Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan • Hacker News Board

Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan

#41

Post by slowpoke » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 8:54 PM UTC

wnight wrote: post #30

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several years ago I thought about writing a short story which included an attack/assassination of an important political figure. The point was to do some brainstorming about ways such an attack could be conducted. After an hour or two, I decided never to write about this subject. The exercise was very eye-opening. The difference between a normal, naked person and a person armed with tech is increasingly dramatically.…

> Disarming the population is not an option here. Sure it is. Replace general purpose computers with centrally and permanently connected (It's a feature!) computing devices that only run signed apps. Then whenever someone does something too clever you just revoke their developer ID and everything they've written stops working. Justify this control with "piracy" and it'll be accepted. It won't really work, but it seem…

>Sure it is. Replace general purpose computers with centrally and permanently connected (It's a feature!) computing devices that only run signed apps. Then whenever someone does something too clever you just revoke their developer ID and everything they've written stops working.

There was this one short story I've read months ago which essentially described this, just with compilers instead of apps. Oh the horror...

Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan

#42

Post by bane » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:01 AM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #20

patio11 wrote: post #4

Here's a potentially scary thought for you: in ~2000, this would have been proof positive of state involvement. In 2011, this is barely newsworthy. In 2021, this will be about as within the reach of the average middle class teenager as a three ounce device capable of instantaneous worldwide encrypted communication. This is not going to be a happy adjustment for people who have to maintain physical security of e.g. a…

Several years ago I thought about writing a short story which included an attack/assassination of an important political figure. The point was to do some brainstorming about ways such an attack could be conducted. After an hour or two, I decided never to write about this subject. The exercise was very eye-opening. The difference between a normal, naked person and a person armed with tech is increasingly dramatically.…

"The difference between a normal, naked person and a person armed with tech is increasingly dramatically. "

The Golden Age books deal with this rather dramatically. It takes various ideas (augmented reality, global network connectivity, the singularity, etc.) to an extreme, to the point that a severe social punishment is to be disconnected from all globally integrated technology. A person in this state virtually becomes a non-person, unable to even achieve basic communication with other people physically in the same room, most other people even filtering disconnected persons out of their entire sensory experience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Age_(science_fiction...

They're pretty dense stuff and can be dry reads at times, but the ideas explored are really fascinating.

Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan

#43

Post by plugger » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 7:02 AM UTC

Natsu wrote: post #9

patio11 wrote: post #4

Here's a potentially scary thought for you: in ~2000, this would have been proof positive of state involvement. In 2011, this is barely newsworthy. In 2021, this will be about as within the reach of the average middle class teenager as a three ounce device capable of instantaneous worldwide encrypted communication. This is not going to be a happy adjustment for people who have to maintain physical security of e.g. a…

They've already clamped down on model rocketry as a hobby. I wouldn't be surprised to see restrictions on flying devices capable of carrying payloads larger than a certain size. As you point out, it's not hard to imagine nefarious uses. Which is, of course, one of the reasons we can't have nice things.

Considering there are multiple teams shooting for over 100k ft flights at Black Rock this year I'd say the US isn't as restrictive as they could be. For instance, here in Australia it's nearly impossible to get a waver for 100k ft flights due to the financial considerations.

Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan

#44

Post by plugger » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 7:08 AM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #17

rdtsc wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am interested in what kind of protection or defence is there against the drones. First is how would one detect them and how would one knock them out. Can one make another drone that patrolls an area looking for these spy drones and then somehow shoots them down. Homes in on them then autodestructs... A radar + a laser? An EMP device that would fry their electronics? Would a small heat seeking missile work? Well the…

You'd need to pick a scalable solution; where we have one drone today, we could have 20 in the same place for half the cost in the future. In my opinion, the best solutions I can think of are: 1) EMP. May not shut off the motors, but should shut off the brains. 2) Base station with targeting system. Laser would be too slow, too dangerous. Maybe a high-powered water jet. Knock them right out of the sky. Break their wi…

EMP? Come on, that's vaporware. Right up there with "dirty bombs".

I've yet to see any military deploy an EMP or dirty bomb in their arsenal. Conventional wisdom suggests this is due to one of two reasons.

1) The theory works, but weaponising isn't feasible (EMP).

2) The theory is incorrect and is security theater (dirty bomb).

Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan

#45

Post by plugger » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 7:30 AM UTC

burgerbrain wrote: post #15

Natsu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've already clamped down on model rocketry as a hobby. I wouldn't be surprised to see restrictions on flying devices capable of carrying payloads larger than a certain size. As you point out, it's not hard to imagine nefarious uses. Which is, of course, one of the reasons we can't have nice things.

The differences between model rocketry and model aircraft are significant enough that any "clamping down" on model aircraft would not be effective. The materials are too generic.

I disagree. You can pour your own sugar motor in nearly any impulse you desire. Granted technically it's not simple, but the materials required are easily obtained.

Here's some good reading on the subject. http://www.aeroconsystems.com/motors/sugar_motor/sugar_motor...

As for the rest of the rocket, I don't think the materials could get more generic. Fiberglass, carbon fiber, metal, and phenolic are all easily obtained.