3 ms·

I should say, a weapons equipped version. I can imagine these things being both agile enough to perform in urban environments and fast enough to perform in rura

I should say, a weapons equipped version. I can imagine these things being both agile enough to perform in urban environments and fast enough to perform in rural, open environments. Imagine a dozen of these swarming an objective in Afghanistan, expiring their batteries over the course of a 30 minute attack, disappearing, and just when the combatants thought it was safe, another dozen show up because there is a drone acting as a recharging hive for dozens of these things and it's is doing slow circles around the objective. That's sci-fi sounding and yet seemingly plausible.

jwr 13y ago
"An objective", "combatants" -- you mean people, right? If so, say it. We should not hide the uncomfortable truth.
- look_lookatme 13y ago
  Oh sure, I don't mean to validate the dehumanizing language of the military, it's just how I wrote it. At least I didn't refer to these things as being instruments of kinetic operations. Not that the machines care much about that, though.
  - WalterSear 13y ago
    Neither does the government, these days. 'To avoid counting civilian deaths, Obama re-defined "militant" to mean "all military-age males in a strike zone"' http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/
    - eru 13y ago
      No female militants?
      - speeder 13y ago
        Of course there is, why else.Obama would explode the 67 year old grandma with a direct hit while she was at.home with her grandchildren while enjoying her flower garden? ( and yes, this actually happened )
        WalterSear 13y ago
        Why indeed, Mrs. Sartre? http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/imxb8IShtoc/hqdefault.jpg http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/imxb8IShtoc/hqdefault.jpg
    - sanoli 13y ago
      Wow, I didn't know about that. That's ridiculous. I remember watching this comedy bit from Chris Rock about the end of the 'innocent bystander', and I never thought it would actually happen one day.
    - Fuzzwah 13y ago
      This thread reminded me of one of my favourite skits from Mitchell & Webb, Needlessly Ambiguous Terms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cake3bwnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cake3bwnY
RogerL 13y ago
Skeet practice. IOW, pretty easy to defend against with a shot gun, netting around your position, and so on. An air strike, on the other hand, not so much.

jwr 13y ago

"An objective", "combatants" -- you mean people, right? If so, say it. We should not hide the uncomfortable truth.

look_lookatme 13y ago
Oh sure, I don't mean to validate the dehumanizing language of the military, it's just how I wrote it. At least I didn't refer to these things as being instruments of kinetic operations. Not that the machines care much about that, though.
- WalterSear 13y ago
  Neither does the government, these days. 'To avoid counting civilian deaths, Obama re-defined "militant" to mean "all military-age males in a strike zone"' http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/
  - eru 13y ago
    No female militants?
    - speeder 13y ago
      Of course there is, why else.Obama would explode the 67 year old grandma with a direct hit while she was at.home with her grandchildren while enjoying her flower garden? ( and yes, this actually happened )
      - WalterSear 13y ago
        Why indeed, Mrs. Sartre? http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/imxb8IShtoc/hqdefault.jpg http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/imxb8IShtoc/hqdefault.jpg
  - sanoli 13y ago
    Wow, I didn't know about that. That's ridiculous. I remember watching this comedy bit from Chris Rock about the end of the 'innocent bystander', and I never thought it would actually happen one day.
  - Fuzzwah 13y ago
    This thread reminded me of one of my favourite skits from Mitchell & Webb, Needlessly Ambiguous Terms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cake3bwnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cake3bwnY

RogerL 13y ago

Skeet practice. IOW, pretty easy to defend against with a shot gun, netting around your position, and so on. An air strike, on the other hand, not so much.