posted on October 26, 2001 05:37:57 AM
"NBC News has learned the last time the United States actually saw bin Laden was just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when, on two occasions, a CIA drone saw him accompanied by a large entourage."
And nobody was bright enough to figure out that it would be well worth the cost of one of those drones to crash it into him?
They later fitted the drones with hellfire missiles. But why not just follow the TV imaige right in and crash? Are they that difficult to control?
posted on October 26, 2001 05:57:17 AM
They have a mechanism for self-preservation which prevents their doing anything which does not comply with their logic instructions. Since they are programmed to surveil as their single purpose it cannot be logical to accept a command which would necessitate their self-destruction in order to complete the command.
posted on October 26, 2001 06:06:59 AM
I refused to buy a car that had a similar system built in to prevent the car from sliding and losing traction. Sometimes I WANT the car to do things outside the envelope.
When my wife and I were dating two yahoos in a big old car started giving us a hard time late at night and I departed them by going into the left lane and doing a bootlegger turn. The look on her face was priceless.
If control freaks don't want the damn things flown and don't trust their own people
maybe they should just write a search program and forget the pilot.
[ edited by gravid on Oct 26, 2001 06:11 AM ]
posted on October 26, 2001 08:31:07 AM
To me the biggest letdown was when the car manufacturers added reverse gears. It was completely unnecessary as anyone who knows how to drive well would never need it. When I learned to drive part of the process was to always think far ahead of where I was so that every stop I made could be exited by continuing forward. If a driver failed to so plan then the driver would become stuck with no recourse but to get out and push back out of the situation. That was the end of skilled driving in my mind.
