Details of this emerged in a heavily-censored document released to Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project under the Freedom if Information Act. Called "Sensory consequence of electromagnetic pulsed emitted by laser induced plasmas," it described research on activating the nerve cells responsible for sensing unpleasant stimuli: heat, damage, pressure, cold. By selectively stimulating a particular nociceptor, a finely tuned PEP might sensations of say, being burned, frozen or dipped in acid -- all without doing the slightest actual harm.
The skin is the easiest target for such stimulation. But, in principle, any sensory nerves could be triggered. The Controlled Effects document suggests "it may be possible to create synthetic images . . . to confuse an individual's visual sense or, in a similar manner, confuse his senses of sound, taste, touch, or smell."
(Via Reality Carnival.)
I suspect this technology has already been deployed in an effort to produce "alien" encounters. Ask yourself a simple question: If you were a black-ops project manager with access to technology of this sophistication, could you resist?
4 comments:
Isn't there a device like this in Dune that the Bene Gesseret use to test Paul Atreides' tolerance for pain with?
weevee: tomzan (Not kidding -- Tom of the Jungle, right?)
Something like it, yes. I don't remember anything in the way of a technical explanation, but this would fit.
kwisatz haderach. As far as I remember it was just a plain box u were supposed to put your hand in....
"Pain thru nerve induction" I believe was the basic explanation given as the method of the box's function. I don't recall if there was any more detail. The box was used in conjunction with the gom jabbar, a poisoned needle that killed instantly. If Paul had so much as flinched when tested with the box, he would have been killed immediately. And Kwisatz Haderach was the Bene Gesserit 'messiah', not the name of the box. The term was translated as "Shortening of the Way"...