Today, Gizmodo posted an article about a gun that makes you stop talking–the SpeechJammer. The way the gun works is that it interferes with how you hear yourself talking, confusing your brain, and ultimately making you physically unable to talk normally.
The SpeechJammer is being marketed as an interruption-preventer (during meetings, say) and as a “portable speech-jamming gun.” But here’s the thing. The device causes people to stutter (and interestingly, to cause stutterers to speak normally). If it’s to prevent interruptions, is making an interrupter stutter any less disturbing and letting him interrupt?
And as the article says, think about protests. It no longer becomes a question of people ignoring your political speech, but actively and literally silencing you. Eerie.