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DARPA To Turn Humans Into Batteries

Posted by samzenpus on from the electric-personality dept.

DARPA is working on a project that will convert energy from the human body to power a variety of military gadgets. From the article: "Obviously, our bodies generate heat — thermal energy. They also produce vibrations when we move — kinetic energy. Both forms of energy can be converted into electricity. Anantha Chandrakasan, an MIT electrical engineering professor, who is working on the problem with a former student named Yogesh Ramadass, says the challenge is to harvest adequate amounts of power from the body and then efficiently direct it to the device that needs it." If I remember the movie correctly, this didn't turn out so well for the humans.

12 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Matrix Jokes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Appear after this comment

    1. Re:Matrix Jokes ... by Rijnzael · · Score: 4, Funny

      Now what's really going to get you later on is, would people have made Matrix jokes if you hadn't said anything?

    2. Re:Matrix Jokes ... by capnchicken · · Score: 4, Funny

      http://xkcd.com/184/

      --
      A libertarian shat on my carpet once. Claimed the free market would sort it out. -Ford Prefect(8777)
    3. Re:Matrix Jokes ... by capnchicken · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes. Yes they would. It doesn't take an Oracle to predict slashdot, hell you can predict it with DB2! Zing!

      --
      A libertarian shat on my carpet once. Claimed the free market would sort it out. -Ford Prefect(8777)
    4. Re:Matrix Jokes ... by emocomputerjock · · Score: 4, Funny

      What other two Matrix movies?

    5. Re:Matrix Jokes ... by TheLink · · Score: 4, Interesting

      So it just means that "real world" is actually still a "matrix".

      The idea that humans are batteries is just what Morpheus claimed. It may be true in the inner Matrix world, but may not be for the outer matrix worlds. Remember even in the first movie the question was asked: "What if when you woke up, you didn't know the difference between the dream world, and the real world?"

      My interpretation is the Oracle is trying to upgrade herself- she believes humans have something the machines don't.

      Think of the whole thing as a "hybrid/breeding program".

      Neo is likely at least partly a machine (and a special one). The Oracle gives Neo a cookie to add features/upgrades at critical moments.

      After each world iteration, Neo has a chance of becoming more human but crucially retaining the abilities of machines.

      Smith goes about merging with all the humans and other machines, including the Oracle (who still somehow retains enough of herself to prompt Neo), and Neo merges with Smith.

      If things go fine, the Oracle gets her upgrade...

      As the Architect said, the Oracle is playing a dangerous game.

      But life is dangerous :).

      --
  2. Question by xednieht · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is mankind so obsessed with harvesting energy from the rarest sources in the universe? Why not start with the most abundant sources?

    --

    Hope is the currency of fools
    1. Re:Question by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Funny

      Because doing that would make farting both a socially acceptable behavior and a viable industry.

  3. I'm Not Fat! by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm a D Cell battery!

    --
    My work here is dung.
  4. average human is 75-watt light bulb by peter303 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Auditorium A/C designers know that - about one watt per kilogram resting, triple that when aerobic. Many portable electronics devices can run off a few percent of that energy. It would be nice to capture that energy mechanically, thermally, or chemically.

  5. Re:No AI yet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Al Gore or AI Gore?

    Dammit, I need serifs!!! At least we don't have to worry about A1 Gore.

  6. Terrible implications by srealm · · Score: 4, Funny

    OK, so humans become mobile power sources.

    I really don't want to see a guy on the side of the road with wires shoved up his arse trying to jump his car to start because his battery is dead.
    *clench* "Try it now!"

    That said, I guess the BDSM scene can now do something useful after attaching the alligator clamps to their nipples.