For as long as man could imagine, he has dreamt of the possibilities of invisibility. The concept of vanishing from the visible world has created all sorts of fantastical dreams for many of mankind. Throughout the fictional works of history, we hear of people or beings who could wield such a power, of monster’s who could blend in to the night, or of wizards who cast invisibility spells upon themselves. Invisibility has been used in fictional futuristic war pieces, as well as magical paradises. Such a concept, having been considered a fantasy for nearly all of humanities existence, may, however, brim on the verge of reality.
Invisibility refers to the state of an object in which cannot be seen, Literally the opposite of being visible. Many commonly known fictional works such as Harry Potter, or the Lord of the Rings deal with items in which shroud its wielder with invisibility, such as the invisibility cloak or the ring or power in respective order. With the expanse of super human comics and manga (japanese comic), however, characters with innate invisibility powers such as Invisible woman from the Fantastic Four and Reptile from Mortal Combat begin to appear throughout our culture’s various medias.
Ironically, both Invisibility woman and Reptile use the aid of invisibility to enhance their combat powers throughout their respective series. Similarly, Producing Invisibility cloaks in the real world would dominate in wars where an opposer lacks such a power. Imagine the frontline of the war in Iraq today. How would foot soldier casualties differ if one side had a near 100% transparency? Can you shoot what you can’t see? Surprisingly the answer is yes and no. While it is necessary to “see” an opponent, many existing technologies such as heat vision and radar allow targets to be spotted despite their visibility levels. Nonetheless, nothing can compare to the physical accuracy of spotting a target with the naked eye.
While it seems that supporting invisible troops would drastically favor one side, the simple expenses in utilizing a new technology involving invisibility could possibly outweigh the benefits one would gain on the battlefield. This is partially due to the millions of tiny mirrors that would be involved in making even one invisibility cloak. Covering an entire army with such a technology? Financially, It might not be possible. However opposing forces would also require additional equipment, such as heat sensors to locate invisible units as well, causing war costs for both sides to sky rocket.
Understanding the uses of invisibility is all but practical if man cannot create the effect ourselves, as we have learned that magical rings and super powers are hard to come by (impossible in fact!). One theory to developing a suitable invisibility cloak may be to use the power of millions of tiny mirrors linked together to more or less “bend” the light around the wielder. Such microscopic processing and producing would cost far to much to be efficient on a wide scale. Another method, portrayed in the film The Invisible Man, may be to manually bend lights visible waves around an object, much like a stone in a running river. The water flows around the stone, showing no signs of ever having touched it. While this method may also seem improbably, Scientists are already having success at bending radio waves, meaning light waves aren’t out of the running.
While the concept of invisibility holds most of its market value in war use, There are many other practical uses, many of which the government would be highly interested in. Highway patrol would be much easier to manage. Considering how people slow down drastically upon seeing a cop car on the side of the road, having cop cars built with invisibility cloaks (that could turn off of course, otherwise you’d have no idea you were being pulled over!) could help them in catching many speeders on today’s roads. would such Product-placement be wanted though? At least in todays system, drivers have a chance reduce their speed enough to avoid a ticket, but in a world of invisibility you may never speed, not knowing if there may be cops fifteen feet away.
Invisibility, while a fantastical concept in the minds many men and women today, may not be an option to the widespread public however. Such a technology will most likely be extremely expensive, not within an affordable range for ordinary citizens. Thievery might also escalate if invisibility cloaks were to become widespread. Invisibility cloaks are definitely a future to aim for, but should probably be left government departments such as the military or navy.
With great power, comes great responsibility.
