@Curves: I think it is more of a concern how error prone this may be, the last thing that needs to happen in the middle of a fire fight is a false reading on one of these monitor chips releasing a dose of morphine into a soldier or Marine and having them disabled by their own gear. I found in my time as a Marine infantryman that the ideology of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) was usually the best way to avoid adding unnecessary risk to any mission.

TOWken22

@jsforbes:

damnit you beat me to it. Stimpacks were pretty badass, weren't they?

RamV10

I can see someones biometric reader come off then being hopped up on morphine for no reason. 1.6 mil, sounds like they already went for the lowest bidder MadCrazy.

Nick_M

Why does that make me think of Haze... Hmm

Shodan

nice... I can see one of these getting hacked for use by drug addicts to get their illegal substances for that constant high feeling that just never lets up. No more need for weed in a car with rolled up windows.

slucas

^ One of the best comments on the internet.

Tastic7

@Curves: All I can say is: MKULTRA

Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine

Psssst, Ah Yeah. That's the stuff.

jsforbes

Would I sound cynical if I said fear this may be used to introduce other drugs to soldiers as well? Maybe not drugs aimed at the soldiers health and well being but something to make him/her do things that they might judge as morally wrong. I hope not....but if I was cynical, I might think that.

Curves

You know what's goanna happen don't yea? If and when it comes around, they're goanna give the manufacturing contract to the lowest bidder, who are going to
invariably screw the soldiers.

"In Greed We Trust" - America

MadCrazy

Isn't that how 'Berserk' worked in Doom?

Eric 'Vote 4 Me' Alder

@Shodan: War has changed...

Eschekt

pretty sweet until bad guys hack it/disable it somehow, then soldiers get hurt, wont wear the gear, and there would be less conventional meds on base and/or a big waste of money. I thought these army guys were paid to think of worst case scenarios?

redkamel

@MadCrazy: Wouldn't giving it to the lowest builder NOT be greedy? Giving to someone who is kicking back to the person who decides would be greedy. And realistically, the lowest bidder is not usually picked b/c if the bidder stands to lose money on a project, you have to worry about them going bankrupt 3/4 of the way through the build, which leaves you SOL.

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->

A PipBoy 2000 would be nice also.

Earthslide

I don't know how comfortable (or sanitary) it would be to wear a uniform with probes and needles constantly stuck in your skin out in the field for extended periods of time.

TOWken22

@Curves: Well, you're going to need drugs to go out there and fight against those Geckos and Metal Gears. Any non-medicated person would see those things and just turn the other way.

ceilingFANBOY

go go go go go go go..

orappa

stim packs anyone?

vsboxerboy

@Curves:

Everyone knows you need to build an Acadamy then invest 100 minerals and gas before you can research Stim Packs!

tanukineri

@tanukineri: @whiteknight89: I was thinking the same thing, haha.

GTgeek

I would not be comfortable having a needle affixed to me for hours at a time. Imagine the unit snapping off while sliding across the ground and you'll understand what I mean.

Instead, it should take advantage of new injection technologies that don't involve penetration by anything else but the meds themselves.

Tolgak

@tanukineri: Dammit, you beat me to it. I miss that game, I'm going to go see if I can find my disk...

"You wanna piece of me, boy?"

whiteknight89

@redkamel: No, we would still need medics and corpsman carrying around the normal dosages of drugs and equipment. I see this as a way to help the soldier find medical help by keeping the edge of the pain or whatever else so he/she can get to a safer area for treatment.

bagellord

Are you serious?
See MGS4 for reference.

Calaverius

I am not a gamer, but I gather from the other comments that this has been done already in some combat game. And how did it turn out in the virtual world? I still get a bad vibe about it real time.

Curves

Ahh YES! A Drug Replicator! How about that nice 1973 4 way windowpane... No, No, that 1974 opium laced Thai-Stick...No, no A barrel of turquoise mescaline...Oh OH the choices are endless with a brilliant hack of this device. The end is near.

Dr.Remulak

Hey considering we're spending so much time in the sand perhaps they need to develop a Freman stillsuit...

Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another dude

@Curves: It didn't affect gameplay, but if you suddenly got shot/maimed in some way your little suit computer would just say to you "Major fracture detected, morphine administered."
Which is nice.

rfaulder

Stuff like this is already in use by diabetic people. My wife has an insulin pump attached to her by a little tube, and a plastic drip tube she has to inject into her belly. The drip tube stays attached for about 3 days. She has to program the pump, but there are newer blood meters than you can "wear" that monitor blood sugar numbers all the time and signal the pump to adjust the insulin level.
Boy its way expensive still and the monitors are sort of big. Waiting for more miniaturization on those.

SuperMacGuy

Are there any other Palladium gamers out there who are reminded of the Juicer character class from Rifts?

dadelus

@Eschekt: War never changes.

dadelus

Old tech ... they used a shotgun barrel for drug delivery in 'Nam.

kbarrett

@Curves:

Haze had something like this that made the soldiers into immoral killers, and one revolts and tries to bring them all down.

Nocturnus, the Online Bard

It's a shame the military and UCSD are so stupid that they haven't already thought of these moronic objections to what appears to be very beneficial tech, both for military and civilian use. (Note: Not all the objections were moronic, I'll leave it to the individual to decide which is which.)

GadgetPlay

@Tolgak: Yeah, why an actual needle? Can't they transderm this stuff like nicotine patches? Or Molly's disks in Neuromancer? "She was leaning against the wall, taking all of her weight on her right leg. She fumbled through the contents of the suit's kangaroo pocket and withdrew a sheet of plastic studded with a rainbow of dermadisks. She selected three and thumbed them hard
against her left wrist, over the veins. Six thousand micrograms of endorphin analog came down on the pain like a hammer, shattering it. Her back arched
convulsively. Pink waves of warmth lapped up her thighs. She sighed and slowly relaxed. "Okay, Brood. Okay now. But I'll need a medical team when l come
out."
I mean it's been 20 years, surely science has caught up to this part of Gibson's work by now.

drehenkraft

@Curves:
Mostly references to Starcraft (a classic real time strategy, with a much anticipated sequel!) And Half Life, a first person shooter, where Gordan Freeman (in his HEV suit) is the protagonist.

tanukineri

@Nocturnus, the Online Bard: That game seemed like it had potential, but every review I read about it said it was terrible. I may have to rent it some time and see for myself.

GTgeek

@GadgetPlay: Hey hey, I defend my moronic objections. The military NEEDS someone to think of the stuff SO stupid that the pros wont ever consider it. Its me or the conspiracy theorists, take your pick.

Curves

Brings new meaning to "wardrobe malfunction."

FritzLaurel

"Minor fracture detected, morphine administered".

Sounds like several *ahem* "field accidents" waiting to happen. Great idea though.

maximumleo

Does it say "Administering Morphine" in a soothing female voice?

metaslugx

@drehenkraft:
Yeah! And where's the damn microsoft (lowercase) tech? I can accept biosoft being a decade away, but I want those slivers of microsoft putting conversational Spanish, how to kill people, or how to fly an articulated carbon-fiber airframe jumpjet behind my ear:

    And then he was in the cockpit, breathing the new-car smell of long-chain monomers, the familiar scent of newly minted technology, and the girl was behind him, an awkward doll sprawled in the embrace of the g-web that Conroy had paid a San Diego arms dealer to install behind the pilot's web. The plane was quivering, a live thing, and as he squirmed deeper into his own web, he fumbled for the interface cable, found it, ripped the microsoft from his socket, and slid the cable-jack home.

    Knowledge lit him like an arcade game, and he surged forward with the plane-ness of the jet, feeling the flexible airframe reshape itself for jump-off as the canopy whined smoothly down on its servos. The g-web ballooned around him, locking his limbs rigid, the gun still in his hand. "Go, motherfucker." But the jet already knew, and g-force crushed him down into the dark.

from William Gibson's Count Zero

skierpage

@dadelus: haha yeah. hopefully this doesnt reduce the average lifespan of the soldiers to <5 years from the day they get it installed...i wonder if crazies are up next at the r&d department.

undeadmachine

I get 3-4 migraines a week. I currently take percs for them. Does this mean that I could be walking down the street, stop, and say "mmmm, migraiiinne...."? If the unit reacts to biochemicals, will it be able to reliably limit the dose of what it gives? I mean, if it's set to dole out morphine when the wearer is in severe pain, what happens when the user is STILL in severe pain after having gotten the dose? Can this device respond to unforseen allergic reactions in soldiers? If we import the drugs from China, and then fight China, could we say the melanine was accidental?

TaraKolibri