Though often neglected, materials science has been the source of almost all important technological advancement in the last 50 years or so. From transistors to lightbulb filaments, we have found ways to exceed all expectations and smash the barriers before us. The latest discovery has the potential to change the way humans interact with one another forever. That discovery would be metamaterials.
A metamaterial is an object, which thanks to it's specific properties has a negative refractive index with regard to some particular wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. This means that it neither absorbs nor reflects such radiation; instead said force bends around it, as if it were a hole in the world. All of the sudden, it became possible to become physically invisible to all manner of detection. Sure enough, within two years of the discovery of the theoretical possibility of such materials, something invisible to microwave radiation appeared. In another year, the visible spectrum has been defeated.
Of course, the technologies described here have not yet been commercialized, and they will be quite expensive for some time, as their construction is not trivial at this point. However, through layering (with visible on the outermost layer), it has become possible to create shielding which would work against all EM frequencies. It is also possible we find a material which has negative refraction to whatever frequency of electricity is run through it, which would turn out to be the most useful of all worlds.
All this is very good news for liberty; since liberty is based on the principle of voluntary association, and the ability to vanish at will greatly aids with one's ability to resist coercion. However, this is not yet the "holy grail" of human association; that being a simple method for one to make one's self immune (or very close to such) to physical force. Metamaterials are a natural candidate for such a role, as it is infinitely easier to deflect force than to simply resist it. Given the relationship of EM radiation and matter itself, it is not a huge leap to realize materials which negatively refract energy in the solid phase is possible.
You might think that such a thing would be an impossibility, as people might just come up with more effective weapons in the future. However, consider this. RSA encryption is a rough analogue to such a concept for data. The data cannot be compromised for long key lengths (which are nearly trivial to set up) with the combined computational force of the entire planet. Now, since data is just energy, and so is matter, it is not a long leap to realize a similar technique could be used to shield matter. Such an analogue would result in a shield that takes a fraction of the energy to set up as it takes to tear it down. Theoretically, one could make one so effective as to resist even nuking for millenia with something as simple as a coal power plant. Similarly, all small arms (even bazookas) could be easily resisted with the equivalent of a few AA batteries. This would have the consequence of making voluntary association the only viable method of human interaction.
Though there are many roadblocks in the way of this becoming a reality, and gaps in our knowledge, I still must conclude it is but a matter of time before such things become a reality. The powers of the world will likely rage against this for an unknown length of time, and will try to prevent such technology's spread...but they will eventually fail. So, we should get used to the idea of governance by unanimous consent and voluntarism; as it will become the only option left for humanity.
