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What are the geopolitical aspects of having a flying toy built in China?

by jart 4y ago

samatman 4y ago
It's a good question, what are the geopolitical aspects of a Chinese company running cloud software and shipping firmware to a bunch of flying cameras? Does that mean they can run the metadata through machine learning and save all the video their filter decides is interesting? That sounds like it has geopolitical aspects whether they're doing it right now or not.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- sockaddr 4y ago
  Also, one aspect is financially supporting an entity which is based in a country that doesn't have a good notion of separation between corporation and state. You are very much purchasing a drone from the Chinese state. Corporations are required to have a certain percentage of party members. Instead, putting that same money into a corporation from a place where privacy is valued and there isn't a direct benefit to the state is best in my opinion. All of these little micro-choices add up in the long run. I think, if you value personal freedom and rule of law instead of rule by law, you need to stop funneling money into the Chinese economy. Surely a company in Taiwan could be competitive in this space?
zoba 4y ago
Modified DJI drones are being used by Ukraine against Russia. Conceivably if the Chinese government wanted they could force the company to issue an update to disable this use case.
- texasbigdata 4y ago
  As a n00b bet, I'd guess if actual top 5 or top 10 powers fought you'd see some scary / impressive / novel drone warfare usage.
  - kipchak 4y ago
    It's definitely some scary stuff. Loitering munitions like the hero-120 seem like they might wind up seeing widespread use, as they provide reconnaissance and range much greater than what is otherwise available for infantry, and can be scaled up and added on to vehicles like the unmanned LRUSV boat[1] in order to cover a wide range in the indo-pacific. [1]https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-corps-long-range-unmanned-surface-vessel-contract/ https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-corps-long-range-unma...
majou 4y ago
DJI hosts robot design competitions in China, where the brightest brains compete to pour the foundations of future weapon platforms. I'm of the opinion technology can move too fast, and giving money to DJI is fuelling that fire.

What are the geopolitical aspects of having a flying toy built in China?

by jart 4y ago

What are the geopolitical aspects of having a flying toy built in China?

It's a good question, what are the geopolitical aspects of a Chinese company running cloud software and shipping firmware to a bunch of flying cameras? Does that mean they can run the metadata through machine learning and save all the video their filter decides is interesting? That sounds like it has geopolitical aspects whether they're doing it right now or not.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sockaddr 4y ago
Also, one aspect is financially supporting an entity which is based in a country that doesn't have a good notion of separation between corporation and state. You are very much purchasing a drone from the Chinese state. Corporations are required to have a certain percentage of party members. Instead, putting that same money into a corporation from a place where privacy is valued and there isn't a direct benefit to the state is best in my opinion. All of these little micro-choices add up in the long run. I think, if you value personal freedom and rule of law instead of rule by law, you need to stop funneling money into the Chinese economy. Surely a company in Taiwan could be competitive in this space?

zoba 4y ago

Modified DJI drones are being used by Ukraine against Russia. Conceivably if the Chinese government wanted they could force the company to issue an update to disable this use case.

texasbigdata 4y ago
As a n00b bet, I'd guess if actual top 5 or top 10 powers fought you'd see some scary / impressive / novel drone warfare usage.
- kipchak 4y ago
  It's definitely some scary stuff. Loitering munitions like the hero-120 seem like they might wind up seeing widespread use, as they provide reconnaissance and range much greater than what is otherwise available for infantry, and can be scaled up and added on to vehicles like the unmanned LRUSV boat[1] in order to cover a wide range in the indo-pacific. [1]https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-corps-long-range-unmanned-surface-vessel-contract/ https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-corps-long-range-unma...

majou 4y ago

DJI hosts robot design competitions in China, where the brightest brains compete to pour the foundations of future weapon platforms. I'm of the opinion technology can move too fast, and giving money to DJI is fuelling that fire.