(ThyBlackMan.com) Regardless of which side of the fence you may sit on regarding this topic, there’s one thing you just can’t deny – drones will definitely be a big part of the future whether you like it or not. From delivery systems to agriculture, they are already coming up in a very big way indeed. However for every wave of success, there are a set of disadvantages or shortcomings that we will have to adapt to or deal with soon enough. Most of us would undoubtedly be familiar with the not-so-recent drone strikes in Pakistan. Here are a few of the majors risks associated with drones and their proliferation over the next few years: –
We can make drones more efficient and deadly by reducing the human cost of war: –
Even now with the technology still in its stages of infancy, there have been enough protests over unauthorized drone strikes and the killing of civilians, thus causing more collateral damage than a normal air strike. In the case of a pilot, one would be able to see the civilians at least.
Also since it is ultimately a machine, there are no decisions in terms of being ethical and moral (as far as collateral damage and civilian casualties are concerned) as it will simply carry out the order given to it. Enough Pakistani civilians have suffered over the years due to this reason itself. Sadly in the context of drones, killing someone merely involves the press of a button.
They could turn into complete surveillance machines spying on whole populations: –
Ever since Edward Snowden’s revelations about the true Orwellian nature and reality of surveillance in the United States, this fact has also largely entered the public consciousness. Of late, a lot of drones have been revealed to possess cutting edge technology and cameras capable of scanning entire cities at a stretch, catering to thermal imaging requirements and the ability to zoom in and out, even to the extent of being able to read a car license plate, all the way up from 60,000 ft.
More alarmingly, thanks to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act Of 2012 drone usage in the States is set to expand even further and this further established the fact that privacy laws have been unable to keep up with the staggering pace of drone technology over the years.
This in turn may lead both the military and the police to think that they can easily get away with using drones to spy on ordinary citizens with no repercussions whatsoever. Although there are still enough agencies demanding and pushing for transparency in the drone authorization process, for the very time being the ultimate future still remains to be seen.
Conclusion: Finally this is all still hypothetical in the sense that we really don’t have a proper idea regarding the kind of trajectory drones will take in the future. They could very well be the ultimate boon or bane depending on the future balance of power between particular nations and superpowers plus the drone companies taking very stringent precautions against the frightening possibility of the technology falling into the wrong hands.
Make no mistake – If geopolitics spin out of control anywhere on the globe, the chances of a group of terrorists seizing control over a bunch of armed drones will be very high and very real. Quite the terrifying prospect indeed.
Not to mention that the growing use of drones in war is already destroying the basic human rights that anyone and everyone is entitled to by actually justifying the killing of civilians, in turn making the “risk free” nature of drones almost the ultimate justification for more extreme forms of warfare in the future. However, if they happen to end up sticking more to the commercial and civilian sector in the near future, it can be said that the pros would eventually overshadow the cons. All we can do is hope at this point of time.
Staff Writer; Doug Greene
