First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes • Hacker News Board

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#181

Post by cm2012 » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 3:06 PM UTC

wavefunction wrote: post #26

owenjones wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also even if the book '... portrays Bezos as a ruthless tyrant and a "penny-pinching ballbuster,"' would that dissuade anyone who was already planning on it from shopping at Amazon? To me, regardless of the truth, being "penny-pinching" given Amazon's razor thin margins seems like a good trait for the CEO.

What about "ruthless tyrant?" I'm making a point to shop locally now. I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country.

50% of Amazon sales come from small local merchants and manufacturers. As someone who works with a lot of these small businesses, Amazon is giving them a really vital leg-up in e-Commerce.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#182

Post by jrockway » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 3:25 PM UTC

Zaephyr wrote: post #34

If Prime Air happens, I predict a boom in the illicit 'package intercept' business. Knock a drone down, "win" a prize is going to appeal to percentage of the population.

When I lived in a big apartment building, sometimes my Amazon packages would go missing. The thief got an EVO 4G screen protector, a micro USB cable, and some hand towels.

Most Amazon orders aren't expensive things. Going to jail for a few years for hijacking an aircraft just isn't worth it, when you can just wait for the package to be delivered and steal it from someone's doorstep. Even then, probably not worth it.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#183

Post by Houshalter » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 3:34 PM UTC

swalkergibson wrote: post #179

Houshalter wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm making a point to shop locally now. I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country. Given people better prices/more choices? I really don't get this anti-walmart sentiment everywhere.

Because if you shop locally, more of your money stays in your community, resulting in healthier local economies. Instead of your dollar spent at Walmart getting cut up and sent to Madison Avenue and Beijing, it goes to the local PR agency and a local cut-and-sew factory that you may not have even known existed. Also, those better prices are due to the fact that Walmart's buying power means that they tell the supplier…

A technological civilization isn't even possible without massive specialization and worldwide cooperation. The first world standard of living wouldn't be possible if every country wasted it's resources trying to be self-sufficient (not that is what you were advocating for but it's the same principle, just to a smaller degree.)

Besides what do I care if my dollar goes to some stranger down the street, in another state, or in another country? They are all human beings I don't know, and I don't particularly care about the welfare of any more than the other.

>Also, those better prices are due to the fact that Walmart's buying power means that they tell the supplier how much they will pay for the item, and leave it to the supplier to figure out how they can manufacture it and still make a profit. You can imagine the corners the supplier needs to cut to make that happen.

A pressure to be more efficient and decrease prices is a good thing. They would try to cut corners anyways, and lower prices might arguably make up for it.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#184

Post by silverbax88 » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 3:42 PM UTC

annnnd wrote: post #175

VolatileVoid wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not at all the problem. What about navigating TFRs? Class B airspace? What about failures of the rotors whilst flying over heavily populated areas? Will these things be equipped with TCAS to avoid oncoming traffic? What happens if the path-finding algorithm to get from Amazon's warehouse to your house goes batshit insane and flies it in the approach path to LAX? Who files the flight plan for each of these thin…

Not to mention UFOs. And as someone said, the drones would make archery a very popular sport again. ;)

Think skeet shooting ... with a reward http://www.pvponline.com/comic/2013/12/03/last-minute-shoppi...

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#185

Post by ye » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 4:10 PM UTC

loup-vaillant wrote: post #174

ye wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Link to the prototype.

Can't. I met the guy in person while travelling by train. He had the drone in question in his suitcase. He did tell me however he was involved with this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvRTALJp8DM (Or another such effort —I met him in France.)

Ah, so you base it on what you were told by a random guy on a train.

LOL.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#186

Post by swalkergibson » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 4:10 PM UTC

Houshalter wrote: post #183

swalkergibson wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because if you shop locally, more of your money stays in your community, resulting in healthier local economies. Instead of your dollar spent at Walmart getting cut up and sent to Madison Avenue and Beijing, it goes to the local PR agency and a local cut-and-sew factory that you may not have even known existed. Also, those better prices are due to the fact that Walmart's buying power means that they tell the supplier…

A technological civilization isn't even possible without massive specialization and worldwide cooperation. The first world standard of living wouldn't be possible if every country wasted it's resources trying to be self-sufficient (not that is what you were advocating for but it's the same principle, just to a smaller degree.) Besides what do I care if my dollar goes to some stranger down the street, in another state…

> [W]orldwide cooperation

What cooperation, exactly? Malaysian children being forced (perhaps not in the physical sense, but certainly in the economic sense) to work 13 hours/day for less than 1 USD so that Target can sell Kathy Lee Gifford's branded sweaters for $15? Is that really the world you want to live in? There is no cooperation here, it is exploitation pure and simple.

> [W]hat do I care if my dollar goes to some stranger down the street

Well, first of all, he lives in your neighborhood. If he is economically secure, it is less likely he will break into your house and steal your TV.

> A pressure to be more efficient and decrease prices is a good thing. They would try to cut corners anyways, and lower prices might arguably make up for it.

Great! So we have shoddily constructed, shitty products that are not meant to last more than a few months anyway, but that we believe are cheaper because the marketing machine told us that we saved 47 cents on the purchase of $foo_widget?

Real society has real people in it, not robotic automata that always act perfectly economically rationally and conform to some sort of capitalist fantasy.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#187

Post by dllthomas » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

cm2012 wrote: post #181

wavefunction wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about "ruthless tyrant?" I'm making a point to shop locally now. I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country.

50% of Amazon sales come from small local merchants and manufacturers. As someone who works with a lot of these small businesses, Amazon is giving them a really vital leg-up in e-Commerce.

What does "local" mean in this context?

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#188

Post by loup-vaillant » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 4:29 PM UTC

ye wrote: post #185

loup-vaillant wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't. I met the guy in person while travelling by train. He had the drone in question in his suitcase. He did tell me however he was involved with this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvRTALJp8DM (Or another such effort —I met him in France.)

Ah, so you base it on what you were told by a random guy on a train. LOL.

Random guy? Foolish mortal, you have no idea how much information he gave me. We talked for well over 2 hours. I know for a fact he has a solid technical background, and a weird twisted antenna sticking out the suitcase (about which I asked). I also fly radio controlled planes for a hobby, so I do have an idea how much these things cost, and the figures he gave me sounded reasonable.

On the other hand, to you, I am such a random guy. So don't trust me. I may not be as knowledgeable as I say, I may have misreported some key facts, I may even be lying to your face (I swear I don't, but you will never know). On the other hand…

…Do not ever presume to know how much I should know from a couple short comments. It's just not enough to tell you what I know, let alone how I think I know it.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#189

Post by dllthomas » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 4:34 PM UTC

SimHacker wrote: post #164

olefoo wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wall mart typically only exists in rural poor areas This is factually wrong. Walmart (note the spelling) follows suburbs and population centers. They may have been mostly rural one or two decades ago, but they are now most likely to be found near an intersection of freeways within 10 miles of a downtown. See http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4330486 for a map. As for the rest of your screed... it's possible to be down on…

Looks like the rest of the screed is just copypasta, since in that part Walmart is spelled right. (Pardon my weasely use of the passive voice to avoid specifying the subject to the verb "to spell").

I'm not sure to what degree your apology is tongue-in-cheek, but I'll just leave this here. There is nothing wrong with the passive voice when used correctly; evasive sentences are equally a problem (or not a problem) whether written in the active or passive voice, and it's quite possible to be evasive or not with either.

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2922

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#190

Post by Houshalter » Tue, Dec 03, 2013, 4:54 PM UTC

swalkergibson wrote: post #186

Houshalter wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A technological civilization isn't even possible without massive specialization and worldwide cooperation. The first world standard of living wouldn't be possible if every country wasted it's resources trying to be self-sufficient (not that is what you were advocating for but it's the same principle, just to a smaller degree.) Besides what do I care if my dollar goes to some stranger down the street, in another state…

> [W]orldwide cooperation What cooperation, exactly? Malaysian children being forced (perhaps not in the physical sense, but certainly in the economic sense) to work 13 hours/day for less than 1 USD so that Target can sell Kathy Lee Gifford's branded sweaters for $15? Is that really the world you want to live in? There is no cooperation here, it is exploitation pure and simple. > [W]hat do I care if my dollar goes to…

>What cooperation, exactly? Malaysian children being forced (perhaps not in the physical sense, but certainly in the economic sense) to work 13 hours/day for less than 1 USD so that Target can sell Kathy Lee Gifford's branded sweaters for $15? Is that really the world you want to live in? There is no cooperation here, it is exploitation pure and simple.

And you think the worker would be better off if you didn't buy it? No they'd just be unemployed or employed at a worse job. I'm all for spreading the wealth generated by the economy more fairly, but simply removing trade doesn't actually make anyone better off.

>Well, first of all, he lives in your neighborhood. If he is economically secure, it is less likely he will break into your house and steal your TV.

The money you lose by buying more expensive local products, plus the the probability that the small amount of your money that actually goes to a local worker will make him less likely to rob, times the probability that he would rob your house specifically...

Even with absurd estimates of how likely that is, it's still cheaper just to spend the money you save on insurance than what you would gain from slightly reducing the risk of robbery.

>Great! So we have shoddily constructed, shitty products that are not meant to last more than a few months anyway, but that we believe are cheaper because the marketing machine told us that we saved 47 cents on the purchase of $foo_widget?

What are you referring to that has been reduced in quality so much it actually costs more in the long run (especially things where this is done without the consumer's knowledge or choice to buy higher quality elsewhere.)? And can you actually attribute that to Walmart specifically, and it wouldn't have happened anyways? Or even just people making irrational purchasing decisions or just having a high time preference?