21st Century Wire says…
Think of the fun that local kids and gun enthusiasts will have with this latest brainwave by internet mogul and neo-nerd vanguard, Jeff Bezos…
Some will see this as ‘so cool’ technology, while adventurous youths might want to get their kicks hunting down and disabling these little flying robots, and gun enthusiasts will enjoy target practice as drones flying overhead – and who could blame them when their local airspace and roads are being invaded by corporate robots.
Amazon surveillance? Corporate drones could do the work for the NSA by snooping at every window.
No one can deny that the potential for ‘Amazon surveillance’ is massive. Corporate drones could easily provide a real-time video snooping network needed for the NSA to keep tabs on Americans 24 hours a day. If you think this isn’t already being discussed, and business deals between the government and Amazon haven’t already been calculated – then you would be very naive.
What are the ‘consumer’ benefits of having a robotic helicopter drone deliver stuff to your door? Apparently, next day delivery is not good enough for yuppie navel gazers – who are demanding same day delivery service. For those want even better than same day – to consume their books, DVDs, electronic like they want to consume their Dominos Pizzas in 30 minutes or less, then drones must be the answer, right?
The dream of the robotic economy, where everything is rented, and nothing is owned, and where robotic Amazon drones and Google cars will take the place of human drivers in cars and vans. These are not dreams anymore, this is your new reality, approaching fast.
What’s it really all about? Profits, of course. Technocrat bean counters in Seattle and Silicon Valley, having already established a benchmark price for driver-based freight postage and delivery, feel they can undercut that traditional cost and make an additional margin on each item while selling it to their technology-worshiping customers as a cool ‘value-add’ to their brand’s “client experience”.
But here’s the real red flag (no pun intended): corporate technocrats and fascist collectivists are drooling over the prospect of what they are proudly calling, “The sharing economy of things”. It sounds wonderful to some, like those who literally shake with excitement when they hear the word “collective”, “Co-op” or “commune”. Yes, it’s that utopic, Zeitgeist future where no one actually owns anything, but where everything is rented, or loaned. It’s the completion of the rent-seeking economy – but that renting for us (the proletariat) but total ownership over us by the select cartel of super-corporations and royal-chartered firms – the only ones who can afford to operate in the big regulator, big government environment…
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Rentals Delivered By Drone Could Make Ownership Obsolete
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Josh Constine
Tech Crunch
Why buy something when you could rent it, have it instantly delivered when you need it, and taken away when you’re done? While Amazon’s unveiling of its Prime Air drone-powered delivery service could make buying easier, it’s drone pick-up that could make it so we don’t need to buy things at all.
The sharing economy holds the promise of a more efficient, collaborative way of living. Startups like Airbnb and GetAround are thriving by making use of our empty apartments and parked cars. It’s proving feasible for humans to share housing and transportation, but we haven’t quite figured out the sharing of most objects. Perhaps the biggest hurdle is delivery and pickup.
A few startups like Neighborgoods have tried and failed to let you rent things from other normal people. Need a stud finder or hot glue gun? Don’t buy one and rarely use it. Instead, search in your town for someone who has what you need and rent it. Problem is, who wants to drive across town and back twice to scoop up a rental and drop it off when they’re done? Factor in the travel time plus gas and it might be easier/cheaper to just buy the object.
But drones.
Unlocking The Sharing Economy Of Things
Amazon last night showed off its experimental Amazon Prime Air unmanned aerial vehicles that could one day deliver what you buy from its e-commerce site. The hope is that within five years, Amazon Prime Air’s autonomous drones could deliver items weighing up to 5 pounds (84 percent of what Amazon ships) within 30 minutes to the right locations.
Caveats abound. As Quartz notes, it could be a long-time, perhaps 2020, until the FAA determines drone delivery is safe enough and the red tape is navigated to permit it. The Hill reports that lawmakers want better drone privacy rules. Even then, the Washington Post explains that drones might need human pilots that could kill their cost-effectiveness for deliveries/pick-ups.
Sure, there’s plenty to poo-poo. But it’s hard not to imagine that robots will eventually alter the landscape of how goods move about.
While he’s normally focused on filesharing and identity, Facebook Director Of Product Management Sam Lessin has been thinking for a while (and even did a Tedx talk) about how robots will enable the “end of ownership.” He believes Uber, Google’s self-driving cars, and Amazon Prime Air are all pushing us in the same direction – a world where we buy less and share or rent more.
This morning Lessin wrote that Amazon Prime Air “is actually all about the backhaul. It will be cool when drones can deliver something to you in 30 min… it will be much much cooler when the drone can pick it back up when you are done with it. Drones (and self driving cars) are the key to the ‘sharing’ economy.”
He’s right. Today, the most convenient way to have access to something you want is to own it and keep it where you live. That’s because the process of having something delivered is too costly, cumbersome, and slow to do every time you need it.
Luckily we’re seeing delivery times get shorter at a dizzying pace. Until recently, a few days to a few weeks was the quickest you could get something brought to your door. Then Amazon’s shipping empire enabled affordable and reliable two-day and next-day delivery. Now there’s a slew of companies, including Walmart, Google and eBay, vying to offer same-day delivery where you order something in the morning and get it by night.
Still, people don’t want things soon. They want them NOW. A 30-minute Amazon Prime Air is the closest approximation of “now” we’ve seen yet…
Continue this story at Tech Crunch
READ MORE DRONE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Drone File
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