----- Forwarded message from Cleve Higgins ----- From: Cleve Higgins Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:54:31 -0500 To: drone-list@lists.stanford.edu Subject: [drone-list] intro, and some thoughts Heyo all, I have been reading a lot about the role of drone technology in military, surveillance, and law enforcement, and the thinking about the ways in which it is part of a larger blurring of these domains (especially in the US). I'm based in Montreal, a city in the business of aeronautics, and also computer simulation, and drones have become an important aspect of both of these industries in recent years. My research has focused on these local connections, especially when they're related to the universities. Finally, I'm intrigued by use of drones by social movements for counter-surveillance purposes (such as the occucopter), as well as emerging examples of hacking drone communications and control systems. I'm glad to hear that people other than security and military agencies have been finding positive uses for drones (such as the humanitarian uses that have been mentioned already). Though I have skeptical thoughts on increasing media attention on this side of the drone story. Does it risk having the role (intentional or not) of glossing over or mitigating the rapidly emerging new forms of war\repression being carried out by the US government? And specifically the brutal effects this is having in northern Pakistan? This is not to say that these problems are being completely ignored - the critical stories are being written, and that is good. Though I also suspect that an effect of the surge of these critical stories is that the US government is trying to come up with ways to defend and legitimize their actions, and one way to do that could be to emphasize (and even support) the "dual-use" aspects of drone technology. I see this in the context of the myth of inevitable, unilinear technological (and social) progress, and how it downplays the important role that military funding and direction has in technological developments in countries such as the US. Many technologies exist in the form they do because of their military applications. If not for this military support, it is very possible that the technologies would not exist at all, or at least not in the form that they do. Innumerable social choices are made that shape our world, including our technology, and it is always possible that different choices could have been made (about how much of our collective social effort we put into military and security areas, for example). An important aspect of this perspective is that technologies are very connected to the social relations and values of the contexts in which they emerge. I think the development of ARPANET by the US military as a means of better surviving nuclear attack is an example of this, but that's a whole other discussion. I haven't thought much yet about the context for the emergence of drones, and I don't want this email to get much longer than it already is by attempting to do so now, but for starters think it would be related to the "war on terror", asymmetrical warfare, and the contradictions of the (declining) US empire as the only military superpower (attempting military solutions to "policing" problems). I look forward to hearing anyone's thoughts on these topics. Thanks for creating this list! Sorry if this first email is somewhat long and tangential. Mostly I plan on using this list to share articles as I find them, with brief thoughts sometimes. More in-depth or contentious discussion is sometimes good though. adelante, Cleve _______________________________________________ drone-list mailing list drone-list@lists.stanford.edu Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/drone-list If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?" You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator in monthly reminders. Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl leitl http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE