When 3-D printing and drones come together

Come on, you knew it had to happen. Advances in both 3-D and drone technology have now collided, or so says this interesting piece at Wired Magazine's Danger Room. Jordan Golson who wrote the piece says:


"The design can be modified—and reprinted—easily, to be bigger or smaller, carry a sensor or a camera, or fly slower or faster. The plane can be made in 31 hours, with materials that cost $800. Electronics (like the tablet-based ground station) push the price to about $2,500. That’s so cheap, it’s effectively disposable, especially since you can make another one anywhere you can put a 3-D printer. If one version is flawed or destroyed, you can just crank out another."


O brave new world.

NYT piece on drones and democracy

Very interesting piece in the New York Times yesterday entitled Drones and the Democracy Disconnect by Firmin Debrabander. Connects the dots in many ways on our current war policy.


"How do drones affect the nation that endorses them — overtly, or, as is more often the case, tacitly? Are drones compatible with patriotism? With democracy? Honor? Glory? Or do they, as I fear, represent — and exacerbate — a troubling, even obscene disconnect between the American people and the wars waged in our name?"

Sotomayor weighs in on drones and privacy

A short piece at Slate by Lily Hay Newman talks about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's concerns about what I guess you'd call our naiveté about drones in the private sphere. It's not just government surveillance we should worry about--it's anybody's surveillance. And some of those anybodies have our best interest at heart a lot less than government does, though I admit that that can be a low threshold. Check it out HERE

Rambro

I found an article at Slate a few days ago about the encounter between a drone and an angry ram. I could put the YouTube up here, but I think I'll just send you to the piece by Lily Hay Newman. It's probably worth noting that the ram in question is owned by the drone operator, and in fact is a 'rescue ram'.

Still, you can kind of see the future, can't you? Kids with time--and drones--on their hands. Innocent hikers out to enjoy the beauty of nature when suddenly they hear an annoying whirring sound over their heads. If that scenario plays out, just remember that you don't have to be a ram to take action...I predict a new vogue for sling shots.