5 ms·

People robbing rapid testing kits for the global pandemic from cargo trains entering LA sounds like something from a dystopian cyberpunk novel.

jxramos 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_L.A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_L.A.
- Ccecil 5y ago
  Seems like we are closer to "Demolition Man" to me than "Escape from LA"...but the year is just starting :)
LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
Lacks autonomous armed drones swarming around the train, "disencouraging" anyone who doesn't belong there to stay off the tracks.
- nomel 5y ago
  I'm fairly certain the FAA is the only things preventing their use. They're already being deployed in India: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/western-railways-to-use-surveillance-drones-to-boost-security-2575836 https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/western-railways-to-use-surv...
  - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
    Oh!
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - glenneroo 5y ago
    Except they're not armed... yet.
- exikyut 5y ago
  Why do I feel like this would be the simplest solution to this problem, and in fact so simple it's likely to occur in the next few years... ...okay, reality check, even if the autopilots get good enough, it'll still be incredibly easy to whack a drone into the train's overhead wires if you have a big enough stick, and now they potentially have to fix the cable, or maybe a blown transformer. Right.
  - glenneroo 5y ago
    How do you wack a flying drone? If it's in danger of hitting wires it can just fly higher? And how do you wield or even carry a 50m (150ft) or longer stick?. Do you mean shoot it down?
    - exikyut 5y ago
      To be entirely honest I didn't think the scenario through. I was just thinking about the dystopian cyberpunk "that would be mad" of drones hanging around people trying to steal stuff from trains and didn't really envision what would really happen next. Now I actually think about it (thanks), what would a drone be doing? Yelling really loudly? Getting footage of people's faces? It's probably only a matter of time until drones end up equipped with taser units :/ (I honestly don't want to be around when they can actually shoot things...), but besides that I now realize they wouldn't really present a legitimate threat (yet). They'd just be very oversized mosquitoes. I'd completely forgotten this is America though, where people can and do shoot at stuff they don't like and/or is annoying. That would be significantly more effective than a giant baseball bat (which would definitely look hilarious but be a lot less precise).
      - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
        How about paintballing the perpetrators with NEON-GLITTER, laced with something extremely stinky? Or Napalm?
        exikyut 5y ago
        Noooo, that sounds awesome ;_; I really want to go build that :( (the non-napalm version) FWIW it looks like a bunch of Russians had similar ideas 5 years ago and bolted a paintball gun to a drone (apparently with automatic targeting too): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8igjcW39T4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8igjcW39T4k
- voakbasda 5y ago
  Why bother with the complexity of drones when you could add armored “defense” weapons to the sides of the railcars themselves?

jxramos 5y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_L.A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_L.A.

Ccecil 5y ago
Seems like we are closer to "Demolition Man" to me than "Escape from LA"...but the year is just starting :)

LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago

Lacks autonomous armed drones swarming around the train, "disencouraging" anyone who doesn't belong there to stay off the tracks.

nomel 5y ago
I'm fairly certain the FAA is the only things preventing their use. They're already being deployed in India: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/western-railways-to-use-surveillance-drones-to-boost-security-2575836 https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/western-railways-to-use-surv...
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
  Oh!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- glenneroo 5y ago
  Except they're not armed... yet.
exikyut 5y ago
Why do I feel like this would be the simplest solution to this problem, and in fact so simple it's likely to occur in the next few years... ...okay, reality check, even if the autopilots get good enough, it'll still be incredibly easy to whack a drone into the train's overhead wires if you have a big enough stick, and now they potentially have to fix the cable, or maybe a blown transformer. Right.
- glenneroo 5y ago
  How do you wack a flying drone? If it's in danger of hitting wires it can just fly higher? And how do you wield or even carry a 50m (150ft) or longer stick?. Do you mean shoot it down?
  - exikyut 5y ago
    To be entirely honest I didn't think the scenario through. I was just thinking about the dystopian cyberpunk "that would be mad" of drones hanging around people trying to steal stuff from trains and didn't really envision what would really happen next. Now I actually think about it (thanks), what would a drone be doing? Yelling really loudly? Getting footage of people's faces? It's probably only a matter of time until drones end up equipped with taser units :/ (I honestly don't want to be around when they can actually shoot things...), but besides that I now realize they wouldn't really present a legitimate threat (yet). They'd just be very oversized mosquitoes. I'd completely forgotten this is America though, where people can and do shoot at stuff they don't like and/or is annoying. That would be significantly more effective than a giant baseball bat (which would definitely look hilarious but be a lot less precise).
    - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
      How about paintballing the perpetrators with NEON-GLITTER, laced with something extremely stinky? Or Napalm?
      - exikyut 5y ago
        Noooo, that sounds awesome ;_; I really want to go build that :( (the non-napalm version) FWIW it looks like a bunch of Russians had similar ideas 5 years ago and bolted a paintball gun to a drone (apparently with automatic targeting too): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8igjcW39T4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8igjcW39T4k
voakbasda 5y ago
Why bother with the complexity of drones when you could add armored “defense” weapons to the sides of the railcars themselves?