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Drone shows: Will they overtake firework displays?
- bee_rider 1y agoI wonder if you can get a strong enough laser on a drone that it’ll show up in the sky, in the fashion that a laser show does. A great big flying vector display would be a cool upgrade for a laser show.
- phantomathkg 1y agoNo. Please don't. Both of them require different skills and technique to get it perfect.
- cypherpunks01 1y agoHasn't happened yet, but I can't wait for the first shots in the US "war on fireworks". It's a natural extension of recent culture wars, combining many familiar elements of climate policy debate, worry over China, the inalienable rights of Americans to buy things that explode, etc. Have any big municipalities replaced their July 4th fireworks with drone displays?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- some_random 1y agoI would argue that it has already started to some degree, you can't buy really any fireworks in non-specialty stores anymore, many jurisdictions ban all sales, and every 4th there are cops chasing down people illegally launching fireworks in cities. As you said, it hasn't been connected to the greater culture war zeitgeist but I agree it's only a matter of time.
- tartoran 1y agoMaybe that's for the better. I've seen people launching fireworks in neighborhoods and it may be fun for them, im sure, but it's a nuisance for everyone else and their dogs. In addition to fires these may cause they always leave a terrible mess behind.
- chneu 1y agoLol "terrible mess". Massive wildfires are started every year because of fireworks.
- tartoran 1y agoI wasn't aware wildfires were started with fireworks, yeah, that's even worse than littering a neighborhood after a session of nuisance that could last a whole night.
- chneu 1y agoOregon slapped a teenager with like $20 million in fines for starting huge wildfire with fireworks. Kid streamed the whole thing on social media. Anything for the gram, baby. The last few years a handful of gender reveal parties started fires, too.
- tartoran 1y agoOh wow, didn't know about this. If the kid isn't rich they probably won't be able to get that money from him. Yeah, social media is pushing people to do crazy things and it's quite destructive for the society. We took this genie out of the bottle, is there a way to tame it? And there's the AI genie, we'll see some very bad consequences down the line, im sure of it.
- jordanb 1y agoExcept fireworks "code Chinese" I kinda forsee drone shows getting so extravagant that they make fireworks shows seem quaint: "why don't the fireworks make any pictures?" Then the drone shows get oversaturated because they can easily be put on day after day without expending any munitions. Then they start to be seen as a nuisance and get regulated.
- some_random 1y agoI don't know where you're from, but in the US the primary code for fireworks is overtly patriotic as they are primarily associated with Independence Day celebrations on the 4th of July.
- cypherpunks01 1y agoYes, perhaps in other places they are associated with China, but Americans generally don't know that fireworks were invented in China, and probably not super aware that all cheap consumer fireworks are manufactured there too.
- conception 1y ago“And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air” Fireworks are about as American as you get.
- bee_rider 1y agoUgh, we’re going to interpret the second amendment to cover fireworks, aren’t we? States will be overruled, the New Hampshire border town economy as well as the hands of many drunken Massholes are in for some damage.
- some_random 1y agoThis is pretty much exactly how it works already though, go look on google maps at the MA/NH/VM border. As for 2A, well the Supreme Court seems unwilling to apply it to firearms right now so I wouldn't expect it to be generalized anytime soon.
- bee_rider 1y agoMy joke was that the border town economies in NH would be ruined because it would become legal to sell fireworks in MA.
- some_random 1y agoOh I see haha, I misread
- daemonologist 1y agoI'd imagine 4th of July is unlikely to shift to majority drones (at least in the near term) due to the economics of it - there are a lot of fireworks shows all concentrated on one evening, and the corresponding number of drone fleets would be sitting mostly idle for the rest of the year. (And I agree that Americans like explosives and would definitely object if you took them away.) If the price of the drones comes down further, or fireworks become more regulated, then maybe.
- NoSalt 1y ago> and the corresponding number of drone fleets would be sitting mostly idle for the rest of the year Would they, or would cities find new occasions to use them because they are already bought and paid for? Maybe Memorial and Labor day drone shows, or "Saturday In The Park" drone shows, or Christmas and New Years drone shows. If they already have them in house, why not use them more? I know I would love that.
- fifilura 1y agoMore likely some kind of advertisement.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoWar on fireworks for private citizens, maybe. Fireworks are already pretty much illegal for the public in Massachusetts, but yet there are still lots of fireworks shows on July 4th put on by groups with an appropriate license.
- siver_john 1y agoWent to a show in Nashville with some friends, I think last year. And drones were definitely incorporated in (interestingly showing Star Wars and then US military assets), but it was done in tandem with the fireworks. Which as a distraction during transitional elements does seem like a good use for them. Honestly I think the biggest threat is also fireworks NIMBYism, people don't like the loud sounds disturbing their lives, their pets, etc combined with the general pressure of bigger and better exacerbating those problems.
- mcphage 1y agoI remember seeing my first drone show in 2016, and it was fairly rudimentary. But even still, it was awesome-inspiring and moving.
- AngryData 1y agoI hope not. It was interesting the first few times I saw it, mostly because of the complications of coordinating all those drones in formation, and a bit in the capital expenses required to set it up. But I don't really find any enjoyment from watching a bunch of drones make simple slow moving animations in the sky. Its like digital watches, impressive the first few times it is accomplished, but now that they are pretty easy to find and you can see a demonstration of it working without much effort, I don't see much point in seeking it out nor have any desire in watching it work.
- jarofghosts 1y agoConsidering the alternative in question is fireworks, which have been in use for literally thousands of years, not being "interesting" is a questionable argument.
- hnuser123456 1y agoI've built a handful of drones but hovering LEDs making lawn trimmer noises is not a replacement for blinding flashes and deafening booms.
- AlecSchueler 1y agoFireworks offer visceral enjoyment because it's explosions overhead. Drones don't offer this but they do have a "wow" factor for their novelty. Now that the novelty is wearing off there's little left to actually enjoy.
- tpm 1y agoThe absence of explosions makes drone shows much more enjoyable for some people. Explosions are also the reason fireworks are banned and/or regulated in lots of places most of the time.
- QuantumGood 1y agoThat's an interesting graph, how long before "boring after repetitions"? Feels like an XKCD exploration.
- mschuster91 1y agoI hope so. Leaving the question of air quality aside, fireworks are a torture upon wildlife. Every year in Germany, about a thousand dogs and cats are lost around NYE because they are scared off by fireworks [1], to say nothing about actual wildlife like birds, rabbits or other animals you'll find around every city that is traumatized or directly killed from the stress. The trash load is insane as well, it's hundreds of cubic meters [5] worth of trash that major cities have to dispose of on the taxpayers' dime because people can't be arsed to pick up and dispose of their ordnance after themselves. And on top of that, you get the insane caseload for medical staff in the weeks before, during and after from all the dumb drunk fucks thinking it's wise to handle fireworks while being drunk out of their mind - 2024 we got five dead [2] across Germany and hundreds of injured in Berlin alone [3], we even got an "influencer" shooting a rocket into a home for social media clout [4]. IMHO: The sooner fireworks go off and die, the better. The problem is, it's a certainty that the usual far-right crowd will drag this issue into their culture war allegations bullshit, just as they did with electric cars, renewable power or smoking bans... [1] https://www.derhund.de/fast-500-hunde-um-den-jahreswechsel-entlaufen/ https://www.derhund.de/fast-500-hunde-um-den-jahreswechsel-e... [2] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/jahreswechsel-inland-100.html https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/jahreswechsel-... [3] https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/01/silvester-berlin-bilanz-363-verletzte-feuerwerk-boeller-senatorin-czyborra.html https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/01/silvester-berl... [4] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/berlin-raketenschuss-an-silvester-influencer-zu-bewaehrungsstrafe-verurteilt-a-1f96c786-320a-4282-9461-842a4c373fc0 https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/berlin-raketenschuss-... [5] https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2024/12/berlin-silvester-party-feuerwerk-stadtreinigung-muell-bsr-abfall.html https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2024/12/berlin-silvest...
- some_random 1y agoAh there it is, the incendiary ban-em-all culture war post.
- mschuster91 1y ago> incendiary I applaud your wordplay, it really is fitting the topic, but come on. I made some serious effort to cite credible sources for all of my points. The only thing I see as incendiary in my post is the "dumb drunk fucks", but honestly, people who deal with dangerous (and sometimes outright illegally powerful) explosives while being drunk out of their mind deserve no civility.
- hagbard_c 1y agoIn a few years we'll be able to enjoy the spectacle of the drone-firework wars when drone show operators see their widgets under attack from fireworks aficionados. See that 'copter there, seems to be the guide drone for the flock around it. Take it out with a barrage of rockets, sayonara! Oh shit, there's a drone watching us over there, move before it calls in reinforcements!
- guywithahat 1y agoDrone shows will probably overtake fireworks not because people like drone shows, but because cities don't like firework shows and never have. Cities will switch to drones once they feel it can be done without losing the next election, and when people stop showing up they'll just stop altogether
- krunck 1y agoI love seeing chemistry in action in the form of fireworks shows. The sights, sounds, and even smells(who doesn,t love sulfur?). There is a local fireworks manufacturer here in the Midwest US that supplies a lot of municipal shows. No China needed if that's a problem for you. If I want to watch pixels, I'll watch a video on a screen.
- hengheng 1y agoWe first had that discussion some 10 years ago. They're not taking the world by storm, we know that much. They are a worse variant of the fireworks we know, but they're different enough to be something else. Cost and regulatory overhead has meant that we haven't fully explored what that could be. Drones work at a completely different speed, and with a different language. Much slower, much more docile. More female, if you will. The same way that good firework is an art form, a good drone show is a whole choreography, and must be treated as such. It is neither a flashing firework, not a hovering dot matrix display. Stuff is hard.
- TheChaplain 1y agoTo me fireworks are enjoyable because of the light, sound and smell experience, plus the slightly chaotic/unpredictable behaviour. Drone shows are pretty but.. well, quickly becomes kind of predictable and dull. Like any CGI in movies these days, just never amazes me or gives any "wow"-feeling like it did when Terminator 2 came out.
- egberts1 1y agoNo
- segmondy 1y agoIt's like going to a NASCAR or drag race with electric cars. What's the fun? The fun with internal combustion engines is the loud engines, the lumpy idles, the reverberation of the engine and exhaust into the environment, you can feel it. The hair on your skin will rise, you will close your ears, you can smell the exhaust. Likewise the same with fireworks, you feel it, if you are close enough you can smell it, LEDs can't match the bright explosive lights. It will never be comparable.