We have already passed that long back! I remember watching a video few years ago of a professor from some university in Europe demonstrating to a general audie

We have already passed that long back! I remember watching a video few years ago of a professor from some university in Europe demonstrating to a general audience (families and friends of the staff and students of the university) a system that they developed to control and sustain drones(quadcopter) in hostile conditions. As a demonstration the professor flew a drone few metres high and started poking it with a metal rod, the drone wavered a bit but still maintained its position as if it was some stubborn being. All well and good; the audience clapped. The professor then upped the ante and placed a glass filled with wine on the drone and repeated the demonstration. The wine in the glass did not spill, no matter how much forcefully the drone was poked with the rod. The crowd cheered. Then the professor flew a consellation of drones and repeated the same demonstration and also demonstrated how the drones communicated amongst themselves. The audience was ecstatic. Then the professor brought down one of the drones, and to further demonstrate the sustainability of the drones in hostile conditions broke one of the wings of the drone. The moment the wing was broken, there was a reaction from the crowd that was unprecedented! The audience reacted as if the professor had committed some cruel act against a living animal! When I saw that reaction, I realised that humans are going to have a very love-hate relationship with technology as they have with any other living being. Going forward people will be treating electronic devices as no different than other living creatures.