When you hear the word drone, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Probably the fact that they are used by the U.S. military for missile strikes. And that association is giving drone technology a serious PR problem.
Drones were first employed as a tool of war, during the siege of Venice in 1849, when Austrians launched the first air raid in history, using unmanned, bomb-carrying balloons over the Italian city. In 1935, Great Britain launched the first successful unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft. Named the Queen Bee, it appears to have been the inspiration for calling these craft “drones.” (Technically, they are known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.) Today, drone strikes are a regular tool of the U.S. military in overseas missions …
AlterNet | Aug. 8, 2017
