All this talk about drones gets me wondered where our future is headed. Nowadays, we can find quasi hover boards flying around the city. You can use a bluetooth controller to automate a skateboard uphill. Hey, didn’t the Back to the Future movie predict hover boards would be released in the future? It’s obviously a good thing to leverage technology instead of overexerting a sweat. Yes, you lose the exercise aspect, but isn’t drones and bots all about automating what us humans don’t feel like putting effort into?
This brings me the drone chatter. Amazon keeps taunting, threatening, and teasing us about its flight program, the drone deliveries. Now, Uber is looking to get back into messengering, this time with drones. My concern with these kinds of automations is job loss. Certainly, there will be heads rolling when we see an extra drone on the block, or the air for that matter. Sure, it can be argued that a team of programmers will be required to set up the IT system. Yes, but ultimately, when the model is in place, say good-bye to the previous staff who poured their blood, sweat, and tears for the company.
I know. You’re thinking I’m an old hat for even saying this. Yup, maybe so. And yes, I enjoy technology support more than the common layman. But, I also have an old school mentality where it’s not just about the job reduction issue here. It’s about the team, employee morale, and most of all, family. Albeit cheesy, but without a family-oriented styled company, you might as well have mindless bots running around performing errands.
When your drone arrives at your door to hand over your purchase, will you tip it? Will you say thank you? Or will you just grab your package and run scared back into your home? What about security concerns? Just thinking about this one now, but come to think about it, this could be a huge vulnerability. There’s a GPS monitor and video webcam on the drone. Do you not think that Amazon or whomever is controlling the drone won’t survey your place to get a better bead on you as the customer? It’s like Facebook re-marketing. You may be seeing pop-ups on your computer screen the moment the drone leaves. Pretty scary, right. So, the impersonal nature and potential security threats are enough to make me want to steer clear of this scary trick-or-treater drone. Not for me. Sorry. Maybe if Back to the Future will predict it, maybe then I’ll change my tune. Until then, I’m steering clear of drones ringing my doorbell.