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Military Tech for Daily Life
PreacherTom writes "It is nothing new to see technology from military and governmental endeavors change daily life profoundly. One only has to look at the fruits of the space program (from computers to microwave ovens to Tang). New military gear is on the horizon that promises to do the same, including biosensors, bandages that clot blood using soundwaves, and the ubiquitous Swiss Army Pen."
Books don't burn themselves ya know
The obvious examples are the internet, GPS devices, super-glue, etc... (Incidentally, speaking of super-glue, it works very well for what the military originally had in mind for it, which is closing wounds: next time you have a bad cut, try it, it works wonders.)
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
That would be a laser to cut through doors, a satellite dish and viewscreen for watching the news, and a blade for slicing and dicing out of the most difficult situations. But does it still write?
If it detects you're in trouble (health related or being mugged even). Your clothing will have a GPS and provide instant notification to the right folks. But of course there will have to be safeguards to ensure that such things cant be remotely activated.
When being mugged, I envision something that sprays a liquid into the air that binds with the breath of your assailant and captures some of his DNA. The chemical is flourescent and can be swabbed off the floor.
When being mugged, I envision something that sprays a liquid into the air that binds with the breath of your assailant and captures some of his DNA. The chemical is flourescent and can be swabbed off the floor.
Just remember not to breathe yourself until the forensics arrive to avoir contaminating the sample...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
You can get some of that military technology today, and it's not vaporware... Quikclot powder, comes in a packet designed to be large enough to quickly stop the bleeding from a severed femoral artery.
Useful stuff, stops bleeding very quickly. Expensive as hell though.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
They make this device that projects a lump of solid metal (usually lead). It's quite effective at stopping a mugging. You should try it sometime.
(Police don't give a shit about catching some mugger. Do you really think they want a DNA sample?)
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
New military gear is on the horizon that promises to do the same, including biosensors, bandages that clot blood using soundwaves
Ok, since they have a bandage that clots blood using soundwaves, you can pretty much guess that they have a weapon that clots blood using soundwaves. Which is pretty fucking scary.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I need all of these.
I'll tie my smartshirt (worn under the bodysuit made of liquid body armor) into the HUD on the powered exoskeleton, which I can use to assist a long and high launch of my micro spy planes as I wait for resupply by my GT Max Mini Helicopter. When I have picked out my target, I'll glide in (again wearing liquid body armor) using my Gryphon flying wing, pick off the guards using my Cornershot rifle, rescue the hostage using my Swiss Army Pen, slap an ultrasonic bandage over his wounds, and then...
Erm...
OK, I'm out of gadgets. Someone wanna find me a personal rocket pack capable of carrying two?
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
That word. I do not think it means, what you think it means.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
I'm curious about how well that exoskeleton works. So, if I attach it to my thigh and calve, and try to jump, and it increases the power in that muscle motion, can I jump higher? Now what, how do I land?
But let's say practice makes perfect, and I eventually become adept enough to land it. What type of power source is on my back that can lift my weight, plus the weight of the power source, plus the bionic leg, plus any equipment I may be carrying. We're talking at least 200lbs.
Nonetheless, I'd like to see it in action.
I decided to stop stealing cynical quotes to use as a signature line.
The "Powered Exoskeleton: The real bionic man" entry brought to you by none other than Robert A. Heinlein, the inventor of the Waldo, the waterbed and I don't know what else...
The main thing that was missing from Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers was the powered exoskeletons, courtesy R.A.H., circa 1959. Not that I didn't adore the "Doogie Howser, S.S.", "Klendathu 90210" aspects of the film, but the only really good example of the notion we've had in film is Ripley's "Get away from her, you bitch!" from Aliens.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
"One only has to look at the fruits of the space program (from computers to microwave ovens to Tang)."
Presumably the author refers the the tube in a microwave oven called a magnetron. If so, then this was developed in World War II for use in radars. Incidentally, the invention of the transistor was a direct follow-on to WWII efforts to build crystal detectors. See the book, "The Invention that Changed the World" by Robert Buderi, a history of the development and aftermath of the invention of radar. It is said that the atomic bomb ended the war but radar won the war.
Man, I hope this trickles down (Affordably) to the masses. Anything that hardens on impact would be great for those of us that attend protests. Its not so much the bullets and stabbing that worries me, but the savage beatings that we recieve. Though having protection is good when some rookie decides to fire rubber bullets into the crowd. Hasn't happened to me yet, but with how peacful protesters are being treated, its only a matter of time.
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
You know that DNA is separate molecules right? You realize they can be separated and isolated? If there's two dna's in a given sample the one that isn't the victim is the mugger. There should be enough DNA captured assuming obviously there is some sort of tussive to make the person cough.
I searched "powered exoskeleton" on YouTube and found this project from Berkley. I guess, if this is what the article was talking about, then the device would serve as more of a weight supporter than a strengthening tool. It also seems a bit too sluggish to execute a rapid maneuver like jumping, despite the BBC article in TFA claiming higher leaps is a goal. Would it end up hindering a troop in combat, considering the rapidity needed to move in today's guerrilla and urban warfare?
On the other hand, the video shows the man wearing a huge backpack. As a backpacker myself, I know that the best way to carry the weight is on your hips, so that your leg muscles bear the load. This exoskeleton seems well fit for bearing that load; the man in the video looks like he is hardly straining.
The technology looks like it may be ready for work on bases, but is hardly ready for the front line. The BBC article points out more limitations.
I decided to stop stealing cynical quotes to use as a signature line.
I've always wanted to have a infrared automated minigun in front of every door of my house to greet the neighbors and a enough C4 and MLRS rockets in the background to make this July 4th one of the memorable ones in my town for years.
Then what about funding the search privately utilizing private investigators? .. I sure as hell would think it's worth it to track down a kidnapper of someone I care about.
Assuming it's not always a mugger
What about something to keep those damn kids off my lawn?
Actually sometimes it arrives to civilians in the trunk of some guy's car and for an excellent price. =)
Several of these technologies are part of the FCS (future combat system) including the soldier of the future - Landwarrior program. However the government has just cut this program. You can read more about it -- and all of the future medical devices lost in the shuffle-- here: http://docinthemachine.com/2006/12/08/army-axing-h igh-tech-soldier-of-tomorrow-medtech-losses-predic ted/
Computers did not come from the space program. The space program consistently used computers that were generations behind the commercial state-of-the-art, and this hasn't changed today.
This provides Prof. Schmengy a nice excuse for developing nasty weapons under a DARPA grant. It'd be nicer if these things were developed for civilian use first and then appropriated by the military but money talks. Something like 60% of all R and D funding in the US comes directly or indirectly from miliary sources.
Shear Thickening Fluid (STF) is a liquid armor that turns extremely hard and spreads itself out when punctured or struck with a high-velocity object, such as a bullet.
Making it only a matter of time before the phrase "Gear up" is replaced by "STF up!"
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
That punctuation. I do not think it works like you think it works.
To computerized microwaves that shoot hot Tang for use in crowd control.
God bless America!
With this set of personal flying wings strapped to your back, you'll be able to bail out of a plane miles from your target, glide to a landing area while staying virtually undetectable by radar, and then pull the rip cord on your 'chute for a soft landing
The key thing I think they've failed to account for in all of this is that, if they're even a little smarter than the guards in Splinter Cell, people are somewhat likely to be alarmed enough by falling wings that they don't just go back to patrolling while you continue to descend by parachute.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
I was about to say mod parent Troll!
Waiting for the ideologue posts about how big government spending can never do any good, and never any better than private industry...
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Magnetrons were invented before the 2nd world war and perfected during the war by the Brits for use in Radar. No space program back then - not on this planet anyway.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
The good side of military spending is that, other than during times of war, the fraction of the money that goes to the military for having troops around and building few hundred tanks every once in a while is tiny compared to the amount of money that goes toward science, research, technology. For every troop that is getting paid to be on base, the military is probably putting food on the tables of 30 researchers or engineers to develop new technologies. For example, lets say the military gets a new model of tank. Well, the cost of actual steel, plastic, computer chips, etc that constitute the tanks that are produced themselves are really nothing compared to the amount of money that went into advancing technologies and employing engineers. A B2 bomber costs a couple billion because incredible science and technology had to be realized in order to make the plane possible. Like 20 of them or something were ever to be actually made. That price doesn't reflect the sum of the physical components and labor of assembling them, but rather, the price tag reflects the amount of engineering and science work that had to be done to realize the level of technology necessary for the existence of such a plane.
The bright side of military spending is that most of that money basically goes to putting food on the tables of tens of thousands of engineers in our country. With labor costs so high and manufacturing going to everywhere in the world other than our own country, technology is our stock-in-trade. As it turns out, the structure of the govt sponsoring military technology programs with a long-term and unified approach in contrast to the much more duplicative and reactive, smaller investments for shorter-term results, approach seen in the development of technology only in the hands of individual companies reacting to market pressures method, has been very fruitful indeed.
The space program did not develop Tang. NASA bought it at the grocery store just like anyone else who wanted it could and did.
Microwave ovens are based on WWII military technology and were in commercial use before NASA even existed.
The military did in fact put a lot of money into early digital computer development -- some of it for space applications. But NASA was not a major source of funding for digital computer development. The oil companies who needed supercomputers for seismic analysis were a lot bigger contributor to digital computer technology than the civilian space program.
(And Teflon and Velcro didn't come from the space program either).
I think the civilian space program has probably made some significant contributions to the engineering of custom materials although I couldn't cite examples. But all in all, the civilian space program hasn't had a very high payoff in technology development.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
...if they could do the same thing without the whole "killing" part?
I read something about how wonderful the advancements in prosthetics the past few years have been. I even saw a kid of 20 or 22 at the airport carrying a big green duffle bag unassisted, though he had artificial legs and a prosthetic arm and the unmistakable look of a soldier.
Just spend the money. Declare it to be a National Technological Development Something-or-other and so and spend the money on research that doesn't come at such a high cost.
Honestly, that shit is heartbreaking.
-- My Weblog.
Sorry, no references, just what I read 10 years ago. An economic study concluded that the civilian sector gets 20 cents back on every dollar spent on military and space research, in the form of results useful to civilian products. In other words, while it's true that military and space research has some civilian benefits, we'd get 5 times the benefit if we funded civilian research directly instead of funding war/space research and lucking out with some trickle-down.
"It is nothing new to see technology from military and governmental endeavors change daily life profoundly."
8 489831436&q=beyond+treason
Sure. Military technology can change people's lives profoundly. Ask anyboy who stepped on a land mine.
Or even better: Why don't you ask the troops yourselves? Start with the ones who have breathed in depleted uranium
and have cancer, then talk to the guys who ended up terminally sick from the vaccination shots they were given.
All that is: Beyond Treason
http://www.beyondtreason.com/
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=500514363
...microwave rioter weapon. Google "Active Denial System". In production, in theater, now. Now let's just suppose...they got a way to crank teh dial to 11 or 12 or higher instead of what they admit to, 10? Technically possible? Yep. Easy to do once the thing is built-need an amp? They got it. Think it's built already, seeing as how a line of sight speed of light weapon is just as handy in the lethal range as in the just very painful range? Want to bet against it? I wouldn't. They also have a silent to the ears but effective sonic nausea weapon, they sell it in police supply catalogs. They have various gasses like the russian cops used in that school seige that kill people very quickly but are sold as just anti riot gas, all you need to do is up the projected in amounts over specs. It's sold as go to skleep fast gas, but just a scosh more and you really go to sleep. Unfortunately that is what happened to all those kids, plus they offed the dudes who were in on it, getting rid of the expensive embarrassing patsies they used to drumbeat up more war (russia does the same as the US, Israel, the UK, etc, agent provocateur actions). And blinding/dazzling lasers? They got them more powerful than that. And they are working on being able to broadcast on brainwave frequencies, and no, this isn't the proverbial tin foil hat, it's real, you need to see some of the stuff winkled out by researchers. The brain has bonafide EM freqs that are detectable and used in psych research all the time. Small power, but radio for conversational purposes. Dig it. What's to stop them figuring out how to broadcast a lot of power in those freqs, just to make your day? Nothing near as I can see, nothing at all, and they sure as hell wouldn't brag out loud about something like that.
Now ponder this, the blackbudget is in the uber billions yearly. Every year. Sure, a lot of that is probably pork or wasted, but they still develop and deploy on a small scale a lot of interesting things, and decades before they tell the public about it, such as the B2. So, see what they admit to now, extrapolate they are at least ten to twenty years ahead of that in what they got in the stash.
There is so much argument about whether the civilian pay-off from military research makes sense. Here is a bit of research on the medical end and some reasons why private industry does not take the risks DARPA does. http://docinthemachine.com/2006/12/21/darpamedtech /
..with the militray knockoffs some nitwits in Richmond, CA used to pump 50 rounds into a car last night.
Lets face it, all of this could have been developed faster and cheaper if we'd put the $350,000,000,000 spent in Iraq on civilian research.
Almost daily there is a situation which makes me want to pull out the BFG, that's the military tech we really need in daily life.
>>The space program did not develop Tang. NASA bought it at the grocery store just like anyone else who wanted it could and did.
Absolutely correct. Tang is just powdered sugar, and has been available in supermarkets since 1959.
Sunglasses, smoke detectors, and cordless drills, however, ARE three spinoffs from the space program.
In fact, just about the only thing in our modern lives that doesn't trace back to either the space program or "big public science" (like the web coming from CERN) is Tang!
What is it with the Tang meme?! Was there an ad campaign featuring astronauts, or something? Is it one of those "false memory" things like the meme that links "fake moon landings" to the movie "Capricorn One"?
Ah, to live in a state that has some provision for carrying concealed weaponry. We don't even have the option of obtaining permits.
I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
Just last week we had the article extolling the benefits of funding the "land warrior" project and how it would make all our lives better via trickle down of bio-medical-tech. I'm starting to sense a Viral Marketing pattern surrounding pro-military-science pieces. Do you forget the military's primary purpose is that of controlled destruction? They aren't all sunshine and superglue.
I'm waiting for those tongue-connected vision overlay devices. Only thing is, I want it to project hearing instead of vision. I'll also work on the back as I understand it, easier to talk that way. :-)
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
when I can have a Sonic Screwdriver!
I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
Hmmmm, I wonder how hard it would be to prove that somebody *didn't* die from a fatal blood clot, aneurism, etc when it could actually have been caused by a device like this. You don't need to shoot it from a distance, just use it to take somebody out and make it appear like natural causes. I'm not stating that the military will, but that's it's possible. Even the most benevolent technologies have been made into weapons in the past...
How about for vehicles? I wonder if you could put this stuff in the doors etc of a car body, resulting in more resiliance against point impacts (if done right)?
I was going to post about the misappropriation of microwaves to the space program, but the OP has already done so. Buderi's book about the history of MIT's Rad Lab is fantastic and well worth reading for any geek interested in the history of military electronics.
Funny, there I was, always thinking that the main aspect which is missing in the movie was the basic idea that only people who served the public (_not_ only in the military, but nurses, sewage workers, the lot, also. He stated himself in Expanded Universe that it was his single largest error to not make that point more clear) should be allowed to serve in public office.. ;)
Isn't it an urban myth that Tang was born out of the space program ?
...which is a bit early to be a space program spin-off.
"Cooking food with microwaves was discovered by Percy Spencer while building magnetrons for radar sets at Raytheon [a major United States military contractor]. He was working on an active radar set when he noticed a strange sensation, and saw that a peanut candy bar he had in his pocket started to melt." - Microwave oven
Does anyone know whether he had kids?
Reduce, reuse, cycle
Actually, I think the obvious examples would be bullets, bombs, chemical and nuclear weapons, land mines, and so on. It's true that as they got better at killing large numbers of people, beneficient discoveries were also made along the way. Lest we forget, the Nazis made some significant medical breakthroughs. But all told, I think we could've done with a little less of this sort of help, and a little more investment directed at helping humanity, rather than relying on the occasional non-lethal by-product of war research.
Just to name a few.
Not only that, if you live in a dorm made of blocks, you can write stuff on the wall in lysol and then light it on fire. Flaming messages from hell!
Well, that's what one of my friends told me, anyhow.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
Whats the difference between the Chinese space program and the US space program?
On a Chinese space shuttle, Tang is an astronaut.
Or, more accurately put, whoever invades us gets five times the benefit. It's not like the other 80% gets put towards lighting dollar bills on fire and people snapping each other with towels.
I once had a very long discussion with a freind on this very subject and we came to the same conclusion: Military doesn't innovate, it invests.
Take an advancement and trace it's roots. It may have gone through the military's hands, but it will invariable have started either as a hobby (like flight) or in scientific academia (teh intarwebs). If a technology looks promising enough, the "military" (or the governing body that controls it) will invest heavily in it and advance it, but hardly, if ever, will it actually produce an inovation.
The "military" does not employ scientist to just muck around in labs and come up with something. There are notible exceptions. During WWII, many counrties did just that, and we got cyanoacrylate.
Sig
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars
Cancer chemotherapy. Brought to you by chemical warfare research.
From my point of view, "Trickle Down" means watching one of my fellow students filling out a white silk blouse, 4 inch spiked heals, darkened lens shades, and some color variation of camouflage pants while gliding in to my sociology class and sitting down in front of me. I causally note that all of the materials being worn in front of me are by-products of past military product requirements. Strictly speaking, from a military point of view, life is good.
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
"I can't imagine a chest wound that doesn't suck."
-- My Sig is a P228.
I know I get a lot of enjoyment target shooting with the AR-15 (civilian legal semi-automatic version of an M-16) I built from a stripped bare receiver. It was a fun project too.
It also doubles as a dandy home defense weapon, but I prefer a shotgun for that.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
If you come across a post that doesn't make sense, that seems at odds with reality, then try interpreting the post as humourous. Come on! Using Swiss Army Knives in Swiss Army APCs in a thread about Swiss Army pens? The post has got joke written all over it.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I dread to think of how many slashdotters have their own nightvision goggles and what they may really be used for.
So, mugging is a valid career path in the states, is it. Wow. What kind of pension plan comes with that?
There ya go, make the criminals shoot first then rob you, hopefully they put the power supply somewhere that wont instantly kill you when the muggers try to disable your shirt alarm. Though for older people and people with health problems something like this could be cheaper than having to hire a full-time nurse.
... and guns. How could the article forget guns, and other machines of destruction that the military pours most of it's research money into?
Forget the minor stuff, we can now kill our neighbours much more efficiently thanks to military spending. Let's hear it for military research, Hoo-yah!
For as entertaining as your source was, I can't understand how the U.S. Government corruption is exclusive to the military. Furthermore, when I read something that says "for what appears to be an accurate history," that something (your source), loses credibility. Come back with something concrete next time or shut it.
Can someone PLEASE get me the beerbong!!! I've got to speak to the seven out of ten!
Moderation of the parent post, 2006-12-21, 11:13:
50% Flamebait
30% Insightful
20% Troll
I stand by what I said.
Microwaves predate the space program by many years. Here's a short history: http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html/
A nice one, full housing, food and medical care. You just have to pull some obvious jobs to get put away when you are ready to retire.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
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