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I've been worrying about this for years. What's next is micro-chemical attacks. Drones that can cloud an individual or small group of people. They'll think it
by adenozine 6y ago
I've been worrying about this for years.
What's next is micro-chemical attacks. Drones that can cloud an individual or small group of people. They'll think it was just dust or something, the thing zips off into the sky, and the linings of their lungs starts dissolving and they die.
- HenryKissinger 6y agoRussia attempted to kill a dissenter in England with a toxic agent and all of Europe went up in arms. Presidents and prime ministers put out condemnations. Public opinion sharply turned against Russia. The backlash to what you're suggesting would be insane if it actually happened.
- was_boring 6y agoHow does this stop the next one? It’s not the first time Russia has done this — and they have done it in European countries.
- hammock 6y agoSkripal? There's a lot of contention and contradicting evidence that suggest it was a false flag.
- HenryKissinger 6y agoAbsolutely false. I didn't know Russian propaganda had reached into HN. Study Exposes Russia Disinformation Campaign That Operated In The Shadows For 6 Years: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/16/878169027/study-exposes-russia-disinformation-campaign-that-operated-in-the-shadows-for-6- https://www.npr.org/2020/06/16/878169027/study-exposes-russi...
- 1MachineElf 6y ago>HenryKissinger Username checks out.
- athms 6y agoHacker News is nothing more than Slashdot in its heyday. This place is a glorious cluster fuck of Internet wisdom.
- hammock 6y agoDid I miss the mention of Skripal in that link? https://off-guardian.org/2020/03/04/the-skripal-case-two-years-on/ https://off-guardian.org/2020/03/04/the-skripal-case-two-yea... http://johnhelmer.net/austria-confirms-opcw-report-on-skripal-faking-by-the-british-vienna-exposes-financial-times-lies-and-cover-up/ http://johnhelmer.net/austria-confirms-opcw-report-on-skripa... https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/07/15/mainstream-media-hide-skripals-connections-to-russiagate-trump-case/ https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/07/15/mainstream... https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/the-impossible-photo/ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/the-impossib...
- Paradigma11 6y agoWhat is the story about the photos of the russian operatives entering on the airport trying to show? Nobody, not even they themselves, dispute being on that flight.
- dang 6y agoYou can't post like this without evidence. Someone having an opposing opinion does not count as evidence (or rather, it is evidence only that a topic is divisive). Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and don't do this again. "Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20astroturf https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
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- duncan_bayne 6y agoSure but that tends to work against States. Backlash against non-State groups like the PLO and IRA seems less effectual.
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago> agent and all of Europe went up in arms. Not arms as in weapons, arms as in failing their arms about. Fat lot of good that'll do to prevent the next incident.
- throwanem 6y agoWhy does that make more sense than a bomb that just straight up kills a dude? Chemical agents are difficult and dangerous to synthesize, but you can get explosives anywhere there's a mining industry.
- R0b0t1 6y agoChemical weapons require some specialized knowledge but within that field it is not an impossible task. It is mostly the acquisition of the raw materials. If you can do a drug synthesis you could probably synthesize a chemical weapon.
- guscost 6y agoWith chemical weapons, a tiny palm-sized drone can lift a deadly payload. And it is not hard to assemble a (very) large fleet of cheap micro-drones, so yeah.
- ashtonkem 6y agoEspecially since it is much easier to protect yourself against gas than it is to defend yourself against high explosives. Gas masks are cheap, explosives requires armored vehicles.
- chongli 6y agoNerve agents can kill you even with a gas mask. They absorb right through your skin.
- ashtonkem 6y agoThat's still much easier to defend against than high explosives, and probably much harder to procure. If narco-terrorists can get blocks of C4 and cheap drones, why bother with the extra steps and international attention that a nerve agent would get you?
- chongli 6y agoNerve agents could be attached to much smaller delivery platforms. If you could build a drone the size of a mosquito you could use it to deliver a tiny, fatal dose of nerve agent to your target. No chemical explosive could match that level of miniaturization. It may be sci fi at this point but it seems entirely possible to me. After all, mosquitoes exist and their behaviour is quite sophisticated. They’re able to locate mammals by detecting our breath, bite us to steal some blood, then fly away their eggs.
- mycall 6y agoShouldn't these drones be pretty easy to signal jam? I mean cartels don't really care about the law anyways.
- roywiggins 6y agoOnly if you see them coming; if you have to run the jammer at all times, that's just a homing beacon for drones.
- grugagag 6y agoYou can run decoy ones as well. I think we’ll see a drone defense industry pop up soon
- roywiggins 6y agoIt exists, mostly defense contractors though. https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/5/18169215/london-heathrow-gatwick-airports-anti-drone-defense-systems https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/5/18169215/london-heathrow-g...
- anitil 6y agoDisclosure: I work for a company in this field. They are easy to jam if you don't mind also not having GPS, Wifi and 3G/4G/5G service. You can do selective jamming but this is much more sophisticated
- dron3r 6y agoMore sophisticated actors can fly on vision alone. Disclosure: I also work for a company in this field.
- sigstoat 6y agoat some point they’ll be autonomous, running off of IMUs and SLAM. there won’t be anything to jam.