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Few things in the world scare me more than the idea of Xi Jinping with control over semiautonomous flying robocops. Other people worry about climate change. So

Few things in the world scare me more than the idea of Xi Jinping with control over semiautonomous flying robocops. Other people worry about climate change. Some religious nutcases worry about paperclip maximizers and basilisks. I worry about Robocop.

threatofrain 8y ago
I assume that cheap flying drones are the weapons of the future, not just in military but police too. Small drones everywhere of all kinds. The drones would at least be semi-autonomous as having a human behind every single drone sounds expensive at scale.
- orbifold 8y ago
  Luckily drones still have significant limitations on achievable flight time. Some of which are dictated by the laws of physics. So for the foreseeable future there won’t be any bird sized drones chasing you down. Military drones on the other hand are much larger and expensive.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - YetAnotherNick 8y ago
    And one crash will have high repercussion, even in China.
    - andy_ppp 8y ago
      Depends if the other drones decide to stop you from speaking out.
    - threatofrain 8y ago
      Car crashes have important consequences anywhere in the world as well; I think people will simply accept the low incidence of drone-related accident as part of their environmental ambience.
      - YetAnotherNick 8y ago
        They are completely different thing. I will be much more furious if some relative die due to drones than accident.
        pasabagi 8y ago
        Why? I have had a friend die from a car accident. It doesn't exactly make you pro-driver (he was drunk). If people can get used to cars, they can get used to anything. I mean, even as street furniture, they're hideously annoying. They monopolize roads, kill pedestrians, make noise, poison us, and do the same to our children, then you pay taxes to subsidize their manufacture. Drones sound far less obnoxious.
  - Existenceblinks 8y ago
    Install (mini)Drone charging station on every mobile cell site, plus Tesla or other electric charging stations(e.g. poles). Add auto landing .. to charging station with Magsafe-like connector for example. Add on-the-fly battery swapping feature. Develop support drone that can carry batteries, fly and attach itself to low battery drone, swap, detach and go back to station. etc.
- Chris_Chambers 8y ago
  I sometimes wonder if weaponized self-replicating micro-drones are the great filter. It seems like such an obvious step to take in tech, and one that would probably consistently precede successful interstellar space travel. One wrong use of the tech and they’d run into a variation of grey goo extinction long before reaching another star.
fleshfly 8y ago
I agree! Civilian-murdering drones should only belong the U.S of A! America! Fuck yeah! Comin' again to save the motherfuckin' day, yeah!
swarnie_ 8y ago
Personally i'm more scared of the already existing American bombing kill-droids. I forgot the HN golden rule, never say anything negative about the USA however true it is.

threatofrain 8y ago

I assume that cheap flying drones are the weapons of the future, not just in military but police too. Small drones everywhere of all kinds. The drones would at least be semi-autonomous as having a human behind every single drone sounds expensive at scale.

orbifold 8y ago
Luckily drones still have significant limitations on achievable flight time. Some of which are dictated by the laws of physics. So for the foreseeable future there won’t be any bird sized drones chasing you down. Military drones on the other hand are much larger and expensive.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- YetAnotherNick 8y ago
  And one crash will have high repercussion, even in China.
  - andy_ppp 8y ago
    Depends if the other drones decide to stop you from speaking out.
  - threatofrain 8y ago
    Car crashes have important consequences anywhere in the world as well; I think people will simply accept the low incidence of drone-related accident as part of their environmental ambience.
    - YetAnotherNick 8y ago
      They are completely different thing. I will be much more furious if some relative die due to drones than accident.
      - pasabagi 8y ago
        Why? I have had a friend die from a car accident. It doesn't exactly make you pro-driver (he was drunk). If people can get used to cars, they can get used to anything. I mean, even as street furniture, they're hideously annoying. They monopolize roads, kill pedestrians, make noise, poison us, and do the same to our children, then you pay taxes to subsidize their manufacture. Drones sound far less obnoxious.
- Existenceblinks 8y ago
  Install (mini)Drone charging station on every mobile cell site, plus Tesla or other electric charging stations(e.g. poles). Add auto landing .. to charging station with Magsafe-like connector for example. Add on-the-fly battery swapping feature. Develop support drone that can carry batteries, fly and attach itself to low battery drone, swap, detach and go back to station. etc.
Chris_Chambers 8y ago
I sometimes wonder if weaponized self-replicating micro-drones are the great filter. It seems like such an obvious step to take in tech, and one that would probably consistently precede successful interstellar space travel. One wrong use of the tech and they’d run into a variation of grey goo extinction long before reaching another star.

fleshfly 8y ago

I agree! Civilian-murdering drones should only belong the U.S of A! America! Fuck yeah! Comin' again to save the motherfuckin' day, yeah!

swarnie_ 8y ago

Personally i'm more scared of the already existing American bombing kill-droids. I forgot the HN golden rule, never say anything negative about the USA however true it is.