It’s not the right tool for every situation, but I think for some situations it’s a useful escalation: You’re tense, it’s been hours, you’re in a standoff with

It’s not the right tool for every situation, but I think for some situations it’s a useful escalation: You’re tense, it’s been hours, you’re in a standoff with people who have snipers trained on you and you’re threatening to kill people — but that would be a major escalation, and those snipers might decide they no longer have a reason to hold back. You’re thinking about how to get out of the standoff when a robot crashes through the windows, whirls down the hallway, and starts talking to you through the door. The same negotiator, but now you can’t just hang up on him. He’s here with you, talking. The drone isn’t armed, but you’re being aggressively pushed to negotiate or carry out your threat, here and now. I think a lot of people, emotionally exhausted after hours of standoff, would just fold at that point rather than shoot someone and get the armed raid started. Again, it’s not a tool for every moment — but I think it’s a good step between just waiting for a phone call during a standoff or shouting at the windows, and sending in armed humans.