Robotic Insects On The Battlefield

January 24, 2007 8:29 AM

In the past, battlefields were loud. Death came in the form of a huge plane roaring overhead, in the boom of a cannon, in the whine of a bullet shooting through the air. In the near future, death might arrive quietly, in the form of an insect buzzing around your head . . .
posted by jason's_planet (26 comments total)

I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.
posted by mattbucher at 8:43 AM on January 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

I knew we were all in for a world of hurt back when Neil Young bought an interest in Lionel Trains.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 8:48 AM on January 24, 2007

Actually the insect buzzing has preceded a whole lot of wartime deaths. Alexander the Great, for one.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:49 AM on January 24, 2007

Send in the SWAT team!
posted by hal9k at 8:56 AM on January 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

Why call the WASP the Talibanator? Does it talibanate? That would be a bad thing and the opposite of the intended effect, no?

At least the Turbanator would be a pun on something but noooooo.
posted by mkb at 8:58 AM on January 24, 2007

Just wait for the nanoplagues. No sound at all.
I actually have little doubt that such things will exist sometime soonish ~50 years, just because it will be possible to do means someone will do it.

If there was a big button that was roped off in the dessert with the words "Do not touch! This will kill you!" It would take less than a month before a dozen individuals had to try it.
posted by edgeways at 9:00 AM on January 24, 2007

Ever since I read the Joe Haldeman short story "The Private War of Private Jacob" I've had the line "...and the little metal bugs ate his face" rattling around in my psyche for decades. Looks like we're closing in on making that a reality.
posted by pax digita at 9:01 AM on January 24, 2007

Mini robots! Now with Bad Guy Recognition™ 2.0 software. Improvements over Version 1.0 include:

- more effective skin tone scanning.
- Bluetooth.
posted by jimmythefish at 9:02 AM on January 24, 2007

A day in the life of a ladybug, indeed.
posted by hermitosis at 9:11 AM on January 24, 2007

Electronic countermeasures.
posted by cenoxo at 9:21 AM on January 24, 2007

Get prepared, people.
posted by mckenney at 9:25 AM on January 24, 2007

... a big button that was roped off in the dessert with the words "Do not touch! This will kill you!"

It will, indeed, kill you. But sooo delicious!
posted by skammer at 9:30 AM on January 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

If there was a big button that was roped off in the dessert with the words "Do not touch! This will kill you!" It would take less than a month before a dozen individuals had to try it.

Count me in. It was a triple-layer cake called Death by Chocolate. I tried it at lunch yesterday.
posted by hal9k at 9:31 AM on January 24, 2007

In the past, battlefields were loud. Death came in the form of arrows zipping overhead, in the whinny of horses, in the clank of swords striking one another. In the near future, death might arrive quietly, in the form of microbes in your drinking water.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:31 AM on January 24, 2007

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posted by jimmythefish at 9:33 AM on January 24, 2007

Skammer: you are most worthy opponent (bows). Your brevity and speed shame me.
posted by hal9k at 9:34 AM on January 24, 2007

Interesting. Dan Brown's fictional "Deception Point" has something similar that is used to do surveillance. Brown asserts that all of the technology in his novel is currently in existence.
posted by tadellin at 10:49 AM on January 24, 2007

Dan Brown's grasp of technology is currently fictional.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:02 AM on January 24, 2007

If there was a big button that was roped off in the dessert with the words "Do not touch! This will kill you!" It would take less than a month before a dozen individuals had to try it.

"It's the history eraser button, you fool!"
posted by Vervain at 11:25 AM on January 24, 2007

Didn't we already do something like this in the movie Screamers? Or maybe it was Runaway.

If the military is going to keep ripping off old movies, how 'bout they try to make something useful?
posted by quin at 11:49 AM on January 24, 2007

Previously.
posted by allkindsoftime at 11:50 AM on January 24, 2007

Sounds like the perfect assasination tool. Will heads of state ever be able to go outside again? Or only the ones who can afford the countermeasures?
posted by Potsy at 11:57 AM on January 24, 2007

Pshaw. You kids and your new-fangled instant death buttons, history eraser buttons...

Back in my day, all we had was a big red button that didn't do anything, and we LIKED it!
posted by PsychoKick at 1:57 PM on January 24, 2007

This whole "Taliban undermined by electronic insects" meme sounds awfully familiar.
posted by neckro23 at 6:07 PM on January 24, 2007

Wow, an eye opener. Thanks for the post.
posted by nickyskye at 10:34 PM on January 24, 2007

Hmm, brilliant idea: create a lethal weapon that can be captured with a butterfly net, hot-wired, and turned against your own side.
posted by senor biggles at 10:42 PM on January 24, 2007