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mmcconnell1618
From the article, it sounds like the shock is triggered wirelessly from a projectile that is conventionally fired at the target person. The person who fired the projectile has the ability to trigger the shock or to wait and see if the targeted person complies first.

The actual charge is not sent wirelessly. I was hoping this was some kind of "phasers on stun" breakthrough.

Natsu
In theory you could use one or more lasers to ionize the air and potentially make it conductive enough to zap someone. In practice, I expect there would be a serious risk of eye damage for everyone involved and it would probably be unworkable, but who knows?
Qworg
You could also send a thin wire, then vaporize it to create the ion channel. =)
Natsu
I think some existing stun guns work in that manner? Granted, they might not vaporize the wire. Still an interesting idea.
rm_-rf_slash
Considering how often my Bluetooth speakers get confused between my computer and the two iPhones in the house, a wireless device that can emit lethal amounts of electricity scares the shit out of me.

I know comments are gonna come out of the woodwork about the difference between Bluetooth and wireless tech they use. Whatever. Like you’ve never written bugs.

theknarf
I agree; that is problematic. At least the article hinted at the possibility to have a built-in time limit to avoid a deadly dose. Hopefully, this might lover the number of deaths from tasers.
sova
Fuck tazers and their brutal outcomes. Fuck Taser Corporation's [now "Axon"] coverup of all the lethal dosages of electricity from their devices.
[dead] Fins
Right. Let's just shoot everyone with real bullets! Much, much better.
gleenn
Perhaps not shooting people at all would be a better start. Can't find the link but I've seen some videos applauding police doing de-escalation work that worked well, think it was in Europe.
Fins
That would be a better approach, for sure, but it works much better in Europe, or Japan -- places where the general population is very unlikely to have guns. Europe also has better mental health support systems, so they have fewer crazy people on the streets, too. Until those are fixed, Tazer seems to be a "good enough" option.
sova
More than half of the people who get the police called on them in the United States need mental and psyche help, not traumatization and incarceration
Fins
Yes, and you really need to do it well before the police gets involved.
sova
How?
Fins
That's a million dollar social policy question.

Being to commit people against their will (and having money for it) would be a start.

sova
I'm here to brainstorm solutions! :D
hliyan
I hope they've thought about targets using wireless jammers, or worse yet, someone hacking the signal...
SlowBro
Does the projectile store the charge in a supercap or something?
imglorp
The real "phasers on stun" wireless method may be the laser-induced plasma channel: a brief UV pulse ionizes the air, making a conductive path over which an electrical current can be sent. There's a lot of applications of this, from stopping people to HERF-ing things, but none have made it to market yet... Maybe it's a hard problem?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser