Of Fly-by Parks and Dronebrellas

The time is coming that soon there will be places dedicated to taking your drone out for a walk … or a fly. Maybe even a good-natured race with other enthusiasts. Xmas is coming, literally and figuratively, for those in the drone market … and the rest of us better stake out our safe places.

Imagine the size of a space needed to have a designated drone flying and racing space! Not to mention the worries about what all those eyes in the sky, zipping and zapping here are there, are taking in as they buzz us and everything within reach of a publicly dedicated buzz zone. (My mind wonders here, BTW, to prescription medical marijuana for some reason.)

Some time ago -- always way ahead of the game -- I suggested that what was needed as a Dronebrella -- some kind of device capable of opening on demand to put a shield over us, electronically protecting us from being “reigned on” from being “seen” or invaded from above. It is already the case that, if I said something using words like terrorist, bombing, etc. in this post, there could be a camera up in the clear blue skies checking out my activities. And that’s not a sporting threat.

Funny thing is people have such different perspectives on drones -- similarly to the layering of a wedding cake, at least one commentator has already noted -- that it’s already hard to say whether what they do above us will be for good, bad, or just annoying reasons. Likely the latter, but who can say for sure?

I seriously believe it won’t be long before someone makes the device that will allow us to walk along in our small electronic bubbles, shielded in part from being seen from these eyes in the sky and separated even more from the humans we supposedly share the lands with.

What that will mean as we all bump and bounce into each other is hard to say, but I do hope that dronebrellas can have other duck and cover benefits. I wouldn’t mind a safe and secure place to watch the drone races while secretly downing a bite or cake, or maybe even a place where I can cut out a different bight of what lies ahead.