New Pentagon Weapon Will Use Lasers to Make You Hear Voices

Technological growth continues to lead us into a society stunningly similar to the world portrayed in the show Black Mirror. A new report estimates that within three years the Pentagon expects to have a non-lethal direct energy weapon that uses lasers to create voices out of thin air.

The U.S. military’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program, or JNLWD, has been working on a new technology known as Laser-Induced Plasma Effect, which can harness the power of lasers to alter atoms in the air enough to produce auditory effects.

The new weapon uses a femtosecond laser to forge a concentrated orb of plasma; a second nanolaser alters the plasma field to produce what sounds like "a haunted walkie-talkie."

“We’re this close to getting it to speak to us. I need three or four more kilohertz,” says David Law, who runs JNLWD’s technology division. “Range is a function of the optics. The bigger the mirrors, the farther the range. This is the first non-lethal weapon that could go out tens of kilometers.”

Military scientists expect the direct energy weapon to assist psychological operations (psyops) on the battlefield. It could also be used for domestic purposes and it would not unprecedented if such operations included illegal propaganda. In 2008 a declassified report showed the government was experimenting with the use of lasers to make people hear voices that weren't really there. The so-called Voice of God weapon has provoked conspiracy theorists to wonder how such psyops could be used on civilian populations in the future.

There have also been marketing campaigns in which corporations used tech called an "audio spotlight" to beam voices from billboard advertisements into the heads of passing consumers.