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Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

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Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#31

Post by thatthatis »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #27
thatthatis wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the past 150 years or so we went from ~90% of the labor force working in agriculture to between 1 and 10% working in agriculture. That's a shift of about 80% over two generations.

We were also able to find jobs for those who no longer worked in ag. It appears there is concern (quite a bit, actually) that we may no longer be able to find jobs for those displaced by software and robotics (automation). If you continue to automate jobs, there will eventually be very few jobs left. How the result of this is handled will be interesting to say the least.

The concern is not new. It's been around for centuries.

Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#33

Post by jotm »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #15

So much more they could have said but did not. When do we see the first set of drones that fly into AT&T Park and land on a ledge somewhere letting someone outside the park watch the game? When do we have a drone at 399' run out of charge and fall down doing property damage or injuring someone and the owner never claims their drone back? When do we get Papparazi chasing celebrity weddings with drones? (I believe I re…

It would be rather easy to attach a proper gun to the drone, with a targeting system and auto firing mechanism (already put in real world use in civilian hands: http://tracking-point.com/ ; http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/01/17000-linux-powered-r...). Sure, the tech needs to be smaller, but that' won't be a problem soon.

Now that's a scary assassination tool, and if properly camouflaged you can't stop it until it's too late (or drone flight is completely banned).

Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#34

Post by jotm »

reeses wrote: post #21
ChuckMcM wrote: post #15

So much more they could have said but did not. When do we see the first set of drones that fly into AT&T Park and land on a ledge somewhere letting someone outside the park watch the game? When do we have a drone at 399' run out of charge and fall down doing property damage or injuring someone and the owner never claims their drone back? When do we get Papparazi chasing celebrity weddings with drones? (I believe I re…

There is a mechanism in place in almost any country to regulate aviation based on location, craft capabilities, and operator certification based on supervised experience.

DIY drone makers could care less if they really want to do some damage. Buy some junk on eBay, have half a brain and you get yourself a flight worthy drone.

Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#35

Post by jotm »

mentos wrote: post #32

I'd be upset to see drones banned from our airspace before we get to realize their full potential for good. If this happens I think in-home drone solutions could still provide very cool solutions. I'm sitting here on my couch and I could sure use a drink :P

I think they're already mostly banned - RC copters have been around for a while.

I struggle to see what they can be used for right now - maybe in the future, with a robotic hand attached to it, it can clean my roof :-), but right now it's just an expensive toy.

Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#36

Post by jotm »

thatthatis wrote: post #14
purringmeow wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always fancied the idea of drone-waiters. There won't be any need of truck/cab drivers soon too. A lot of jobs will be lost in the future, because of automation. I don't know if that's good or not, however.

Every time human labor is replaced by machines this question gets asked. So far, over many centuries, the answer has unequivocally been: over the long run, replacing humans with machines is incredibly good. The bad is short lived but real - people have to switch jobs, often for lower work because they are too old to amortize new skills training. Short of skynet, I celebrate humans being supplanted.

Now if politicians could be replaced, that would be revolutionary! :-)

Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#37

Post by ck2 »

Estragon wrote: post #28
ck2 wrote: post #9

If you think cheap drones for consumers won't be abused, note there are many thousands of incidents of people purposely pointing green lasers at aircraft in the USA each year.

Why is pointing a laser pointer at a plane a big deal?

The beams is meters wide at that height.

It is a federal crime and hundreds of people are arrested each year and growing but idiots keep doing it - they even light up the police helicopters that come to look for them.

Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#39

Post by kansface »

thatthatis wrote: post #31
toomuchtodo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were also able to find jobs for those who no longer worked in ag. It appears there is concern (quite a bit, actually) that we may no longer be able to find jobs for those displaced by software and robotics (automation). If you continue to automate jobs, there will eventually be very few jobs left. How the result of this is handled will be interesting to say the least.

The concern is not new. It's been around for centuries.

Sure, but there is reason to believe it is different this time around. We are close to automating away all blue collar jobs outside of the service sector. We are also making inroads in white collar jobs too like law and medicine. At some point, minus an apocalypse, we will be able to automate away most meaningful work for everyone. This was not the case 150 years ago.

Re: Consumer drones are coming, and they will change everything

#40

Post by crbnw00ts »

Estragon wrote: post #28
ck2 wrote: post #9

If you think cheap drones for consumers won't be abused, note there are many thousands of incidents of people purposely pointing green lasers at aircraft in the USA each year.

Why is pointing a laser pointer at a plane a big deal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasers_and_aviation_safety
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