DOD Unveils the Heat-Beam

Just what we need — another weapon

See this piece from Extreme Tech. It’s a hoax, right? Yesterday, at the Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, the U.S. Department of Defence revealed a prototype of a heat–beam weapon which it plans to place in the hands of troops by 2010.

It will be a great boon to war makers because, unlike other non–lethal weapons, it can be deployed a safe distance from the spear–wielding enemy. It promises to be particularly useful for crowd suppression—to manage situations like the WTO protests, you know, to put social criticism in its proper place—the oven—where it belongs.

While everybody seems to be in a self–congratulatory mood whenever the phrase “non–lethal” gets mentioned, I wonder if such a weapon isn’t worse than a nuclear device. Detonation of a nuclear device has an extremely high ethical threshold. At least that’s the theory. Nobody will detonate a nuclear device without first carefully weighing the options. But a heat–beam has little or no ethical threshold. It might inoculate troops against using their brains when they assess whether or not its use is appropriate in a given situation. Shoot first, ask questions … never.

Seems like just another clever device to salve the conscience of those who make it their business to violate human rights. But it’s a hoax, right?