I was catching up this evening on my stack of Christian Science Monitors and came across Tuesday’s edition, which had two ? count em, two ? pieces about futuristic technology. One concerned some experimental droids, inspired by Star Wars I kid you not, that are floating around on the space shuttle and space station as I write.
The other has to do with some newfangled, easy-to-use drones that police departments are starting to use in place of expensive helicopters or foot-bound dragnets. Pretty cool stuff, though there are some concerns from some privacy activists that, for the most part, don’t stand scrutiny.
A revealing summary:
The three-feet-long, remote-controlled airplane with tiny video cameras can fit in a four-inch-diameter tube – and thus in a car trunk, or over the shoulder like a quiver of arrows. The tiny drone will be able to provide law enforcement officers with a bird’s-eye view of just about anything. It’s intended to find lost hikers, skiers, surfers, children, elders, and more. It can also be used in hostage situations and other violent standoffs in rural or urban areas and to surveil fleeing crime suspects.
Essentially, the police are using one of Green Arrow‘s inventions. Reality imitates fantasy. I was just using a similar ?targeting drone? the other day as I played one of my online superhero characters, Patricia Savage.
Whew. Now that I’ve written this post, I can officially take a tax deduction for all the sci fi and online-gaming bills I’ve got this year. Absolutely essential research. . .
