Measure of a Man--How Much Can You Take?

Remember the gom jabbar from Dune? The box of pain and fear that only "true humans" can withstand? Here is a real life gom jabbar that may be more than you can stand.

A square transmitter as big as a plasma TV screen is mounted on the back of a Jeep.

When turned on, it emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation - similar to the microwaves in a domestic cooker - that are tuned to a precise frequency to stimulate human nerve endings.

It can throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile.

Because the beam penetrates skin only to a depth of 1/64th of an inch, it cannot, says Raytheon, cause visible, permanent injury.

But anyone in the beam's path will feel, over their entire body, the agonising sensation I've just felt on my fingertip. The prospect doesn't bear thinking about.

"I have been in front of the full-sized system and, believe me, you just run. You don't have time to think about it - you just run," says George Svitak, a Raytheon executive.

...In tests, even the most hardened Marines flee after a few seconds of exposure. It just isn't possible to tough it out.

This machine has the ability to inflict limitless, unbearable pain.
...Silent Guardian and the Taser are just the first in a new wave of "non-lethal" weaponry being developed, mostly in the U.S.

Source

Imagine such a device that was powerful enough to broadcast a pain signal from a satellite in low earth orbit. Would it be used for "ethnic cleansing?" Border control? Or just a new way to conduct old-fashioned warfare? Yes, I know the device is a natural instrument of torture as it is. Humans do bad things to each other. Have you ever read the story of Magellan's voyage to the Spice Islands . . . ?

Hat tip Blogging the Singularity