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For several years, I worked for a company which made non-lethal weapons simulation gear, for military training. Stuff like replica grenades which send a weak radio signal upon 'exploding' - if the radio receiver in your vest gets the signal, you take simulated damage. Laser transmitters that sense the firing of a blank, wait a few milliseconds for the gunpowder cloud to clear, then send a laser encoded pulse where the bullet would have gone. That sort of stuff. It was very cool tech to work on. We built gear used to keep soldiers alive, and to train the men who disarmed mine fields. I told myself I was not in the business of war, I was in the business of keeping soldiers alive. Eventually, I didn't believe myself so much any more - I WAS in the business of war (albeit less evil than most), and I found other work.
speeding_snail · 4534 days ago · link ·
Working in weapons can be quite fun. I study Electrical Engineering, so in my case it would be controllers, tracking devices or whatever they can think of and indeed, that is really cool stuff to work on. I think that is why many people don't really have problems with working there. Large budgets and cool stuff, what more could you possibly want?
But if I may ask, what made you question your line of work?
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briandmyers · 4534 days ago · link ·
As I said, it was really just a realisation that I was in the war business. I'm a liberal greenie hippie-type person at heart, so the cognitive dissonance was not easy. When I had an opportunity to get a job much more to my ethical leanings, I jumped - even though the job I was jumping to was anything but secure. The new company was tiny, and likely to not survive; but so far it's been 4 years, and we have done wonders in that time. I am very proud to have played a small role in the successes we have achieved so far : www.rexbionics.com
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speeding_snail · 4533 days ago · link ·
Wow, that is awesome stuff. You most certainly have a reason to be proud. Working on awesome machinery and helping people at the same time. Good luck and have fun with the further development of the rex. I think you have made the right choice if I may say so.