US Drones help Philippines 'Clean-Up'

.. but unfortunately they werent available earlier to help 'save lives'

The government uses them to kill people. But drones are good for much, much more.

readwrite.com...

Nelson Paez, CEO of DreamHammer, has been calling his government contacts about this all week. His software, Ballista, is an open source operating system that is being used to control drones under 126 government contracts, more than any other provider.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said, about the lack of drones helping out in the Philippines.

At first glance, Paez’s point of view seems surprising. The last time we sent drones to the Philippines, it was to kill Muslim extremists.

The reason we’re not using drones for rescue is because there aren’t any available.

The above article proposed how drones could be used to save lives. And apparently they were not initially being used to help out in the typhoon aftermath, as the last time they were sent to the Philippines, was to kill Muslims.

However, media purport that drones are for a change, being used to save lives:

Drones are increasingly becoming part of our lives. In parts of the Philippines, recently devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, drones equipped with small cameras are proving vital in helping relief teams do their work.

Drone Aids Typhoon Clean Up in the Philippines

www.defensenews.com...

Drone technology helps to clear debris and locate bodies in typhoon-struck Philippines, but critics say it could infringe upon privacy rights. Michaela Cabrera reports.

reply to post by gardener


I read the link and have a few different thoughts.

Obviously the guy is a business man and would like to expand his market. However, he has a good point on the drone uses. Why not use them for more positive purposes?

Sure the military has them for surveillance and taking out targets. Again, obviously they would like to keep the corner on that market for as long as possible. But with most technology the military paid to develop, as it becomes cheaper it is now available to those with smaller checkbooks. I am not sure about Best Buy as he says but I definitely see it being commercially viable.

I think the US could go a long way PR-wise, if they utilized the DoD drone fleet to assist in the Typhoon clean up. It is telling how they are not however.

BTW, I liked the dude's analogy about being afraid of cars if all you ever saw them do was run people over.

Exactly, a PR spin on drones saving the day would quell some stigma over drones taking over and depopulating the world. Yet, he claims to have offered drones in immediate response to Haiyan, and instead the media surfaces weeks later demonstrated drones were(are being?) used, in the aftermath after the huge, huge, death toll.

I've also demonstrated in a separate thread, that US drone activity was noticed by civilians 2 months before Haiyan hit Filipinos, and US has been using drones to target Muslim 'extremists' round the world in recent years already.

Im on the fence about the analogy with If-If Cars. We know them to be indispensable for getting around, especially in case of emergencies. Tsk, tsk, just not the case with drones, so I wondered why compare. Guess there wasn't a better analogy available for drones. Same with DU, they could show how it can be used in soldier armor, but the bottom like many, many more (thousands, if not millions) of lives have been ended thru the use of DU as opposed to the lives supposedly saved via DU armor. I mean, what are we doing there anyways- delivering war all over the place then 'defending' ourselves?

reply to post by gardener


They didn't even prove that there were UAVs flying over the city. They heard something that they said were American UAVs but no one actually saw them.

Actually US drones have been documented openly targeting "Muslims" of PH for years

www.brookings.edu...

Wonder how they Identified muslims from thousands of feet in the air? And, why stop now??

DP

reply to post by gardener


Tracking with your take on the car analogy. Like all, analogies they only go so far. I just thought on the fear factor it was intuitive.

I guess I am just a sucker for making a better world. A drone by itself is just another tool. It can be used for a multitude of reasons. Helping folks out in trouble seems to be a no-brainer. I mean why not?