While this is interesting, what I really wanted to see was more 'graffiti' and less 'laser'.

Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property as a form of artistic self expression. To that end, why not combine this with a laser engraver instead of a laser pointer?

Imagine hooking this up and then literally carving your graffiti into the side of a brick building. Or burning it into the paint on a metal container car.

Obviously such a thing has the potential for serious bodily harm and could start building or wild fires inadvertently, to say nothing of the energy consumption requirements such a laser engraver would necessitate.

Counterpoint: rule of cool.

> Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property as a form of artistic self expression.

The "Musée de la mémoire des murs" (museum of walls' memories), previously named "Musée des Grafittis historiques" sees grafittis much beyond your strict definition. https://www.verneuil-en-halatte.fr/musee-de-la-memoire-des-m...

I visited it long ago, but I remember drawings by prisoners on cells walls. Definitely not public property (or not visible by a wide public from public places).

"Can you tell the jury what you told investigators when you decided to use computerized directed energy weapons to target civllian infrastructure?"

"...rule of cool?"

You’ll probably burn your retinas with the backscatter

> Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property

Both wrong. Neither is defacement the point nor doing it to public property. Fundamentally it's a visual art form and whether that's on private or public property is insubstantial.

It's surely intervoven with anarchic protest and that's where the defacement angle comes in. Similarly, public property as a symbol of the state that is rejected plays often a role. Though that's ironic too since if the "artist" comes from a left-leaning anarchic background then damaging public goods is kinda counterproductive, as opposed to private property of the rich who are the more usual target for symbolizing oppression of the poor.

>coolness as a function of danger

Well now you got me started. Why not engrave your message into the surface of a celestial body via a carefully aimed series of orbital bombardments?

I was hoping for the same. If we're going to live in a cyberpunk dystopia we could at least have some cool anarchist tools to go with it.

Defacement is not the point of graffiti. It's fundamentally visual, not fundamentally destructive.

WARNING: DO NOT LOOK INTO LASER WITH REMAINING EYE

Please tell me where you live. I'd like to come over and ruin your property with graffiti and see how you like it.

> defacement of public property

Plenty of graffiti is on private property.

About $15 billion is spent dealing with property destruction by graffiti. All of which is passed on to tax payers and consumers.