According to this story, many governments are searching for new NLW’s for policing their own citizens as well as the rest of the world (under the blanket of the United Nations). These concepts go well beyond the typical rubber bullets and tear gas variety. Acoustic weapons, which can cause cavities in human tissue and can rupture organs. Electromagnetic weapons designed to interfere with the brain. Magnetosphere guns that deliver what feels like a blow to the head. Leuren Moret, a geoscientist campaigning about NLW’s, believes that some of these psychological weapons have already been tested during the Gulf War and in riot prevention. “The Russians have tested this technology, and they discovered that at certain frequencies they can control all body functions. It can cause people to throw up, disorientation, massive headaches.” Psychological weapons can disable balance, cause involuntary defecation, create epileptic fits, and make an individual hear voices in his head. Imagine these weapons in the hands of police at an anti-globalization protest.

Most disturbing of all, though, may be the Army’s recent focus on nanotechnology, having recently awarded a $50 million contract to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to establish its Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology. While nanotechnology could indeed bring about numerous medical breakthroughs, the destructive potentials are equally numerous, not least of which is the “gray goo” problem–masses of uncontrolled replicators capable of destroying all life.

Does anyone still think that our future will look as rosy as that depicted in Star Trek?

For more information on future weapons in design, read the past SFT story called “Robotic Warfare in a Brave New World“, which in addition to detailing some of the U.S. military’s upcoming robotic toys, also speculated on how these unmanned and unsupervised autonomous robotic weapons might alter U.S. foreign policy. If there is zero chance of losing any of your own soldiers, the temptation to strike pre-emptively may be much greater.