Google Drones: A Mixed Bag

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

I dunno whether to be excited or terrified. I guess you can pee your pants either way.

http://oi60.tinypic.com/293jdht.jpg


http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/14/technology/innovation/google-titan-drone/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Google buys drone maker Titan Aerospace
By James O'Toole @jtotoole April 14, 2014: 3:16 PM ET

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/140414142634-google-buys-titan-aerospace-620xa.jpg
Titan says its drones will have a variety of applications in agriculture, telecommunications, disaster response and other areas.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Get ready for Google drones.

The technology company announced Monday that it has acquired Titan Aerospace, a start-up founded in 2012 that makes high-altitude, solar-powered drones.

The purchase is part of the new push in Silicon Valley to find ways of delivering Internet service to underserved areas, particularly in the developing world.

"Titan Aerospace and Google share a profound optimism about the potential for technology to improve the world," Google said. "It's still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation."

The companies didn't respond to requests for comment on the terms of the deal.

Titan touts a variety of applications for its drones, including data delivery, crop monitoring and search-and-rescue aid. The vehicles can stay aloft for up to five years without having to land or refuel, making them an intriguing possibility for beaming out Internet service.

Titan has showcased its drones in demo flights, though they're not yet commercially available.

The purchase marks the latest salvo in the tech cold war between Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Facebook (FB, Fortune 500).

Facebook looked into purchasing Titan at one point as well, according to various reports. The company recently hired several key staff members from U.K. drone maker Ascenta to join its "Connectivity Lab," which is experimenting with Internet delivery using experimental technology including drones, satellites and lasers.

Both Facebook and Google have made a number of recent bets on emerging technologies, aiming to stay nimble once their current businesses are disrupted.

Facebook made a splash earlier this year with its $19 billion purchase of mobile messaging service WhatsApp, and scooped up virtual-reality firm Oculus VR last month for $2 billion.

Google, in turn, has invested billions in driverless cars, wearable gadgets, military robots and -- most recently through its purchase of Nest -- connected home devices such as smoke detectors and thermostats.

First Published: April 14, 2014: 3:16 PM ET

[Positive Vibe Merchant]

You are right Tesla... its a terrifyling promosition each way.

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

http://news.yahoo.com/emotional-toll-taxes-military-drone-operators-too-062651866.html


Emotional toll taxes military drone operators too
Associated Press
By JULIE WATSON 10 hours ago

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Barack Obama has assured Americans he opposes sending U.S. ground troops to crush Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria — well aware the country is not ready to return to the battlefield with its war wounded still recovering from a decade of conflict.

But airmen have been sent back into combat in the region with the focus on airstrikes, divided between fighter pilots and drone operators.

While drone operators are not physically in harm's way — they do their work at computer terminals in darkened rooms far from the actual battlefield — growing research is finding they too can suffer some of the emotional strains of war that ground forces face.

"It can be as impactful for these guys as someone in a foxhole," said Air Force spokesman Tom Kimball.

— AIR WARFARE

In a rare partnership, U.S. and Arab allies last week launched a military air assault against Islamic State strongholds in Syria. Americans have also been conducting airstrikes in Iraq since August. Both assaults have incorporated the use of unmanned aircraft, according to Air Force officials.

Administration officials said the U.S. on its own also bombed targets of an al-Qaida cell in Syria because intelligence showed that the Khorasan Group was in the final stages of plotting attacks against the U.S. and Europe.

The broadened campaign includes a dozen teams of U.S. military advisers embedding with Iraqi commanders in the field at the brigade level or above, and at least 125 U.S. military personnel flying and maintaining Iraq-based U.S. surveillance aircraft to collect targeting information for Iraqi troops.

The Air Force, citing security reasons, would not disclose where the drone crews in the air campaign are working. Currently the Air Force has 356 pilots flying the Predator and 359 flying the Reaper.

— DRONE OPERATIONS IN RECENT WARS

The Bush and Obama administrations have both used the 2001 authorization of force against al-Qaida to justify drone strikes against terror targets in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, drone operators pulled long shifts at U.S. bases, watching full-motion video across multiple screens. Some would follow the daily life of locals for months to assess threats before an airstrike was ordered.

Then they might analyze the carnage and damage from bombings before driving home to eat dinner with their families and maybe play soccer with their children — a jarring shift that may contribute to stress, mental health experts say.
View gallery
In this Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 photo, Brandon Bryant, …
In this Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 photo, Brandon Bryant, 28, poses for a photo with his dog, Bayern, …

— TRAUMA FROM WATCHING BLOODSHED

Brandon Bryant manned the cameras for pilots at Air Force bases in Nevada and New Mexico for about five years.

He said he still suffers from insomnia, depression and nightmares three years after he participated in his last mission. He witnessed the direct killing of 13 people, and his squadron was credited with killing 1,626 enemies.

"I would go to sleep and dream about work, the mission, and continuously see the people I'd watched on the screen earlier now in my own head repeatedly being killed," he said, adding that he felt alone and that no one wanted to talk about it.

Bryant, 28, said he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by the Veterans Administration.

He said the military's drone community has shunned him for speaking out.
View gallery
In this Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 photo, Brandon Bryant, …
In this Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 photo, Brandon Bryant, 28, poses for a photo with his dog, Bayern, …

— WHAT IS KNOWN

In the first study of its kind, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center found the amount of behavioral issues, such as anxiety, depression and PTSD, affecting drone pilots was comparable to that of traditional pilots.

Researchers analyzed the health records of 709 drone pilots and 5,256 traditional pilots from 2003 to 2011. The study was published last year. The study's author Dr. Jean L. Otto said the message was that "just because service members are not physically deployed to a war zone doesn't mean there is less of a mental health risk."

— MORAL INJURY

Watching explosions, which sometimes include civilian casualties, may produce "moral injuries" — a psychological wound from witnessing something that goes against a person's beliefs or moral code that is gaining recognition by the military.

"Pilots of manned aircraft come in, drop bombs and go back and someone else does the damage assessment," said Nancy Cooke, an Arizona State University professor who looks at technology's impact on psychology.

"Drone operators actually see the results of what they've done," she said. "So when people say this is just a video game, nothing could be further from the truth for them. They see the body parts."

And operators have few chances to talk about their experience because they are limited for security reasons.

— HOW IS MILITARY RESPONDING

Last year, the Air Force started assigning chaplains and psychologists to its drone units. Leaders have tried to improve shifts to ease fatigue, while doctors are developing ways to treat moral injury, which also affects those on the battlefield.

Army Lt. Col. Douglas Pryer, who has written about moral injury, said in an email that as warfare becomes increasingly remote-controlled, the risk of psychological wounds among drone operators will grow.

Technological advances mean operators soon may see the faces of their targets and that could put them at as much risk for moral injury as infantrymen "fighting in hand-to-hand combat and seeing up close and personal the agony of those they killed," he said.

"Americans tend to see drones as a means toward an ideal — harming the enemy without being harmed," he said. "This ideal is actually impossible to achieve."

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you ladies and gents might recall me saying the Airman's Manual was revised while I was in the service and it looked to me as if some key Geneva convention stuff was removed.
i didn't have time to read it cover to cover then, but i did check a few times and didn't see the section about it being wrong to shoot the enemy in the back, etc., rules of engagement, a sporting chance and all that...
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