not help but wonder if the designers of this gizmo had visions of lasers & popcorn floating in their minds as they thought of what they could do with it.

kent.gif
 
...........I wonder,does it work on members of Congress, considering some of the boneheaded, inane things that can come out of the Capitol somedays? :eek: :eek: :p

On the other hand, it sounds like it would be something that could be effective in quelling riots and other civil disturbances; it isn't the first non-lethal or 'less-than-lethal' device invented by the military.....case in point, the Active Denial System(a/k/a the "pain ray") :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Overlord Karellan discusses a similar device in Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 novel Childhood's End. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"All political problems," Karellen had once told Stormgren, "can be solved by the correct application of power." [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"That sounds a rather cynical remark," Stormgren had replied doubtfully. "It's a little too much like 'Might is Right'. In our own past, the use of power has been notably unsuccessful in solving anything." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The operative word is correct. You have never possessed real power, or the knowledge necessary to apply it. As in all problems, there are efficient and inefficient approaches. Suppose, for example, that one of your nations, led by some fanatical ruler, tried to revolt against me. The highly inefficient answer to such a threat would be some billions of horsepower in the shape of atomic bombs. If I used enough bombs, the solution would be complete and final. It would also, as I remarked, be inefficient - even if it possessed no other defects." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"And the efficient solution?" [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"That requires about as much power as a small radio transmitter-and rather similar skills to operate. For it's the application of the power, not its amount, that matters. How long do you think Hitler's career as dictator of Germany would have lasted, if wherever he went a voice was talking quietly in his ear? Or if a steady musical note, loud enough to drown all other sounds and to prevent sleep, filled his brain night and day? Nothing brutal, you appreciate. Yet, in the final analysis, just as irresistible as a tritium bomb." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Regular readers are already familiar with how the 'Paranormal State' Ad Billboard Makes You Hear Voices; it uses an "audio spotlight" to put a commercial message right next to your ear. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Via Microwave ray gun controls crowds with noise; thanks to Winchell Chung for the tip and the quote. Scroll down for more stories in the same category.[/FONT]
 
Back
Top