If, like me, you live in the Northeast, you’ve probably found it impossible to escape the story of the month.
No, not the killing of a major healthcare executive on the streets of midtown Manhattan.
No, the sudden and completely unexpected fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and not the end of the more than decade-long Syrian civil war.
I’m talking about drones of course. Since mid-November, people have reported sightings Swarms of drones – that can the range 6 inches to more than 6 feet or larger – around the region, first in northern New Jersey and then in surrounding states. Politicians like incoming Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey took to social media over the weekend Describe their own drone huntingWhen received by the federal government Thousands of tips on drone watching.
Anytime a large number of people start thinking they’re seeing things in the sky, it’s only a matter of time before conspiracy theories start bubbling up. Drones have been the subject of foreign intelligence operations, spying on military bases and even President-elect Donald Trump Golf Club of New Jersey. Or they were part of a covert surveillance operation by us own Military or they were a simulated alien invasion being staged Our own government to lay the foundations of a world dictatorship. Or they were real aliens.
(A word about aliens: As my former Axios colleague, space reporter Miriam Kramer, was love to talk: It’s not an alien. It is never alien. (Stop calling it alien.)
The real answer, at least if national security officials are to be believed, is much more quotidian. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday told reporters Most of the reports were not drones at all, but regular, piloted aircraft taking off or landing at night at one of the region’s many major airports. Others are either small aircraft or just run-of-the-mill commercial drones.
“We have not identified any unusual or national security or public safety risks over the civilian airspace of New Jersey or other states in the Northeast,” Kirby said. In other words, there is nothing for citizens to see here, everything is fine.
Of course, if you are someone of faith The Truth Is Out There™Your worries are unlikely to be reassured by the sound of a G-man. But it’s both true that people can easily guess how big things are in the night sky — especially an airplane with bright landing lights — and that we can all be victims of a kind of mass hysteria.
Once news and social media reports make us think there might be squadrons of drones, we’ll likely see something in the night sky and think “drones” instead of “overnight flights to Heathrow.” This is especially true if the objects in question are perceived as a threat (such as a supposed foreign military drone or alien landing craft).
However this month’s mystery may be solved, it won’t be the last time we look up at the sky and be convinced it’s buzzing with drones. Because there is There are a lot of drones out there and their number is only going to increase.
drone world
As the government He said it himself Investigating his sights, there are more than 1 million registered drones in the United States and “thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones legally in the sky on any given day.” Those are the numbers Don’t count out beginner drones Below 250 grams, which need not be regulated.
Today you can buy small, new drones out of the box As low as $50and professional drones for uses like advanced photography for $5,000 or less. And if you fly your more basic drone for recreational purposes, You don’t even need a licenseAlthough you will need what is known as a Part 107 License If you use your drone for commercial purposes, such as surveying land or taking real estate photos.
The reality is that we are only beginning to wake up to just how thoroughly ubiquitous drones will change the skies and change our lives. With the unprecedented surveillance tools that the Stasi envisioned in the hands of everyday citizens, we are poised to experience increased delivery by drones. Amazon Prime has aired expand Drone delivery efforts in cities like Phoenix and College Station, Texas, while Wing and Zipline partnership With Wal-Mart to deliver products in Dallas-Fort Worth. And companies like DroneUp are experimenting with software that can support Autonomous drone operations, which will significantly increase the potential for mass drone delivery.
On balance, that’s a good thing. A growing number of Amazon and FedEx trucks fill urban streets, fueled by the massive growth of home e-delivery. leading to further congestion and pollution – Something that happens Especially noticeable during the holiday season. Replacing at least some of this with delivery by air would eliminate traffic for those of us who still have to navigate the world by land.
But a world in which the number of drones increases significantly will look and feel very different – the sudden presence of automobiles and trucks on the roads felt a century ago.
fear of the future
Indeed, that historical example is a decent analog for what we’re in the process of experiencing with drones. Farmers’ Anti-Automobile Society Recommended Laws that required drivers to send rockets, cover their cars with blankets or isolate horses if they were nearby. Vermont actually passed a law requiring a person to walk in front of a vehicle, waving a red flag — presumably to warn any pedestrians not to get too close to the horseless vehicle.
Apparently we’ve finally gotten over our fear of the car, where it’s trying to do now limited Their use which creates public opposition. It’s possible, even likely, that the same transition will eventually happen with drones. (We’ll know for sure when we start seeing angry politicians go on TV to decry laws that would restrict Americans’ God-given right to fly their drones wherever they please.)
But until we get to that place, things can feel weird—which is precisely the kind of psychological place that thousands of people can be convinced they’re surrounded by a swarm of drones. and drones is Different cars still needed roads, which gave the government an easy way to control where they could go. Drones, however, can navigate through three-dimensional space. They can stare at walls, trespass on public property. Their size makes it difficult to keep track of them, or even trace them back to their owners. And like other technologies, they’ll get cheaper and better — able to fly longer distances and avoid obstacles. These are inherently more difficult for the state to control.
And while cars are responsible for thousands of deaths every year, it’s drones that have already transformed into real weapons of war. The conflict in Ukraine has been defined by everything from the use of drones to active killing. This happened in the city of Kherson, Ukraine Thousands of attacks By small drones that are actively hunting civilians, killing dozens. The dystopian future of autonomous weapons as predicted by movies Slaughterbot All but here, in Ukraine. That’s awful.
What’s happening across the Northeast isn’t a foreign invasion or visiting aliens or a secret military project (probably). Instead, it’s a glimpse of a future that’s almost here.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Future Perfect Newsletter. Sign up here!
