Satellites, balloons and drones are all forms of competition. It's just a matter of the providers betting on the economics of putting in cheap, low bandwidth systems vs expensive, high bandwidth ones. The cheap route bets that customers are poor and unwilling to pay for higher performance now or in the near future. The expensive route bets that economies will grow and with them, demand.
The balloon vs terrestrial infrastructure is just a risk trade-off between novel technologies and market growth.
... is opening a plant in Alabama. People hoping to get their kids hired on are probably figuring (correctly) that European managers won't put up with ignorant slobs the same way Americans do.
... that European/Asian car makers are trying to provide some convenience features to otherwise competent drivers. American (Google) makers are trying to build technology to keep people on the road who otherwise should be taking the shuttle van to the senior center.
In Europe, they don't have any problem with telling incompetent drivers that its time to hand over the license and start taking the bus. Not so in the USA, where punching the wrong pedal and ramming the Cadillac through the coffee shop is not sufficient justification for any more than a minor traffic fine.
For most advanced civilizations, this may turn out to be pretty short. Between the discovery of radio and the development of efficient (below the noise floor) methods of modulation, this era may last a few hundred years. So if we are looking for inadvertent radiation, the probability of seeing it must be reduced by this factor.
The latency problem: Any sufficiently advance civilization will certainly understand the latency problems involved with communications at the speed of light. They might set up a beacon to advertise "Here we are" with no expectation of receiving an answer. But then again, probably not. They might run into the same problems we do with such 'science'. Funds will be better spent elsewhere, so why bother with the gigawatt beacon?
One possibility: A sufficiently advanced civilization might develop the technology to generate wormholes. Not big enough to physically traverse (due to the energy requirements). But large enough through which to inject photons. And if they can pop them open in the vicinity of candidate solar systems, they could find us in a reasonable (compared to light speed communications) time. So, they've found us. The next step would be to pop open some wormholes where we could actually 'grab' one, observe it for an intelligent optical signal and return one of our own. That would be a useful, two way, low latency link.
We don't have to understand the physics of how one goes about generating such tiny wormholes. Or aiming them at remote points in our universe. All we have to do is figure out how to detect one, confine it and couple it to optical instrumentation.
But you are also trained (as a matter of morality) that shooting to stop probably means shooting to kill. The idea being that a proper judgment must be made prior to shooting considering the most likely outcome.
The problem is that it is very difficult to judge when enough shots have struck your subject to stop him, but not kill him. Adrenaline, momentum and some drugs interference with pain response may mean that the subject may still be a threat when they have already been fatally injured. All the public sees is the dead body lying on the pavement. Not the continued fight they put up with one magazine already in them. Although this may change with cop cameras, if they ever publish the footage (against the moral objections of most of society) and people can really see what these situations are like.
The US GOVERNMENT leaves nothing but DEATH in its wake
I'm OK with death. What I don't want to have happen is to get my technology slapped with an dual use, ITAR, Wassenaar classification. So they can strangle the market for my product and turn me into a slave for the Pentagon.
The NSA doesn't want you to pull the battery whenever you want to go 'off the grid' for a few hours. It's possible to compromise phone firmware to appear as though it has been turned off, but still respond to network pings from a Stingray,
Slashdot Mirror
OK. I've got a 5 Mb/s 3G connection from Clear (for the next couple of months). Works just fine.
Microsoft's demand you download Windows 10
Intercourse Microsoft and Windows 10.
Satellites, balloons and drones are all forms of competition. It's just a matter of the providers betting on the economics of putting in cheap, low bandwidth systems vs expensive, high bandwidth ones. The cheap route bets that customers are poor and unwilling to pay for higher performance now or in the near future. The expensive route bets that economies will grow and with them, demand.
The balloon vs terrestrial infrastructure is just a risk trade-off between novel technologies and market growth.
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."
On the assembly line, of course. Like China and Apple products.
Also, I thought the 918 Spyder was electric?
Hybrid.
Perhaps not what you had in mind. But this?
Perhaps there is something applicable here: https://notams.aim.faa.gov/#Ne...
In Europe, they don't have any problem with telling incompetent drivers that its time to hand over the license and start taking the bus. Not so in the USA, where punching the wrong pedal and ramming the Cadillac through the coffee shop is not sufficient justification for any more than a minor traffic fine.
Suggesting that we use a communication that we have yet to invent is fantasy.
We don't have to invent it. We leave that to the much more advanced civilization. We only have to detect it.
Israel wants to be left alone in peace;
That hobo squatting in your house when you went to work this morning just wants to be left alone in peace as well.
Iran is "just months away..."
They're working on strong AI as well.
"All computers in this residence run Linux.
They are worth nothing at the local pawn shop".
For most advanced civilizations, this may turn out to be pretty short. Between the discovery of radio and the development of efficient (below the noise floor) methods of modulation, this era may last a few hundred years. So if we are looking for inadvertent radiation, the probability of seeing it must be reduced by this factor.
The latency problem: Any sufficiently advance civilization will certainly understand the latency problems involved with communications at the speed of light. They might set up a beacon to advertise "Here we are" with no expectation of receiving an answer. But then again, probably not. They might run into the same problems we do with such 'science'. Funds will be better spent elsewhere, so why bother with the gigawatt beacon?
One possibility: A sufficiently advanced civilization might develop the technology to generate wormholes. Not big enough to physically traverse (due to the energy requirements). But large enough through which to inject photons. And if they can pop them open in the vicinity of candidate solar systems, they could find us in a reasonable (compared to light speed communications) time. So, they've found us. The next step would be to pop open some wormholes where we could actually 'grab' one, observe it for an intelligent optical signal and return one of our own. That would be a useful, two way, low latency link.
We don't have to understand the physics of how one goes about generating such tiny wormholes. Or aiming them at remote points in our universe. All we have to do is figure out how to detect one, confine it and couple it to optical instrumentation.
Now they are.
you shoot to stop the threat
This.
But you are also trained (as a matter of morality) that shooting to stop probably means shooting to kill. The idea being that a proper judgment must be made prior to shooting considering the most likely outcome.
The problem is that it is very difficult to judge when enough shots have struck your subject to stop him, but not kill him. Adrenaline, momentum and some drugs interference with pain response may mean that the subject may still be a threat when they have already been fatally injured. All the public sees is the dead body lying on the pavement. Not the continued fight they put up with one magazine already in them. Although this may change with cop cameras, if they ever publish the footage (against the moral objections of most of society) and people can really see what these situations are like.
He probably stole the blueprints for one of those gizmos hunters use to keep their fingers from freezing.
Weren't those "Nazis" guys of you Captain America's arch-enemies?
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Walt Kelly
The US GOVERNMENT leaves nothing but DEATH in its wake
I'm OK with death. What I don't want to have happen is to get my technology slapped with an dual use, ITAR, Wassenaar classification. So they can strangle the market for my product and turn me into a slave for the Pentagon.
Damn! They cracked my password already.
The NSA doesn't want you to pull the battery whenever you want to go 'off the grid' for a few hours. It's possible to compromise phone firmware to appear as though it has been turned off, but still respond to network pings from a Stingray,
Radio Shack stopped carrying parts* a few decades ago.
*Excepting the one cabinet of fuses and light bulbs sitting in the corner.