[Cyborg] safe graduated pain administration ?

[travis+ml-cyborg at subspacefield.org]

On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 12:22:42AM -0700, David Molnar wrote:
> Electric shock is the classic, but I'm not sure if that will be safe
> when applied repeatedly through the day. In particular, I'm worried
> about heart arrythmias. I have some family history here that makes me
> specifically cautious.

Avoid crossing the body (heart) and entering the bloodstream.

I have a book on electrical safety that goes into the risks of shock
if you really want to do research on this.

> Heat may have a problem if the thing is worn under
> clothes, and I expect it is not energy efficient.

Actually, almost all of the power lost to a resistor is converted into
heat, so it's quite efficient.

Dumping a small amount of current through a nichrome wire will quickly
make it glowing hot.

I used to touch a wire to aluminum foil to complete a circuit as a kid
(using a few C cells) and it would vaporize the aluminum at the point
of contact.

Maybe you could repurpose some of those cold-weather foot warmers
(electric socks); they last a long time on a single 9V battery, IIRC.
-- 
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