Very shiny lasers?

[DeZmond]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6380789.stm

100kW lasers within reach? Is this even a good thing - do we need lasers of this power or is this going to be another atomic bomb (given the level of military interest in the project already)?

 

[Tetsuo_Shima]

Seph, I hope you're reading this Satellite lasers here we come!

 

[elDiablo]

I can see the Ion Cannon now! Oh my dreams of real life Generals is coming true ^______^

On a more serious note: good for shooting down enemy missiles (maybe even nukes?) before they kills lots of people and stuff; bad for shooting down enemies. I wonder what the Geneva Conventions will say about their use in wars? I mean, can you blind an enemy soldier with a laser so they don't shoot you? Or should you just burn a hole through their head?

Is this already covered by them? =/

 

[Dragon]

well diablo ... what gives you the right to blind other people? ... to be honest i'd prefer to be dead instead of blind ... but hell an ion cannon pointed at the white house and the whatever in iran and north korea would sure be fun as hell!

 

[elDiablo]

well diablo ... what gives you the right to blind other people? ... to be honest i'd prefer to be dead instead of blind ...

That... was... kind of.. my point... =/

The Geneva Conventions are a set of protocols to, among other things (like the treatment of prisoners), limit the suffering of combatants during a war. Protocols such as not using chemical weapons or bullets which have a drill affect (which basically shred your insides) during war. Hence, using a laser to blind someone would be, well... (and yes, the irony is great) "unethical". I'm not explaining this very well, so read the Wikipedia page.

 

[Nanor]

Those things look so cool! All the same, if I do get stuck in a war with an Ion cannon pointed at me, I'm not going to think "OMG! Ion Cannon!! This is just like generals ^____^"

You'd need some hardcore aim to shoot down some nukes..

 

[VibroAxe]

Seph, I hope you're reading this Satellite lasers here we come!

Not wishing to be difficult Tetsuo but satellite based lasers are a long way off. Chemical lasers arn't practical as how do you refuel a satellite, and Diode Pumped Solid State Lasers (ala bbc) don't have anywhere near the required power to shoot down through the atmosphere. So your still quite a long way off

[/end lecture]

 

[Tetsuo_Shima]

Not wishing to be difficult Tetsuo but satellite based lasers are a long way off. Chemical lasers arn't practical as how do you refuel a satellite, and Diode Pumped Solid State Lasers (ala bbc) don't have anywhere near the required power to shoot down through the atmosphere. So your still quite a long way off

[/end lecture]

You're reading into this too much buddy I was referring to a light-hearted shoutbox argument Sephiroth and myself were having about the laser cannon that appears in Akira. That said: i've been told. Nobody can deny themselves the opportunity to flex their brainpower once in a while.

 

[Sephiroth]

lol indeed, but you wouldnt have to refuel it would ya... i mean apart from to stop reentry you wouldnt need fuel right? and does that mean that flashbangs make you suffer, they make you blind for a few seconds dont they? and in war you dont always follow the rules. hell... should there really be rules in war? "you aint allowed to use that weapon because it kill to many people", OK so you would prefer us to just use our own mens lives instead killing MORE people you tards!! ha so all we have to do is get our men killed aswell as there own, instead of preserving our lives and ending the war alot faster?

 

[UArch]

Not wishing to be difficult Tetsuo but satellite based lasers are a long way off. Chemical lasers arn't practical as how do you refuel a satellite, and Diode Pumped Solid State Lasers (ala bbc) don't have anywhere near the required power to shoot down through the atmosphere. So your still quite a long way off

[/end lecture]

well if i remember correctly, lasers are already used by astronomers and such to measure distances to things in space so getting through the atmosphere isnt the major problem, you might create an uber powerful killing beam of ultimate doom, which can indeed get through the atmosphere and probably reach earth, problem is that almost all of the beams power will be lost due to being fragmented by particles in the air, so either you need tons more power than you actually need, or we could try and clean up the atmosphere =P

go green in order to allow laser destruction

 

[Sephiroth]

sounds good! but power wouldnt be a problem, having a limited power sauces isnt very pratical it has to be solar power in my opinion (like i said to tets in shoutbox) and you'd need real big power storages!!! *starts drawing the plans for his dooms day laser*

 

[UArch]

you may be underestimating just how much power may be needed ;P...and solar panels would probably take a long time to put enough energy into a storage, thats not really a problem, but all "temporary" storage will dissipate its energy over time, like a battery or capacitor

if you can overcome that, then overcome the beam fragmentation problem, then im sure you may have a nice weapon in your hands

all this speak of lasery doom makes me want to watch akira again, too!

 

[Tetsuo_Shima]

Wait wait wait, I've got it ... Orbital nuclear reactor!

Actually, we'd probably just end up getting frustrated and just throw the uranium at them instead. And that was me that suggested solar power you thief! You sneaky sneakthief!

 

[PsiSoldier]

Why'd you want a laser all the way in space where most of it's energy would be lost punching through the atmosphere, when you could probably mount one on a heavy plane and not worry aboot that .

 

[VibroAxe]

Seph, I didn't mean refuel the power of the satellite, but refuel to Chemical ingredients needed to power a chemical based laser. They chew up alot of stuff in order to pump the lazer up to megawatt capacities.
Any lazer which can punch through the atmosphere to far is usually a Chemical Lazer, which can be refueled as it is based on the ground, in space this would be a much more difficult procedure...

 

[Macca]

lol indeed, but you wouldnt have to refuel it would ya... i mean apart from to stop reentry you wouldnt need fuel right? and does that mean that flashbangs make you suffer, they make you blind for a few seconds dont they? and in war you dont always follow the rules. hell... should there really be rules in war? "you aint allowed to use that weapon because it kill to many people", OK so you would prefer us to just use our own mens lives instead killing MORE people you tards!! ha so all we have to do is get our men killed aswell as there own, instead of preserving our lives and ending the war alot faster?

You've got the refuelling thing confused. Sure you could send it up to space, without too much bother, but when you did get it up there and if it was used it could probably only get used once, without being refuelled. Remember it's chemically powered so once all the chemicals have reacted, you now don't have anymore power to supply the laser, hence you would have to refuel it, and with the cost of sending people into space never mind desiring and sending up a craft to refuel it.

On your second point. Flashbangs make you temporarily blind for a few seconds, Lasers can make you permanently blind. Fair enough you could be blinded and then shot with the Flashbangs, however you could be left permanently blind by a laser. How would you feel about staying blind for life?

Ofcourse there should be rules in wars. You have to remember that alot wars are fought by Faceless Bureaucrats that don't give a shit whether a soldier dies aslong as they get some sort of result. A lot of people fight in wars because they are forced too, not because they choose to. Take WWII for instance. Would you have been happy to Blind a german soldier, or even use some sort of weapon that would tear up the guys insides? You have to remember that people in war have families, they have a wives and children and mothers and fathers. Sure they might be fighting for the opposition, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want to be in the war.

It's not about Killing more people or Killing less people. It's about the moral values that killing someone in such a way or with such a weapon.

 

[Sephiroth]

the nazis in WW2 didnt care who they killed, and the americans (bless theyre little hearts) where fighting against that... but in the end how did they end the war with japan? atomic bomb on CIVILIAN cities.
in the end what im saying is the rules will be ignored if you think it brings you victory, in the nazis case it just ended up causing the germans and british more suffering but in the americans case it ended the war and killed alot of japs leaving alot more to suffer from nuclear radiation
so after all these rules, when do you think the nuclear war begins? its only a matter of time tis what humans do we make bigger and better weapons to kill each other

i know that your points make alot more sense then mine but i just say whats on my mind or what i believe... we all know that sooner or later theres gunna be a real war, i dont mean the current type where we're fighting against rebels sorta thing, im not saying it isnt a war i know that we are losing men but not on a grand scale compared to other wars this is more like a picnic then anything else what i mean is major countries with a real military that organised and has the latiest stuff.

and your right you lose alot of power through the atmosphere the question is will they use ground based laser for defense? or to kill more innocients!

(was tired when i posted this so lots of mess ups and just >.> dont pick on me too much)