OT: Drone warfare

On a sunny day (Sat, 21 Dec 2019 20:42:24 -0500) it happened bitrex wrote in :

And now

what you gonna do?

If a science fiction writer wrote these things in 1985 they'd never find a publisher

They probably would have. The problem was that science fiction authors never had a particularly good grasp of current technology back in 1985, and wouldn't have been able to imagine that particular kind of technology.

John Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar" published in 1968 - but set in 2010 - is an instructive read.

One of my favourite short stories about drone warfare is "War No. 81-Q". It is surprisingly accurate given that is was written by a teenager and appeared in his high school - in 1928.

But then Cordwainer Smith / P.M.A. Linebarger was an interesting character. He negotiated gold loans with his godfather Sun Yat-sen, and wrote a standard text on psychological warfare.

https://epdf.pub/war-no-81-q.html

He also wrote a certain amount of very interesting science fiction - nowhere near enough.

On a sunny day (Mon, 23 Dec 2019 08:18:24 +0000) it happened Tom Gardner wrote in :

I used to listen to US president Reagan late at night... He was pushing star-wars (lasers in space) At that time there was a movie running where some students shot things from a 747 with a big laser. Very convincing, in retrospect all part of that psychological warfare, USSR fell for it. Till this day it still does not work very well it seems :-)

All that drone - and anti drone stuff is easy, can be done for a few Euro...

Been there done it.

Jan Panteltje wrote in news:qtqa37$rqq$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

He was pushing what DARPA envisioned.

No. The students made the laser, and the military stole it and put it on the plane and shot it.

It was a movie. The USSR 'fell for' nothing. We have alway underestimated them.

Well, I guess if one does not keep current, things tend to 'seem' a certain way. It appears you last updated your "seeming" brain a few decades ago.

They have ship based high powered laser missile defense systems in place.

They also have a huge unit that takes up an entire 747. It is nothing like the movie.

Both work.

Let's see you do what the student did when he invented the swarms and swarm code currently in use. You ain't been anywhere or done anything other than fly a couple of them.

Yes indeed. But then more isn't necessarily better; 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers is "an elegant sufficiency".

His SF has unique style and content, partly inspired by his knowledge of China and surrounding countries.

Reagan didn't have the ability to understand what was feasible and wasn't with 1980s technology he had to go by what he was told, and he to some degree also only listened to what he wanted to hear from e.g. attention-seeking has-beens like Edward Teller.

compared to Trump he was a Rhodes Scholar.

The Rhodes scholarships depend on the scholar looking like Cecil Rhodes idea of an empire builder. To get one you have to go in for some kind of manly sport - one of my friends didn't get one because field hockey wasn't "manly" enough.

I've known two people who have won them, and they were both rather too willing to jump through hoops to look as if they conformed to Cecil Rhodes silly ideas.

There were a Shell Scholarships on offer at the time, base purely on academic excellence (which I did apply for, and didn't get). I did know two people who did win one, and they were both much better company than the Rhodes Scholars.

bitrex wrote in news:J16MF.23202$ snipped-for-privacy@fx40.iad:

I do not disagree.

Compared to Trump, I am a Rhodes Scholar!

But thanks for making me think of a new nym to go with all my others. Likely already taken several times though, I am sure...

Rogue Scholar Oh wait... that should be Trump's nym.

I am more like a "Hairy Potter", because I make pool shots like they are candy and want to do it in a gorilla suit. :-) I'd make a great exhibitionist.

snipped-for-privacy@decadence.org wrote in news:qtrr3s$squ$1 @gioia.aioe.org:

Actually want to do it in "The gorilla suit" as in the one Clarence Beaks was stuffed into in "Trading PLaces". Heheheh...