[throwanem]

> we may see a viable laser rifle soon

We won't. It's been a while since I compared the muzzle energy of a rifle bullet and that of a relatively powerful laser, and I don't have the time to dig up the comparison again right now, but the tl;dr: is that we won't see an even theoretically man-portable laser that can put a hole through someone for a very long time, if ever. Setting things on fire and damaging light sensors, sure - but those tasks are absurdly easy by comparison with rearranging bulk matter.

[adrianN]

A rifle has a muzzle energy of a couple kilojoules. So you're looking at lasers in the kW power range. I doubt that you could do comparable damage even if you could deliver comparable energy. Flesh doesn't conduct heat terribly well and vaporizing a centimeter of skin is not very lethal.

[StavrosK]

Sure, but who hasn't thought of turning their enemies into zebras?

[dsfyu404ed]

Just throw an Arduino, some servo motors, a camera and some ML on it and you can keep the squirrels off your bird feeder.

edit: if it's not obvious this is a joke