5 ms·

How many more years until we can arm the crows and start a private bird militia?

swayvil 10y ago
If I was the bird master race and I wanted to wipe out the metal monsters (that's us) I'd probably do it with a very slow acting degenerative disease. No symptoms for 5 years then wham, retards you in 6 months. I would distribute it via birdpoop.
cygx 10y ago
You don't always need smart (bird) soldiers, just well-trained ones. Case in point: The dutch police is experimenting with eagles to bring down drones[1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/eagles-v-drones-dutch-police-take-on-rogue-aircraft-flying-squad https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/eagles-v-drone...
- forinti 10y ago
  I wonder what sort of defences people will start adding to their drones. Sharp blades or electric shocks will probably dissuade a bird from going near a drone again.
btilly 10y ago
It is surprisingly easy to train a number of species of birds to attack any small object. Just have a room with a curtain and a bird on each side. Show one bird an actual threat, like a picture of a hawk, as the other is shown the object you want to train it on. Hearing the alarm and seeing only that object, the bird will learn that this thing is dangerous. The trained bird can then easily train a whole flock. I have long thought it would be funny to train birds to attack the little flags that you see on limousines that carry foreign dignitaries. Then release a flock of trained birds during some public event.
- draugadrotten 10y ago
  The French could train their birds to fear burkinis.
  - sctb 10y ago
    You can't comment like this here. Please comment civilly and substantively, or not at all, as we've asked before. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
csours 10y ago
Arm the birds you say? https://www.reddit.com/r/birdswitharms/ https://www.reddit.com/r/birdswitharms/
digi_owl 10y ago
I seem to recall a WW2 project that tried to use either birds or bats as carriers for incendiary devices. The project was canceled after one or more buildings on the base they were being trained burned down.
- wp1 10y ago
  Pigeons and bats were both used in separate projects. You're thinking of the bat one. Incendiaries were attached to bats, who were dropped from planes. And then expected to fly into buildings. Incendiaries go off. Building burns down. Pigeons were used as the guidance system in an early smart bomb. Rather than tracking a target with a laser or GPS, trained pigeons would steer the bomb.
- soared 10y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb Never used in combat, but supposedly very, very effective. Strap time-delayed incendiary bombs to hibernating bats, put them in a bomb case, release them over Japan. The bats go hide in buildings and start 1000s of fires.
ourmandave 10y ago
But where are you going to get enough crows in one place to build an army? Maybe Danville, IL http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-26/news/ct-met-crows-of-vermilion-county-20130126_1_crows-intelligent-birds-west-nile http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-26/news/ct-met-cr... Or Terre Haute, IN http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/us/terre-haute-battles-crow-problem-this-land.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/us/terre-haute-battles-cro...
flukus 10y ago
It doesn't end well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War
- ajuc 10y ago
  I love they adhere to wikipedia war template. Participants: Emus, Sir George Pearce, Major G.P.W. Meredith, Royal Australian Artillery

If I was the bird master race and I wanted to wipe out the metal monsters (that's us) I'd probably do it with a very slow acting degenerative disease. No symptoms for 5 years then wham, retards you in 6 months. I would distribute it via birdpoop.

cygx 10y ago

You don't always need smart (bird) soldiers, just well-trained ones. Case in point: The dutch police is experimenting with eagles to bring down drones[1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/eagles-v-drones-dutch-police-take-on-rogue-aircraft-flying-squad https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/eagles-v-drone...

forinti 10y ago
I wonder what sort of defences people will start adding to their drones. Sharp blades or electric shocks will probably dissuade a bird from going near a drone again.

btilly 10y ago

It is surprisingly easy to train a number of species of birds to attack any small object. Just have a room with a curtain and a bird on each side. Show one bird an actual threat, like a picture of a hawk, as the other is shown the object you want to train it on. Hearing the alarm and seeing only that object, the bird will learn that this thing is dangerous. The trained bird can then easily train a whole flock. I have long thought it would be funny to train birds to attack the little flags that you see on limousines that carry foreign dignitaries. Then release a flock of trained birds during some public event.

draugadrotten 10y ago
The French could train their birds to fear burkinis.
- sctb 10y ago
  You can't comment like this here. Please comment civilly and substantively, or not at all, as we've asked before. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

csours 10y ago

Arm the birds you say? https://www.reddit.com/r/birdswitharms/ https://www.reddit.com/r/birdswitharms/

digi_owl 10y ago

I seem to recall a WW2 project that tried to use either birds or bats as carriers for incendiary devices. The project was canceled after one or more buildings on the base they were being trained burned down.

wp1 10y ago
Pigeons and bats were both used in separate projects. You're thinking of the bat one. Incendiaries were attached to bats, who were dropped from planes. And then expected to fly into buildings. Incendiaries go off. Building burns down. Pigeons were used as the guidance system in an early smart bomb. Rather than tracking a target with a laser or GPS, trained pigeons would steer the bomb.
soared 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb Never used in combat, but supposedly very, very effective. Strap time-delayed incendiary bombs to hibernating bats, put them in a bomb case, release them over Japan. The bats go hide in buildings and start 1000s of fires.

ourmandave 10y ago

But where are you going to get enough crows in one place to build an army? Maybe Danville, IL http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-26/news/ct-met-crows-of-vermilion-county-20130126_1_crows-intelligent-birds-west-nile http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-26/news/ct-met-cr... Or Terre Haute, IN http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/us/terre-haute-battles-crow-problem-this-land.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/us/terre-haute-battles-cro...

flukus 10y ago

It doesn't end well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War

ajuc 10y ago
I love they adhere to wikipedia war template. Participants: Emus, Sir George Pearce, Major G.P.W. Meredith, Royal Australian Artillery