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[Bouchart]

Fuck Rednecks, if Amazon starts doing that I'd be up there, perched on the roof of my building, utilizing RC helicopters and whatever else I can legally justify to sink them from the sky. It sounds like fun.

Just think of them as Flying Piņatas.  Just grab a stick and start swinging it.  Free goodies!

[Descan]

Like, seriously. I live near an Amazon warehouse. If they want to do quick deliveries, then fuck it, I'll do the "Use your bicycle and get it to places quickly" thing. :I

[freeformschooler]

Meanwhile...

Assuming this isn't another PR stunt/google vaporware, is anyone going to have jobs in the future at all? Aside from the engineers, of course.

[Darvi]

The roadsweepers who have to pick up the wrecked drones of the streets?

[misko27]

Meanwhile...

Assuming this isn't another PR stunt/google vaporware, is anyone going to have jobs in the future at all? Aside from the engineers, of course.

Google: "Is someone trying to out innovate us in something weird? OH HELLS NO. GET THE ROBOT DIVISION."

The roadsweepers who have to pick up the wrecked drones of the streets?

Robots will have that job.  Robots will also have the job of picking up broken roadsweepers.

[Descan]

Yeeeah, the only jobs humans will have left will be the jobs that need creativity and intelligence. Design, invention, research, creation.

Until we get strong AI. >_____>

[Darvi]

The roadsweepers who have to pick up the wrecked drones of the streets?

Robots will have that job.  Robots will also have the job of picking up broken roadsweepers.

It's broken roadsweepers all the way down.

[Armok]

Bha! You luddite troglodytes have no vision! I'll be DAMNED if some metaphorical dinosaur powered by literal liquified dinosaur is going to be delivering my 3d printing filaments while I detect cancer using geometry-defying alembics full of bees! And talking to my glasses. I have an effin thingy that can detect my hands waving around like a WIZARD down to a 200 hundredth of a millimeter RIGHT NOW within arms reach! My sister AND my grandfather are cyborgs! 5 years is conservative.

[mastahcheese]

Oh man, this thread made me laugh.

If they ever do start this drone thing, it seems to me I could make a fortune from selling RC planes and helicopters.

[Steelmagic]

So what would be the general plan with the RC planes? Attach a pistol with some type of firing mechanism? Ram them?

[mastahcheese]

You could strap explosives to them, probably the best bet.

[Tack]

As a PR stunt, it could work.

[Karlito]

It's really a "statement of intent" at most, the technology to do this simply doesn't exist.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/02/amazon-drone-delivery-jeff-bezos-hype

The military can use drones to deliver hellfire missiles anywhere it damn pleases, the technology certainly exists to let drones deliver 5lb packages in areas close to Amazon distribution centers. Engineers are smart, so I can feel fairly confident that the potential problems a blogger spent five seconds thinking up are already solved.

The point about the legality is valid, of course. Given the state of the US government, I don't think it's likely that we'll see regulation on privately owned drones coming into existence any time soon either.

[10ebbor10]

I read somewhere the issue probably isn't going to be discussed before 2020.

On a side note, military drones are not automated, but remotely controlled. Additionally, they often fly over much less crowded areas. ((Also,interception of drones by electronical or other means has occured quite a few times))

[Putnam]

It's a blatant PR stunt at best, with Amazon just wanting to be seen as the new trendy, future-minded company. I sincerely doubt this is going to happen, and if it does it'll only be in a few select places (Just like the Google internet provider.)

I wish it would end up like Google Fiber. That'd be great, since the mere existence of Google Fiber has shifted the public view of internet speed from "man, this 100mb/s sure is acceptable" to "hey, what the fuck, why can Google offer something that blows all other internet out of the water". The major ISPs are going to be in trouble soon if they don't start making concessions.

I get ~750 kb/s round here. Recently, that's been down to 56 kb/s. A couple days ago, I saw it go down to 60 bytes per second.