Pharaoh's Magicians: The Future of UAVs in the U.S. Air Force

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Future of UAVs in the U.S. Air Force - Popular Mechanics

Few silk scarves to go around.

When the Air Force recently mapped out a game plan to 2047, its report contained a big surprise: Fewer pilots and more robotic planes acting on their own. The Future of UAVs in the U.S. Air Force - Popular Mechanics

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Welcome to Pharaoh's Magicians

I curate and share items about science and technology that catch my interest. Occasionally, I delve into using theological terms to the stewardship of technology. Here's why:

Theological terms may help us describe the impact of technology on our lives. Technological change is coming at us faster and faster and at a greater scale. Since theology is an attempt to understand something beyond human finiteness, it makes sense to see if theology can help us understand technological change.

Theological terms may be able to help us develop an ethical approach to developing and managing the new business models we create. Everyone says learning has to focus on science and engineering. Does it? Perhaps we should focus on learning how we can quickly and consistently create new business models to replace the ones made obsolete by technological change. Every business model has an impact on people, so we want to make sure that impact is beneficial or at least benign.

Why the name Pharaoh's Magicians? In the Biblical exodus, Pharaoh's magicians duplicated some of the miracles God performed through Moses. Their success helped Pharaoh decide he didn't need to heed Moses' God. Pharaoh's magicians couldn't keep up, however, and Egypt was overwhelmed. For the ancients, magicians and priests explained phenomena in religious terms because they lacked other language to describe the universe around them.

Pharaoh's magicians are with us today, this time using technology instead of magic to come close to what used to be called miraculous. Scientists and engineers are Pharaoh's magicians today, giving us technology to control our environment and make us comfortable. Entrepreneurs and corporations are like Pharaoh's magicians also, bringing that technology us in the form of finished goods and services. Government, too, performs a similar function, creating a legal environment that allows these modern versions of Pharaoh's magicians to cast their spells.

These modern magicians are doing more than just keeping up the miraculous. They're now giving us the ability to be like gods. What will that mean for us as humans?

Don't worry. That's about all the pontificating you'll see here. I'll share what I've found and think is most interesting, and you can follow the links if you want to learn more. Sometimes I'll speculate about how theological language might illuminate a technology issue. Other times I'll just share something with a simple, "Wow! Can you believe the technology can do this?" And keep in mind, this isn't anti-science/technology. It's pro-good stewardship of those amazing resources.

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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Future of UAVs in the U.S. Air Force - Popular Mechanics

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