How to Become Invisible

mdm42 writes "Looks like a theoretical physicist at St. Andrews University in Scotland believes that invisibility may be possible. And its not going to be a potion or a cloak, but will come in the form of a device. " Let's just hope that when the invisible woman arrives, she's played more convincingly than Jessica Alba.

Invisibility already exists on /.

[schon]

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

A story on invisibility, and /. tells me there's nothing to see.

How not to be seen.

[Vengeance]

This is Mr. E.R. Bradshaw of Napier Court, Black Lion Road London SE5. He can not be seen. Now I am going to ask him to stand up. Mr. Bradshaw will you stand up please

In the distance Mr Bradshaw stands up. There is a loud gunshot as Mr Bradshaw is shot in the stomach. He crumples to the ground

This demonstrates the value of not being seen.

I thought you just had to say

[winkydink]

"I'm invisible!" convincingly enough. It worked for Burt in Soap.

Whippersnappers: Look it up.

Re:Jessica Alba

[Vengeance]

Let's be honest here, whatever you think of her acting skills, making her invisible is ill-advised.

talking to women

[mdmarkus]

You mean there's more to invisibility than just talking to women?

Finally...

[Bomarrow1]

I can look into a mirror...

Really invisible?

[Klaidas]

If you replace the water with light then you would not see that there was something present because the light is guided around the person or object.

Sure, who would find a human-sized-walking-lightbulb suspicious? :)

Re:Jessica Alba

[Johnny5000]

Let's be honest here, whatever you think of her acting skills, making her invisible is ill-advised.

I can think of a few scenerios involving me, Jessica Alba and an invisibilty device, but none involve making *her* invisible.

Re:Jessica Alba

[GogglesPisano]

The only part of Jessica Alba that should be invisible is her clothes.

If you want subtle acting and believable characterization, you can go watch Meryl Streep. In the meantime, I'll be watching Alba with the sound off.

unrequited humour

[tezbobobo]

Yes, they've made 15 prototypes so far. They just can't get past the testing stage. Keep losing them.

python...

[FrontalLobe]

I think Monty Python made being invisible unnecessary with their "How not to be seen" skit.
Just don't hide behind a single shrub in the middle of a field...

Re:talking to women

[GMontag]

Many of the women I have dated are invisible in mirrors and on film.

Side effect: loss of blood and money.

Philadelphia Experiment?

[maxwell demon]

"It is very likely that the demonstration for radar would come first and very soon."

And this experiment will be done with a ship in Philadelphia?

So All I Gotta Do...

[mdielmann]

So all I gotta do is carry a black hole in my pocket. That's gotta suck...

Re:Really invisible?

[SCPRedMage]

You mean people are actually smart enough to figure that out?

Shit, that means Metal Gear Solid taught me NOTHING...

Somebody Else's problem

[travalas]

The technology involved in making anything invisible is so infinitely complex that nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand million, nine hundred and ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a billion it is much simpler and more effective just to take the thing away and do without it. The ultra-famous sciento-magician Effrafax of Wug once bet his life that, given a year, he could render the great megamountain Magramal entirely invisible. Having spent most of the year jiggling around with immense LuxO-Valves and Refracto-Nullifiers and Spectrum-Bypass-O-Matics, he realized, with nine hours to go, that he wasn't going to make it. So, he and his friends, and his friends' friends, and his friends' friends' friends, and his friends' friends' friends' friends, and some rather less good friends of theirs who happened to own a major stellar trucking company, put in what now is widely recognized as being the hardest night's work in history, and, sure enough, on the following day, Magramal was no longer visible. Effrafax lost his bet - and therefore his life - simply because some pedantic adjudicating official noticed (a) that when walking around the area that Magramal ought to be he didn't trip over or break his nose on anything, and (b) a suspicious-looking extra moon. The Somebody Else's Problem field is much simpler and more effective, and what's more can be run for over a hundred years on a single torch battery. This is because it relies on people's natural disposition not to see anything they don't want to, weren't expecting, or can't explain. If Effrafax had painted the mountain pink and erected a cheap and simple Somebody Else's Problem field on it, then people would have walked past the mountain, round it, even over it, and simply never have noticed that the thing was there. -Douglas Adams

Re:Predator had it more apt...

[The Fun Guy]

because you can't send out information before you observe it.

Clearly, you are new [slashdot.org] to Slashdot.

Re:talking to women

[binkzz]

I was afraid you were going to say:

"You mean there's more to invisibility than meets the eye?"

But luckily I was wrong.

As any HHGTTG fan can tell you...

[Moraelin]

Well, that's because as anyone who's read Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy could tell you, they're doing it wrong. You don't need to turn something invisible, which is a horribly complicated thing and needs lots of energy. You just have to turn it into Somebody Else's Problem, in which case the human brain will just filter it out.

Re:Jessica Alba

[schon]

I can think of a few scenerios involving me, Jessica Alba and an invisibilty device, but none involve making *her* invisible.

Uh-oh. Do I detect the beginnings of a new "Natalie Portman" /. meme?

Re: Jessica Alba

[The_REAL_DZA]

The problem with asking Jessica Alba to play the Invisible Woman is that she's not someone we want to be invisible in the first place -- it's pretty hard to "suspend your disbelief" when you're busy hoping her invisibility powers fail but her costume's function perfectly...

Re:So All I Gotta Do...

[Shai-kun]

Is that a black hole in your pocket or are you just very attractive?

Invisibility

[wildsurf]

I gave a live demonstration of personal invisibility in high school physics class. I simply didn't show up that day. I got an A++. It was brilliant.

Invisibility is Easy.

[Petersko]

Just follow the average slashdotter to a night club.

Re:Jessica Alba

[Matimus]

Uh-oh. Do I detect the beginnins of a new "Uh-oh. Do I detect the beginnings of a new $existing_meme /. meme" /. meme?

Re:Jessica Alba

[Steendor]

If only the redundant mod didn't have negative connotations...

Wheel of cheese

[Bob Gelumph]

None of this explains how to make things appear to be two hobos fighting over a wheel of cheese.

Re:How not to be seen.

[steveo777]

For those who love Monty Python and Halo [youtube.com].

Re:Jessica Alba

[kurzweilfreak]

>What's the sound of one hand fapping... wait... nevermind

Fixed.

Maybe really fat chicks can bend light!

[Anonymous Coward]

Possibly extremely fat chicks can bend light with the mass that they displace rendering them invisible.

Or...

Scotty should have another drink and be quite.

Re:Jessica Alba

[thejoelpatrol]

Only on Slashdot is this "insightful"