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Cheaper to use drones / cruise missiles / HE carried by a flock of small robot helicoptors; many simpler schemes that are less traceable, unless developing a re
by kabdib 12y ago
Cheaper to use drones / cruise missiles / HE carried by a flock of small robot helicoptors; many simpler schemes that are less traceable, unless developing a reputation is your intent. There are uncountable ways to kill people without needing to invoke Hollywood class exotica.
[NB: I thought about not posting this, because people who are paid to not have a sense of humor about these things almost certainly read HN, but fuck that, screw "chilling of speech"]
- jacquesm 12y agoHard to make any of those work across intercontinental differences. Drones, cruise missiles and small robot helicopters need to be launched from a location relatively close to the target.
- TheCraiggers 12y agoDrones, at the very least, would not be that hard. They're already developing a solar-powered drone that can stay in the air for years; crossing a few oceans are definitely in the realm of possibility. http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/solar-powered-drone-designed-fly-five-years-nonstop http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/solar-powered-drone...
- kragen 12y agoDrones have been launched intercontinentally, although with a significant failure rate, since last millennium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_Corporation_Aerosonde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_Corporation_Aerosonde
- jacquesm 12y ago600 km/L, that's very impressive fuel economy.
- rwallace 12y agoA kitchen knife can work across intercontinental distances. Buy plane ticket to city where target lives, buy knife in local store, get taxi to location of target, stab target to death with knife. It's less glamorous than drones and missiles, but it's just as effective in the scenario that kicked off this thread, where one civilian decides to kill another even though he'll be writing off his own life in the process. Shinier weapons don't change that fundamental.