How do we create and safeguard an open Internet? The answer’s simple. If we want to create and safeguard an open Internet, all we have to do is . . . create and safeguard it. The thornier problem, in my view, is that many people regard an open Internet as undesirable. Some owners of intellectual property see an open Internet as an instrument t…[Read more]

Interestingly, Brenda, Google’s apparently working on something very much like this now:

Attached to the bottom of each envelope is the 22-pound “payload.” It’s topped by a sheet of solar paneling the size of a basketball backboard. Beneath the solar sheet is a construct resembling a large camera tripod, whose legs are antennas that allow the b…

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I like the idea of microdrone balloon carriers and something like htbtp. As revelations about the NSA’s metadata collection schemes and its PRISM program come out, I am becoming convinced that having a Drone Commons is desirable — but not enough. One would also need something like distributed or decentralized server services — free or…[Read more]

Thanks for the links, Julian, and for your questions, Darusha! My present idea is that in low-density zones — as much as in high-density zones — the drones would be the network. Individuals with compatible […]

Over the last couple years, I’ve been reading a lot about “brain reading” technologies. It seems not improbable that we’ll all be wearing the equivalent of tinfoil hats in less than a decade, to protect ourselves […]

I don’t agree with the core assumption of the initial post, that we’d have ubiquitous airships but for the evils of socialism. It’s premised on the idea that capitalists are leaving money on the table because of […]

Thanks for the comments.

I very much like the idea of “drone hunters,” Melodie. I’ve become obsessed recently with mosquito lasers. One can imagine an arms race between drone-killing lasers and drones. This […]