http://www.popsci.com/boeing-just-patented-force-field-lasers

So here it is, the force field we have all been waiting for.  Well, the patent for it, at any rate.  As far as I can tell (after consult with a couple scientists with fancier degrees than mine), the science is sound.  In theory this might just work as advertised, but there are a heap of roadblocks to overcome on the way to finally being able to repel photon torpedoes.

Anybody remember the foam-cannon?  Back in the late 80’s the military developed a weapon that could immobilize a person by covering them with a quick-hardening foam.  If used properly, it could allow enemy combatants to be incapacitated reasonably harmlessly (thereby giving you the chance to make sure they weren’t civilians) and could be used in softer situations (protests running out of control, for example) where the numbers game meant a high likely-hood of civilian casualties.

But there was a chance that a target could get foam in their face, over the head and thereby suffocate.  This, of course, meant they were just as potentially lethal as any physics-based lead-slinger.  So when they finally got deployed, they were relegated to building insta-barricades (which apparently could be torn down with relative ease).  They couldn’t be deployed where there was even a risk of someone getting foamed in the face and so, a really great idea got relegated to obscurity.

The key to this particular patent (as I see it) is that they are targeting the blastwave.  Rather than trying to stop shrapnel, they are focusing on the invisible killer.  The motion of force through the air that can simply kill you out of hand, no pointy bits needed.  So one could argue that any civilians close enough to be affected by the shockwave are dead no matter what you do, so any damage they might incur by getting hit by a laser is going to be irrelevant.

But, my money is still on this technology getting back-burnered until absolute safety can be proven which (as anyone who has walked down a sidewalk can tell you) is a nigh-impossible thing to prove.