Milking bullet ants to extract venom that causes the "worst pain known to man"

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From Brain Scoop: Researchers are interested in what makes the sting so painful and if this potent neurotoxin could have some medical benefits.

Yeah, right… We know what they really want this for. A weapon. A interrogation tool. a punishment that doesn’t leave physical scars but painful in the extreme.

"General, our researchers have finally isolated and synthesized a the venom of the bullet ant. It’s a non-lethal but painful drug we can use on activists er I mean enemies… It is as painful as being shot, a few drops can make subjects pass out from the pain. It lasts 3-5 hours. And unlike the movie Ant-Man you don’t have to be an ant or the size of an ant to use it on someone.

It will be perfect for people we want to punish, but don’t want to actually kill. It sends message when we want or we can use it covertly as an “unexplained 'accident.”
We are weaponizing it by putting it in the tips of umbrellas, the underside of rings and the underside of car handles.

The other great news about this new neurotoxin is there s no easy way to stop the pain, beyond unconsciousness. We have plenty of effective ways to make people unconscious, but not one also sends a pain/punishment message. It doesn’t leave a physical mark and depending on how and where it is deployed it can be blamed on 'natural causes." (Note, the money invested in Ant-Man the money will be paying of now too when people start to fear ants.)

Also our friends in The Company say it will be useful for “enhanced interrogation”

How did we get the drug created so quickly? Standard practice We told the researchers we wanted to find the “medical benefits of it.” They always fall for that line, and then don’t dig any further because they want the DoD money.

The ones that don’t want to take the money directly because of “ethics” will take the money from one of our cutout drug suppliers or via an NIH grant that we steer their way. We tell them that it might helps on Alzheimer’s or arthritis or some shit like that and we need them make a huge batch to study and test to make sure.

The real problem will be controlling its distribution. The CIA used to be good with that but they have gotten sloppy. We are working with Homeland and local police departments that have intelligence outfits, like the NYPD. We also are testing it in all the black sites that weren’t shut down in other countries.

Several agencies like the idea of giving mind blowing pain to a subject that doesn’t leave a physical mark. They want tests done to see if it will kill people with weak hearts and if it loses its effectiveness over time and if they use it over and over.

We are coordinated those tests using Ghost prisoners and detainees that aren’t on any lists. Omega Green level or above clearance is required if you want details."

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Punishments and rewards are primitive ways to try motivating people.

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That video reminded me of this:

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Except that people did not evolve that much since the Age of Monkeys and therefore the primitive ways tend to work fairly well.

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Sigh. No, this can’t be used for torture for two reasons:

  1. Torture can’t work. They would have spilled on threat or they would already have resigned themselves to death.
  2. For the idiots (like Scalia) that refuse to understand torture can’t work, their stupid theory is based on the torture victim giving up key information in order to cease the torture. However, as there’s no quick way to stop the pain of the bullet ant’s venom, no such carrot exists.
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[unbelievably graphic description of the pain of even one sting]

You know, there’s something to be said for the idea that this is Nature’s way of telling us, “No, humans, this is not a good place for you to be. Go away.”

Although in fairness to the indigenous people of that region, Nature says pretty much the same thing in different ways everywhere else on the planet, too.

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Let’s not pretend torture has ever been about getting information. Torture has always been about revenge and punishing those you feel have wronged you.

In which case, I’m not sure bullet ant venom would help. You really don’t want the person you’re punishing (to get yourself sexually aroused) to pass out due to the extreme pain…

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I’d be interested to hear what alternatives you have to offer.

It doesn’t have anything to do with me.

Try making a list of 100 motivations, and choose one. Without getting to know a person, there is no reason to assume that you know what motivates them. I would even go so far as to say that nearly all persuasion and attempts at it are complete wastes of time. Trying to understand the world at large tends to be a full-time job, and simply does not leave time for manipulating opinions.

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As someone who killed a 10" long centipede in my son’s room last night, I can related to the fear of gunshot level pain from insect bites or stings. Thankfully, none of the members of my family have been bitten, but the people I know who have been bitten by the blue centipedes equate the pain to what a gunshot presumably feels like.

One on one, I’d greatly prefer to do battle with one of these ants than a Hawaiian centipede, as the centipedes are faster and angrier than they should have a right to be. On the other hand, though, centipedes don’t travel in armies and swarm like I imagine these ants do, so I’m sure they make formidable adversaries.

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That’s a really good idea. Bullet ant torture to inflict pain, with the offer of an antidote or a morphine shot in exchange for the required information.

Although it is already possible to just use the ants directly, we believe it will be interesting to know the chemical structure of the ant venom. Military scientists believe that there are at least two compounds in the bullet ant venom, one attacking the muscles directly to produce the uncontrollable trembling, and another unknown compound responsible for the excruciating pain.

The natural ratio of these two compounds in ant venom is such that a subject will succumb to asphyxiation due to loss of control of the diaphragm before the theoretical maximum activation of the pain pathways can be reached.

Research will allow our military scientists to develop:

  • A painless prodrug version of the compound that is metabolised and activated by the liver, and then distributed evenly throughout the body, rather than only affecting the injection site
  • Modified versions of the compound showing higher binding affinity, with the ability activate pain receptors in nanomole concentrations.
  • Bioaccumulating versions of the compound that the body is unable to metabolise
  • Combination of the above

Once we have developed these compounds, we hope to be able to administer a massive dose of the precursor compound surreptitiously in food or via the umbrella spike, allowing plausible deniability for assassination purposes, and a more tailored suffering experience for interrogation applications.

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THE PAAAAAINNN

[Body is invalid; try to be a little more descriptive]

Paul Atreides shrieked, THE PAAAAAINNN

Then he shouted, “Fuck you, BBS filter script!”

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I was watching “The Zanti Misfits” just the other day

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This is the greatest moment of your life, man, and you are off somewhere missing it.
https://youtu.be/zvtUrjfnSnA

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I live in Hawaii, and regularly have to deal with centipedes (which love the front stoop of my house). I find these ants much scarier.

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When I lived in Arizona these… Ahem… fuckers were all over the place. Second most painful sting, next to drumroll the bullet ant. Luckily not aggressive unless you mess with them.

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just type   into any rejected post. the code turns invisible but the filter reads it as an acceptable number of characters.

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If that was what they wanted, it would be far easier to run a bullet ant breeding program and ask those Amazonian fellows how they made the gloves.

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Unless of course, the torture is done merely to punish…

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