Drones

[Søren]

Ok, the controversial technology is here!
Do you think drones are awesome, and a really good thing?
Or perhaps they're not good, and dangerous?
Thoughts?
Personally, I think they're great. I've seen them in action (DJI Phantom) and they're awesome.
Commercial drones:
Quadcopters
Self driving cars
Military drones:
Remote missile launching flying macienes
Anything else used for killing.

[Rusvul]

'Drones' is really really broad, it just means any robot that is unmanned.

  If you mean military drones, I think the idea is kind of scary. The idea that you can kill someone without being on the same continent as them... I am of the opinion that the farther removed someone is from the killing, the more willing they are to do it. If fighting actual wars with actual lives on the line becomes almost like a video game... That's kind of messed up. That said, tactically, they are a really great idea.

  If you mean something along the lines of Amazon's quadrocopter for delivering items, or Google's self driving car, I'm all for it. Those things are awesome.

[Søren]

I was referring to quadcopters, (DJI Phantom), but any drone fits this topic.

[Rusvul]

Could you please explain what you mean by DJI Phantom? It's not a phrase I've heard before.

[Søren]

The DJI Phantom is a consumer quadcopter drone made by the company DJI. They also make other quadcopters drones.
http://www.dji.com/products

[BadgerLordFiredrake]

I have the Parrot 2.0, and it's pretty awesome

[Cornflower MM]

Not good and dangerous. . . . . Sorry, but my dad has seen reports of the government using them for, ah, more shady things. To put it politely.

[Søren]

Not good and dangerous. . . . . Sorry, but my dad has seen reports of the government using them for, ah, more shady things. To put it politely.

Military stuff, yeah. But I've seen some awesome things produced with consumer video drones. I'm sorta a amuture videographer, and would LOVE a DJI drone.

[Izeroth]

 I find it a little scary that people could use drones to spy on you, but military drones aren't all bad. Military drones have allowed us to fight terrorism without risking the lives of humans.

[Rusvul]

   In Civ: Beyond Earth there is a line that I don't think I entirely agree with, on the topic of military drones. "The point of war is not to die for your country. It is to make the other side die for theirs. And what better way to do that than if our side never has to take the field?" It's not a quote that I really know what to make of.

[Mhera]

I fin it a little scary that people could use drones to spy on you, but military drones aren't all bad. Military drones have allowed us to fight terrorism without risking the lives of humans.

Yes.

[James Gryphon]

Drones are eminently practical and the future of most everything... they'll make the rich happy, and tick off everyone else in pretty short order. They're too useful not to put into service, but their effect on all of society will outweigh those advantages in the long run. It's like Pandora's box, though; it's been opened, and can't be closed again.

In my opinion, the military thing has gotten too sophisticated for its own good. Soldiers have gotten too detached from the experience of slaying others. Before long, pilots won't even have to go out in person to watch the bombs drop; they'll just go into the office, fire up a console, kill a few hundred people with an xBox controller while sipping a Coke, and then go get dinner and a movie once they're done. There seems something inherently wrong with that. I think that if you're going to wage war, it should be as gritty, dirty, and terrible as possible. You should have to look your opponent eye to eye, see the blood and the wounds as they're incurred, and watch the life fade out of his body after you deliver a killing blow. It should be hard, and a man should have to know that he's fighting for something that's worthwhile to be able to sleep at night.

To wage war and destroy life, there has to be a cost that's high enough to make people think twice about it; otherwise they'll want to do it all the time. I have a feeling that in the future, that cost is going to be determined by economics, not concern for life.

[Mhera]

One situation in which drones have been used by the military is taking out terrorists planting IEDs on roads traveled by our soldiers. Using a drone to kill the terrorists as they plant the bomb is a way to eliminate the threat without endangering our soldiers' lives. What would a good alternative be?

[Rusvul]

   It is possible to target a nuclear bomb at a military base with no civilians in range or at risk. But how many nuclear bombs have been fired that didn't kill far too many civilians? There may be uses for military drones that are considered morally acceptable by many or most, but their use won't be restricted to those applications. The United States has used nuclear bombs for questionable purposes. No doubt new technologies, also powerful and with some moral implications, will  have the same fate.

   The other thing that I suppose might happen is that if everyone used drones, fewer people would get hurt. But that doesn't seem exceptionally likely.

[Mhera]

Drones can be misused, just like guns, nukes, and bombers. In fact, with a little necessity and imagination, lots of things can be turned into weapons that can be misused. Books, pens, glass bottles, pressure cookers, shoe laces, magazines, etc. The bottom line is that none of these objects is in itself evil if used for an evil purpose. It's the wielder's fault. It's like that saying, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." I'm not questioning that drones can be used for immoral purposes, because any other thing can be.

Rather, I gave an example of how they are used in military service, and then asked what a good drone-less alternative would be.