[Golden Legacy]

Now this is totally sweet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_...of_invisibility

We're getting there!

[Platinum Sun]

Ooooh, shiny... or rather, extremely not shiny...

[Toasty]

This is pretty cool. I read an article a while ago in a popular science magazine about scientists developing cloaking devices for soldiers and such. Just imagine how useful this could be, not only in a war, but in everyday life. For instance, a cop could sneek up and catch a criminal without being noticed. Just goes to show you, science fiction isn't really fiction. Just think of what else could be in development right now. The government doesn't always tell the public about it's projects (i.e. stealth aircraft, stealth boats).

[Split Infinity]

And yet, that very same criminal could easily slit your throat and steal your keys. I hope this doesn't turn into one of those 'what man was not meant to know' situations.

[Toasty]

I highly doubt that would happen, at leats for a long, long while. It's likely it will only be used by the military, and the likelyhood of a comon criminal getting their hands on it would be slim. Now we just have to worry about terrorists getting them....... :P

[My Best Wishes]

What good will come of this? Some bomber is going to jump the bench past the metal detectors, countries will use it for thier gain. Apart from the sasticfaction of creating this, what use is it really?

[Toasty]

I already pointed one thing out, but it could definately help save lives in a war. The enemy wouldn't even know you were there.

[My Best Wishes]

Yeah I had seen that you already said most of my points, still I felt like saying them.

[Aquamarine]

I totally agree with watch. Nothing good will come out of this. People are going over-board with new technology and scientific experiments.
Toasty, you say that this will help save lives in a war? It will only help save lives for the side that has the invisibility cloaks. The side that doesn't will have many more deaths than they would had their enemies not used the cloaks. This may mean that some countries will become far too powerful, while others will be destroyed, both its military and economy. And that is bad.
Not only that, but armies may turn to using bombs and nuclear explosives more than they would normaly. If they can't see the enemy army, they may just drop a powerful bomb where they think it is. That will kill far more people than bullets, and will have a long-term effect on the area.

[TheEnglishman]

Wow. Harry Potter stuff comes to life!
It looks pretty amazing though. I wonder if it's just gonna be there to look cool or if it will be used pratically.

[Toasty]

Aquamarine, on Oct 20 2006, 04:47 AM, said:

I totally agree with watch. Nothing good will come out of this. People are going over-board with new technology and scientific experiments.
Toasty, you say that this will help save lives in a war? It will only help save lives for the side that has the invisibility cloaks. The side that doesn't will have many more deaths than they would had their enemies not used the cloaks. This may mean that some countries will become far too powerful, while others will be destroyed, both its military and economy. And that is bad.
Not only that, but armies may turn to using bombs and nuclear explosives more than they would normaly. If they can't see the enemy army, they may just drop a powerful bomb where they think it is. That will kill far more people than bullets, and will have a long-term effect on the area.

If you're fighting a smart enemy, they would know that they've been beat if they can't see their foe, and thus, would withdrawl, saving many lives on both sides. But you do have a point.

[Caael]

I dont think it should be used in warfare. War turns into a slaughter-fest.
I dont actually think it should be used at all. The whole idea of being able to be invisible at will is just a stupid concept to me. I cant see how it can be used for a good purpose.

[Aquamarine]

If there is one thing these cloaks will be used for it's war. It would give a huge upper-hand to the side that does have them, so of course that country will use 'em.
But I agree with Caael. It shouldn't be used at all, it shouldn't even be made.
Toasty: Not many countries would retreat from battle. The thing is, it is the politicians and other people that don't fight that decide whether or not their army will go to war and stuff. And those people really don't give a damn how many soldiers will die.

[Caael]

It owuld be useless if both sides of a war got them. There would be a helluva lot more bombs. Nothing good is gonna come of this.

[Mars Djinni]

If a grasshopper hides in the grass, and you're trying to kill it, you're gonna have to step on every inch of grass to make sure it is dead.

More bombs, more death. All I see in this invention is a war tactic. And we've got a hell of a lot of those already. No need for another one to add to it.

Mr.T, on Oct 20 2006, 03:08 PM, said:

If you're fighting a smart enemy, they would know that they've been beat if they can't see their foe, and thus, would withdrawl, saving many lives on both sides. But you do have a point.

And so the foe will play it like a wounded dog and hit below the belt. War means that both sides are risking limb and life for whatever cause they fight for. They may know they're beat, so they will fight harder to change that. Either that, or they use the technology themselves, which will end up in a blind bombing.

Assuming you were the failing army, would you back down to a foe you can't see, if you were fighting for the freedom of the country you love?

[Somia]

Well...

This techology can be used for good, but everything good WILL be missused. Weather you like it or not. I do not know why they're devoloping this at all. Split has a good point.

[Golden Legacy]

I posted this with the original intent of just showing how far we've gotten with technology, not how it can be misused. I wasn't even considering it's negative impact, I was just pleasantly surprised and even excited at how far we've gotten.

[Caael]

It is an improvement in tech, people are starting to bring fiction to reality. I really hope they invent a teleport soon, that would be very useful and not just used for war.

[Toasty]

Well, scientists have teleported data already, but they say it's highly unlikely that a teleporter for humans will ever be made. But then again, that's what was said about cloaking too. But this just seems much less likely. One your just disrupting light, while the other is dematerializing your entire body, and rematerializing it perfectly in another spot. I think a high speed (faster than what we have now) transportation is more likely. Like mach2 bullet trains or something.

[TheEnglishman]

I guess it would only be a danger if it became more widely available. For the moment the only negative impact is that a group of scientists can go and watch a woman getting undressed. :)

[Somia]

Mr.T, on Oct 22 2006, 03:26 AM, said:

Well, scientists have teleported data already, but they say it's highly unlikely that a teleporter for humans will ever be made. But then again, that's what was said about cloaking too. But this just seems much less likely. One your just disrupting light, while the other is dematerializing your entire body, and rematerializing it perfectly in another spot. I think a high speed (faster than what we have now) transportation is more likely. Like mach2 bullet trains or something.

What if human can be broken down into data...?

..Scratch that. =p

But I'd like to see them develop teleportation, it'd actully be very helpful.

[Mars Djinni]

Somia, on Oct 22 2006, 06:42 AM, said:

What if human can be broken down into data...?

..Scratch that. =p

But I'd like to see them develop teleportation, it'd actully be very helpful.

Getting too wrapped up in that Megaman game, are you? XD

I'm kinda shivery at teleportation. The way I see it, it's cloning yourself and killing the real you.

Maybe if there was some way to relate it to speed, rather than deconstructing and then reconstructing. I'm thinking like conversion to data or radio waves. I can see that working far better, especially in a world whose popular medium is the Internet. Think of it like Goku's Instant-Translocation from Dragonball Z.

[Toasty]

So you mean being able to move faster than the speed of light at will? That'd rip you apart molecule by molecule, unless you had extremely powerful inertial dampeners attatched to your back, and even then, the shock from the sonic boom would rip you apart too if you weren't proected. If you mean like a train or plane or car or something, that's more plausible.

[Aquamarine]

Mars Djinni, on Oct 22 2006, 04:48 PM, said:

Getting too wrapped up in that Megaman game, are you? XD

I'm kinda shivery at teleportation. The way I see it, it's cloning yourself and killing the real you.

Maybe if there was some way to relate it to speed, rather than deconstructing and then reconstructing. I'm thinking like conversion to data or radio waves. I can see that working far better, especially in a world whose popular medium is the Internet. Think of it like Goku's Instant-Translocation from Dragonball Z.

I've already had this conversation with Split, though that was pretty long ago. Split says the same as you, he wouldn't want teleportation 'cause that wouldn't be you, it would be a clone. I think 'who cares'? If that clone is the exact same you, has all your memories and personality then what is the big difference? It practicaly IS you then!

But teleportation will also be used for war and wouldn't lead to anything good in the end.

[Toasty]

Teleportation may be used for war, but think of how easily it would be to travel halfway accross the world!

[Caael]

And stairs would be useless! Just take the teleport. But I guess you're screwed if it breaks. It would revoloutionize the post system, you buy something online, they type in where its going to be sent, and its there almost instantly.

I dont think it's safe to use it on humans, because not all of the data will make it across, but it doesnt really matter if an atom of game data doesnt make it across, but if an atom of DNA is lost, then that person is a different person.

[pHantOm]

Caael, on Oct 23 2006, 02:35 AM, said:

but if an atom of DNA is lost, then that person is a different person.

No, that person is severely retarded. Just 1 DNA stand missing is the difference between a dummy and a normal person. Each set of cromosomes from each set of parents * I think its 23 from each parent* is transfered to you, if only 22 is givin from one and 23 from another that persons missing and thus, they are brain dead.

Its not a good idea, especially if microsoft is making it. What happens if it freezes while in the process? :)

[Aquamarine]

Hey, pHantOm is back! Good to see you man! But er... Where did you get the idea that Microsoft would be making a teleportation thingy? :)

Mr.T, on Oct 23 2006, 06:12 AM, said:

Teleportation may be used for war, but think of how easily it would be to travel halfway accross the world!

I think long traveling is a price we should all pay if it means something like this won't be used in wars and such.
Also, just think how lazy and sluggish everyone would be! We would all be so unfit, because we wouldn't even bother walking to the bathroom.

[Toasty]

Of course we would! It would be mainly used from traveling long distances, or mabey to work, but cars wouldn't be obsolete, or bikes for that matter. You'd still have to travel from door to door when trick-or-treating (if anyone still does that at our ages). Besides, I doubt it would be possible for a human to be teleported. Non-living items are much more likely to be teleported than living things.

[Eugine]

I highly doubt we'd learn how to teleport living things successfully, but objects maybe in the distant future.

[FlamingDuck]

Teleportion would make things much easier, but it would take most of the specialness out some occasions. For instance: You go to see Grandma once a year in the summer. But with a teleporter, you can go on a light homework night. Familiarity breeds comtempt. And waiting for a package...well, teleporters would be good for that. But I think that if teleporters are even built, they will start out like computers: big, bulky, and industrial. It'll take a while to make available for home use.

[Caael]

Yeah, it always starts out like that, big and bulky. Reminds me of the simpson episode, where homer buys a teleporter, and puts one infront of the toilet, and then... yeah. But that episode is relevent- Imaging if 2 things were accidentally transported at the same time, like bart and the fly. The data would get mixed up and mix. Unless there is some sort of Particle recognition.

[Max]

I guess none of you actually read the article, because many of the comments in this thread are quite ignorant. The link no longer works, but given all the places I saw this story with a similar headline, I will assume that we are talking about the same one.

An invisibility cloak was not created. I was actually visiting Duke University on the day that the research team there was being interviewed by NBC, so I asked a bunch of questions of the students on that team.

Basically, they found/created a material that will allow specific frequency of microwaves (slowest of the electromagnetic waves) to pass through an object as if the object was not even there (an observer looking on that wavelength would not detect the presence of the object).

Two main points here:

1. This only works on a specific microwave frequency for now, and not on visible light.

2. It only works on a single frequency. Visible light works on a large range of frequencies, and so even if we could block a single frequency, it would have almost zero effect on an observer as all the other light waves would still be refracted/reflected by the object.

So before people claim the military will be using this, keep in mind that this has almost zero practical purpose at this point in time. Maybe at some future date when they discover/create materials that can do this on a wider frequency range it will become a viable technology.

More information on negative refraction can be found at http://en.wikipedia....tive_refraction.

[Aquamarine]

True, I didn't read the article, I didn't have the time. Still, just because it is impossible for the military or anyone else to use it today or even in the close/distant future doesn't mean we can't talk about what we think and feel about invisibility cloaks maybe being used one day Max.