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Commodity drown with high powered laser for killing things based on image recognition sounds like sci-fi dystopia.
by swiley 6y ago
Commodity drown with high powered laser for killing things based on image recognition sounds like sci-fi dystopia.
- ourmandave 6y agoAll roads lead to Skynet, some less obvious than others.
- dkarl 6y agoYeah, I imagine massive overuse on "pest" species. Mosquito eradication will be a high priority for such technology, but there will be people who modify it to eradicate everything that flies or crawls. Everything smaller than a cat, if they could. I think lasers for killing large animals (including us) will be prohibitively expensive for a long time to come, fingers crossed.
- dash2 6y agoDon't worry. The robots can use machine guns like the rest of us.
- stevespang 6y agoBill Gates was already involved in a startup to radar identify and kill mosquitos with lasers . . . guess it did not go well.
- joshuaissac 6y agoIt resulted in a prototype that apparently cost $50 per unit, but no retail product yet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser
- atat7024 6y agoAre there massive amounts of retail products in, say, Africa?
- joshuaissac 6y agoYes, Africa's retail market was worth US$1.4tn in 2015.[1] 1. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/africas-consumer-market-potential.pdf https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/africas...
- shantara 6y agoUnfortunately, you don't need that much power to permanently blind a human.
- Pokepokalypse 6y agofor that matter; microwaves cook us from the inside out at 100+ meters, and don't require very good aim.
- martin_a 6y agoJust don't step on the field and you won't be mistaken for a rat and be zapped.
- DennisP 6y agoTrue, but it seems less dystopian than soaking vast fields with millions of pounds of neurotoxins, like we do today.
- linuxftw 6y agoThose neurotoxins are perfectly safe. You can drink a cup of glyphosate and you'll be fine. There are no long term side effects, and sure the only studies are carried out by the manufacturer, but we know we can trust them. Sound crazy? Now, pretend it's an injection.
- burnished 6y agoHey, I get it, needles are scary. You don't need to make stuff up to justify a completely rational fear of getting jabbed with a needle.
- linuxftw 6y agoI'm not concerned about the needle, only what's coming through it, approved by an entirely captured regulatory body.
- Pokepokalypse 6y agocan't be any worse than what's potentially in your hamburger.
- sushid 6y agoThen you drink a cup of glyphosate. Even folks on payroll spewing that nonsense would never entertain the thought of actually going through with it.
- bigbizisverywyz 6y agoThere is a video on youtube of a Monsanto lobbyist being challenged to do exactly that, quite funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKw6YjqSfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKw6YjqSfM
- protomyth 6y agoI know a lot of farmers that would respond very well to having "laser weed killer" as a product. I get the feeling the video feed would be amazing. Throw in pest killing and you own the market. Although I keep thinking the movie Runaway (1984) is going to be a much truer representation of reality than I would like.