I love a good publicity stunt. At the South By Southwest festival (SXSW) festival, Chaotic Moon Studio used a drone to taze an intern.
What I love about this stunt is that it was designed and developed to be the perfect news story and that William “Whurley” Hurley, chief innovation officer, understood that it would be a conversation starter.
Because military drones are a hot topic and SXSW is a large global event, Hurley said they decided to bring to life the “fantasy of some people and nightmares of others.”
“We wanted to have an educated, well-informed discussion about how people feel about this as a society, or whether you’re a police officer or private citizen,” Hurley said. – ABC News
So, maybe we should have that discussion. 
If not now, then on April 5 at 2:00 pm Pacific when I will be holding a Book Salon at Fire Dog Lake with Daniel Suarez on his book “Kill Decision.”
This should give you time to get and read the book. Yes, it’s science fiction, but it raises a lot of questions and it is structured as a thriller, so it really moves.
The book shows us a near future where drones have proliferated and any discussion with a public that didn’t want them was ignored. As is often the case, the only conversations that matter are the the ones between the drone makers and the people funding them.
Yet the public’s views can make a difference. Last year Seattle dropped their federally funded program.
Other states are looking at laws to restrict them. But if I know ALEC and weapons makers, they will be creating model bills for states on the NEED for drones.
They will tell the story of how, “If only we had a drone for a search and rescue operation the little girl lost in the woods would have been found!”
Then they will use fear, “You can’t expect the police to be watching your house 24/7, but a drone in your area, armed with a taser could have stopped this robbery and home invasion!”
As usual, science fiction is there first exploring the issues, like in this episode of Almost Human.
So, what are your thoughts, fears or hopes?
