RE: Roomba as monster

[John Steck]

Bet you that same grandfathering logic won't help you when you are pulled over for speeding.... "but officer, I've been speeding through here for years without getting pulled over!".  Just because some nut ball hasn't taken the idea and run with it yet does not mean no one ever will.  How bad will you feel if someone does?

 

-j

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 9:24 AM
To: vortex-L@eskimo.com
Subject: RE: Roomba as monster

John Steck wrote:

I agree with Horace.  Why give basic creativity the advantage of years of
experience or implantation knowledge.  There is such a thing as "planting a
seed".  While there is little doubt to the sincere altruism of the regular
contributors, the same can not be said for all the lurkers.  Consequently a
certain level of restraint should always be exercised.

Widespread speculation about weapons applications for cold fusion began in March 1989. It is inconceivable that terrorists and criminals have not already considered everything I came up with -- and more. I truly believe that the only danger we face is that we will not take any of these threats seriously until it is too late.

This debate reminds me of the Introduction to the classic book "How To Lie With Statistics:"

"This book is a sort of primer in ways to use statistics to deceive. It may seem altogether too much like a manual for swindlers. Perhaps I can justify it in the manner of the retired burglar whose published reminiscences amounted to a graduate course in how to pick a lock and muffle a footfall: The crooks already know these tricks; honest men must learn them in self-defense."


Horace Heffner wrote:

> I feel fairly certain a countermeasures approach is ultimately not
> feasible.  I suspect you have not thought far enough ahead. The only
> feasible long term approach to advanced technology in terrorist hands
> probably is:
>
> (a) Establish world government

I disagree. Perhaps it does not mean much, but I can dream up countermeasures as easily as I invented the problem in the first place. Of course the countermeasures would not be perfect, anymore than our defenses against conventional crime are. Some people would certainly be killed, but I think if we had a couple of years to prepare for an attack of Roomba monsters, we could stop 90% of them, and track them back to their sources. Conventional equipment such as radars could be adjusted to detect such small aircraft effectively, and if our side also had CF, we could make small drones that seek out and destroy the incoming aircraft, or continuously patrol remote areas at a low altitude searching for launches. Also, our intelligence agencies would be on the alert for someone ordering a hundred thousand peculiar looking aluminum tubes with wings.

Actually, this discussion is not entirely imaginary. I happen to know some pilots here at Peachtree Dekalb Airport, including one who is fond of RC models. He knows someone who alerted the authorities when a ring of drug smugglers used large RC model airplanes to bring drugs into Florida from boats several miles out in the Atlantic. They flew them into a large net mounted on the roof of an apartment in the dead of night. It is not as difficult as it sounds. I think the airplanes were destroyed, but the payload was worth tens of thousands of dollars.

- Jed