Imagine what it would be like to have supernatural powers. You could fly to work, use telepathy to read your boss’s mind, or use your telekinesis to transport more coffee into your mug. It may sound a little silly, and most of us never believe it could actually happen. However, Xiang Zhang , along with other scientists from the Univ. of California, Berkeley, has made it possible to become invisible. They developed an invisible cloak for 3-D objects that deflects radar, light, or other waves around an object, making the object invisible.
The cloak technology is partly funded by the U.S. Army Research Office, mostly because it is seen as very beneficial for the military. Besides official military use, it is hard to see any other benefits cloak technology can provide to the population. Ok, maybe there are some fun things that we could use the invisible cloak for, but it would never have any real purpose in our lives.
It may be premature to start thinking about the negative consequences, since the technology still has several years to go before it is realized, but the list runs long in my mind. To start, I can see crime rates increasing with the use of the invisible cloak. Masks or costumes will no longer be needed, and police will find it harder to solve crimes if they can’t see who is committing them. The cloak will make it easier to invade other people’s privacy. And your boss can be standing right behind you while you take a nap and you would never know!
It may seem far-fetched to some, but if this is truly a technology that is in the works, I don’t see it having any positive benefits to the human population. So let’s drive our car to work, get our own coffee, and leave the supernatural powers to the superheroes.
