Jeff Bezos has seen the future of retail delivery, and it is the drone.
When the storied CEO of Amazon told 60 Minutes that he’s working on 30-minute delivery by tiny unmanned octocopter, it prompted an instant wave of disbelief and derision. One wag on Twitter joked that Amazon would offer free shipping to all military-aged Muslim males.
Our culture is primed to celebrate the new and marvel at technological innovation except when it comes to the drone. Then, the first reaction of many people is to muse about shooting the newfangled contraptions out of the sky. If the country is to be kept safe, evidently, all aircraft within the United States must always and forevermore be manned.
Advertisement The root of the drone’s image problem is obviously its outsized role in the War on Terror, where it is a highly effective tool of surveillance and assassination. That doesn’t mean it’s exclusively a tool of warfare or inherently nefarious, any more than that is true of airplanes, guns, helicopters, barbed wire, sandbags, or tracked vehicles all of which play their part in horrific wars and are still useful civilian tools.
Read also:
Amazon Air Prime Begins The Robot Rebellion: How You Can Prepare (MTV.com)
Amazon drones: A flying robot may deliver your Christmas gifts in four or five … (Washington Post (blog))
Amazon Unveils Flying Delivery Drones on '60 Minutes' (Mashable)
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