Pentagon Develops Handheld version of the Beam of Pain

Since 2005, US military research has worked on the Thermal Laser System (TLS), technology designed to cause enough pain to “repel individual adversaries”, but not enough to cause lethal or permanent damage. The TLS beam aims to do this by causing a burning sensation on the target’s skin.

Prototype version of Pain Beam. Courtesy USMC

The latest development? A handheld version the Pentagon hopes will end up in the hands of law enforcement officials in the US. Apparently the only kink to work out is developing an eye-safe beam, which produces the desired effect without blinding anyone unlucky enough to catch the beam straight into their own eyes.

Personally though I always find these kind of advances in pain-compliance technology scary. It’s like what Steve Wright, an analyst at UK’s Leeds Metropolitan University, says: “Persuading by pain rather than brain – through conversation – has led to push-button torture in the past. If it leaves no mark on the skin how will anyone prove it’s been abused?”

It’s the same argument Taser-critics have long asserted (save for the lack of marks on the skin): Pain-compliance technology always creates the possibility for abuse. People by nature always like doing things the easy way. I’m all for helping the police be more effective, but once that policeman having a bad day realizes that it’s easier to shock someone else into submission than talking them down, it’s a slippery slope that slides right into abuse.

What do you think? Hit the comments below.