Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom.
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These people obviously know nothing about physics or snow and ice removal.
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Now it’s a product. Soon it’ll be a 3D print pattern. Like printable firearms, control will be impossible. Fleets of firebots will swarm hapless targets. The protection-racket potential is immense.
This is worse than we imagine. Anonymous arson will doom us.
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Drone defense systems are going to be a big business once these start getting misused.
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Anti-drone drones FTW! But I predict swarms of incendiary 'bots from robin- to lightning-bug-size. Small fire’bots will be supple, evasive. Laser defenses would be worse than nothing, burning backgrounds too often. And static defenses are easily attacked. I predict rapid escalation.
How to make it worse: After igniting you, the drone sprays you with powdered plutonium. I hate when that happens.
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That’s what I was thinking. Water phase changes take lots of energy! You can be clever about it, but you can’t cheat it.
Obviously what they need is a coal-fired steampunk ice-clearance clank.
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It won’t be that bad, or not for long anyway.
Self-organizing firefighting drone flash swarms will emerge in response to anonymous arson, restoring the drone ecosystem balance and holding the doom down to a manageable level.
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Well-managed doom. I like that. If only half my property burns down, I’m comfortable on average.
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Shhhh! Pop some popcorn. This will be good!
“Keep going! You’ve got it. Just a little more…”
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This is why we need to work on directed EMP at a short range. That is the only thing that will completely disable this kind of technology, or jamming equipment.
I just want to say I know this is going to cause forest fires but it’s a drone with a flamethrower. For once put Nanny State aside and just appreciate the majesty of how awesome that is, before it chars you to a crisp of course
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We nearly had to evacuate from a recent wildfire, one of California’s largest ever. We were packed and anxious for days. Luckily, we had warning.
Fire-drones will SERIOUSLY fuck over the landscape. Majesty ain’t the word. I’m an old-school anti-execution guy but I’d be okay with capitol punishment for fire-drone possession. And for firearm possession near a school. Some shit just doesn’t belong in the wild.
If you think airplane pilots are paranoid about lasers, wait until people start directing EMP pulses up at the sky.
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Warning: buzzkill talk
For all the talk of fire drones, I suspect the cost of a reliable fuel for the flamethrowers will be the real limiter. Simply mounting them on a drone is not going to do the trick.
As for 3D-printing a flamethrower for your drone, the other buzzkill is how the fuel used can dissolve plastics. Sure, some fool may try it, but the results will be disappointing and underwhelming. Oh, and don’t underestimate how heavy the fuel will be, as it appears to make up a good chunk of the weight when fully tanked.
As fun as it is to speculate, I do think the main use will be “something otherwise inaccessible needs to be incinerated” like mylar balloons caught in power lines, things like that.
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I don’t know where it came from (and I thought it was this or a similar Looney Tunes episode) but instead of “kill the wabbit”, I seem to recall hearing it sung with the words “it’s a disaster”. (Anyone else aware of this or did I imagine/invent this?)
Seems fitting here.
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Maybe those places that train eagles to take down drones might want get Plan B ready?
These people also haven’t read one of XKCD’s What-If items.
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And there we have the greater sin.
