Everyone knows about drones, they are as common as smartphones and apps, but how many people have seen one in action? We were at lunch with friends the other day – a particularly interesting gathering because there were our hosts (our generation), us, our hosts’ daughter and companion and their daughter’s daughter and boyfriend (both very serious university students). Surprisingly, perhaps, the conversation was very lively, with input on experiences, from ‘our’ time 60 years ago to ‘their’ time at university today. It was all really good.
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The subject turned to drones, the pros and the cons. We discussed the potential dangers of them and the potential positive uses – that would be from dropping bombs on people to estate agents doing a sales pitch based on drone footage. Halfway through lunch one of the intermediate generation stood up and left the room, we assumed to get more wine. A couple of minutes later I looked up to see something very odd hovering in the middle of the room in which we were eating. I yelped and the entire table turned around to see the intruder. It weaved around a bit and then disappeared around the corner. A couple of minutes later our luncheon companion returned, with his smartphone. In a mixture of shock, horror and some amusement, there we all were being filmed staring at the airborne intruder, faithfully recorded on his phone. That was experience ‘Number One’.
Experience ‘Number Two’ was an item that came through as an email, an American piece called ‘Drone Wars’. It demonstrated a drone that fitted into the palm of the presenter’s hand that could identify a subject on, for example, basic facial feature recognition, could then home in and kill the subject.
The presenter stressed how useful this was, that one could home in on the innovators of an evil policy and eliminate them before they could do any damage – sadly he did not say what would happen if the bad guys had drones and turned them on the good guys. I leave you with that disturbing thought.
Changing the subject, the World Society for the Protection of Animals says that the phenomenon of selfies taken with wild animals is causing stress among wildlife populations.
I don’t need to explain selfies, do I? A report released in Nairobi, Kenya, says that selfies are frequently taken far too close for the comfort of the animals involved, and often too close for comfort for the selfie-taker too. The report says that the proximity of humans often leaves wildlife distressed.
The main victims are lions, by far the biggest, then elephants and giraffe. Apparently 34-billion such images have recently been posted on the social media by at least 700-million selfie-takers.*
There was a tragic incident in a game park near Johannesburg years ago, when three Taiwanese tourists illegally stopped their vehicle next to a pride of lions and climbed out to have their photographs taken (no selfies in those days), and they were all killed by the lions.
*Save the Elephants News Service.
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