Hrm - on an optimistic note, if we could ask Julius Caesar if he'd approve of 'non-lethal weapons' I'd imagine he'd either laugh or be annoyed.
So in that respect, I believe as a civilization we're making progress.
If we designed something to disintegrate fellow humans I'd be a little more sceptical of the ethics /ttiforum/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I found this one really neat lol.
I can't imagine any long lasting side effects, or this journalist in the video isn't too bright ^^