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Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

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Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#41

Post by guelo »

jonknee wrote: post #17
guelo wrote: post #14

The USAF's and CIA's use of drones in the Middle East has sparked the imagination across all kinds of projects such as this one. But the reality is that military-style drones that can stay aloft for days are extremely expensive to purchase and to operate. The well-known Predator drone, for example, costs $4 million per airplane, and it requires a classified global satellite network, an uplink station manned with thre…

Much of the cost of a Predator is because it's a weapon. That's not to say there is an abundance of excellent drones for civilian purchase, but I don't think they would need to be terribly expensive.

My point is that any drone that can stay up in the air for long periods of time and is controlled via a real-time satellite network is going to be expensive. And that type of drone is just not available commercially.

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#42

Post by philwelch »

knowledgesale wrote: post #40
philwelch wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yeah, NASA is a research agency and SpaceX is a company trying to commercialize space technology. That's like saying the Human Genome Project cost billions of dollars but you can get your genome sequenced for $99 from 23andMe, so obviously the Human Genome Project was a waste of money.

You have no clue what you are talking about. Human Genome project is an example of complete DNA sequencing while 23andMe only tests for specific variations at specific loci. 23andMe and similar companies use commercially available solutions like DNA microarrays [1] with probes preprogrammed [2] for specific target variations and they cannot "read" arbitrary DNAs. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_microarray [2] ht…

NASA sent men to the moon, robots to Mars, and space stations into orbit. SpaceX sends unmanned rockets to low earth orbit. So there you go.

For what it's worth, whole genome sequencing is also commercially available for much less than the Human Genome Project cost.

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#43

Post by CamperBob2 »

josscrowcroft wrote: post #24
CamperBob2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would probably violate multiple international treaties, but I know I'd be willing to pay $50 or so per shot, if the drone had an onboard weapon that could be aimed over IP. That would do some good in the world, and would be pretty exciting as well. For safety, targeting could be supervised, and approval to fire issued or withheld, by the company selling the camera time. It's something that should probably be licen…

Eye for an eye and the whole world will go blind, buddy

Hoary old cliché is clichéd.

In this reality, the $50/shot business model would fall apart in a hurry. After the first couple of poachers were killed by drones, hunting season would be pretty much over. For everybody else, including the endangered animals, life would go on.

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#44

Post by RyanZAG »

adventured wrote: post #21
CamperBob2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would probably violate multiple international treaties, but I know I'd be willing to pay $50 or so per shot, if the drone had an onboard weapon that could be aimed over IP. That would do some good in the world, and would be pretty exciting as well. For safety, targeting could be supervised, and approval to fire issued or withheld, by the company selling the camera time. It's something that should probably be licen…

It would be "pretty exciting" to kill humans rather than arrest them and bring them to justice? I don't think there's anything you could ever say to justify that position. It gives me the impression that you're a maniac.

I'm not agreeing with him here, but 'maniac' may be a bit heavy considering the following:

https://www.google.com/search?q=rhino+poaching&hl=en&#38...

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#45

Post by rdl »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #15
eigenvector wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may be hunted down and shot. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10992502

It would probably violate multiple international treaties, but I know I'd be willing to pay $50 or so per shot, if the drone had an onboard weapon that could be aimed over IP. That would do some good in the world, and would be pretty exciting as well. For safety, targeting could be supervised, and approval to fire issued or withheld, by the company selling the camera time. It's something that should probably be licen…

While killing poachers may be on balance the right thing to do, actually taking pleasure in the act of killing, even for "a good cause", tends to have bad effects on the killers.

Maybe read LTC Dave Grossman's standard book _On Killing_. http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-So...

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#46

Post by omegant »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #43
josscrowcroft wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eye for an eye and the whole world will go blind, buddy

Hoary old cliché is clichéd. In this reality, the $50/shot business model would fall apart in a hurry. After the first couple of poachers were killed by drones, hunting season would be pretty much over. For everybody else, including the endangered animals, life would go on.

Yep, just exactly what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Talibans surely are disbanding due to drone attacks.

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#47

Post by CamperBob2 »

omegant wrote: post #46
CamperBob2 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hoary old cliché is clichéd. In this reality, the $50/shot business model would fall apart in a hurry. After the first couple of poachers were killed by drones, hunting season would be pretty much over. For everybody else, including the endangered animals, life would go on.

Yep, just exactly what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Talibans surely are disbanding due to drone attacks.

The Taliban are poaching rhinos in Africa for a living now? Sounds like we've got them on the run, at least.

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#48

Post by CamperBob2 »

rdl wrote: post #45
CamperBob2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would probably violate multiple international treaties, but I know I'd be willing to pay $50 or so per shot, if the drone had an onboard weapon that could be aimed over IP. That would do some good in the world, and would be pretty exciting as well. For safety, targeting could be supervised, and approval to fire issued or withheld, by the company selling the camera time. It's something that should probably be licen…

While killing poachers may be on balance the right thing to do, actually taking pleasure in the act of killing, even for "a good cause", tends to have bad effects on the killers. Maybe read LTC Dave Grossman's standard book _On Killing_. http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-So...

This would be the same Col. Grossman who did the talk-show circuit after Columbine explaining all about how Doom made them do it, correct?

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#49

Post by Tichy »

guelo wrote: post #14

The USAF's and CIA's use of drones in the Middle East has sparked the imagination across all kinds of projects such as this one. But the reality is that military-style drones that can stay aloft for days are extremely expensive to purchase and to operate. The well-known Predator drone, for example, costs $4 million per airplane, and it requires a classified global satellite network, an uplink station manned with thre…

Maybe to protect rhinos, a bunch of balloons would do? Or satellites if they get ever more cheap?

Re: Google Pays for Drones To Bust African Rhino Poachers

#50

Post by xiaoma »

adventured wrote: post #21
CamperBob2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would probably violate multiple international treaties, but I know I'd be willing to pay $50 or so per shot, if the drone had an onboard weapon that could be aimed over IP. That would do some good in the world, and would be pretty exciting as well. For safety, targeting could be supervised, and approval to fire issued or withheld, by the company selling the camera time. It's something that should probably be licen…

It would be "pretty exciting" to kill humans rather than arrest them and bring them to justice? I don't think there's anything you could ever say to justify that position. It gives me the impression that you're a maniac.

Excitement is pretty natural if you look at it rationally. It's when killing humans isn't exciting, or worse yet when it's routine or boring, that you really have to worry.
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