War is a part of our reality and nations are constantly in an arms race.
After the culmination of the World War 2 in 1945, there have been over 200 major wars, which has claimed 50 million lives and rendered tens of millions homeless, injured and bereaved. And as much as we wish and pray for world peace, we all know it’s still some ways off (especially if there are aliens out there).
The interesting thing about war is if you draw a graph, you’ll find that there’s a direct relationship between technological advancement and the frequency of war. That is, the more we churn out efficient killing machines and tech, the more eager we are to engage in warfare.
I remember the first time I heard about the neutron bomb (it causes minimal physical damage to buildings and equipment but will kill most living things). I was terrified at the possibilities that presented. Then I heard of this DNA tracking bullet that can self-correct in mid flight. The end is near people.
The fascinating thing is that these weapons all existed as theories and ideas in the pages of books, movies and comic books. But someone thought they’d be a great idea in the real world.
There are still many insane, overpowered weapons in fiction and, going by the relationship between war and technology mentioned earlier, if they ever get made, things would become a whole lot worse.
I tried to think up a few especially the ones that were already in development ….
Iron man suit
This one is already in development. If you’ve seen the Marvel movies (and read the comics) you’ll know how much damage this suit can bring to a fight. It helped Tony Stark go toe to toe with the Hulk for Pete’s sake!
The suit’s still in its early stages (the current version is like a version 0.21). and the current prototype is nowhere near what we see in the Marvel movies or comics but the fact that it even exists tells you it’s only a matter of time. What’s that thing they say? Where there’s a will, there’s a way?
Mjolnir
For the uninitiated, this is Thor’s (the Marvel character) hammer. A weapon that can control the weather, and summon lightning bolts out of the sky. If that doesn’t give you shivers, consider the fact that a bolt of lightning, striking from cloud to ground, contains roughly one billion (1,000,000,000) joules of energy. Now imagine an army of soldiers conjuring said power at will and you have your key to world domination, right there.
It isn’t too far off either. There’s already a weather altering device, HAARP. Give it a few years, eh?
We know governments all over the world are currently experimenting and researching to figure out how to make more fictional weapons like these a reality.
Fingers crossed, they never do.
Photo Credits: Comic Vine; Dunechaser via Compfight cc
