Laugh out loud

Okay, lol may be an overused abbreviation, but it truly applies in this instance. I read this article at Wired News about new developments in military technology.

If you feel something crawling on your neck, it might be a wasp or a bee. Or it might be something much more dangerous.
Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. And although the prototype will not fly for three years, killer Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, are much closer than that.

It was quite interesting. Imagine if you could put cameras or explosives in such tiny objects and fly them remotely. The article goes on to talk about the myriad of possible applications for such devices. It was the last two paragraphs that really got me laughing. It reminds me of nothing so much as gun control nuts who refuse to admit that criminals will always get guns, even if they're illegal.

"After some development time, many countries would produce them," warns Juergen Altmann, a physicist at Dortmund University, working in assessment of new military technologies. Indiscriminate use would cause many civilian casualties -- and they could end up in the hands of terrorists.
"Big dangers can ensue from terrorists," Altmann says. "For instance, using MAVs with small explosive charges to assassinate high-level politicians or to transport biological/chemical agents into protected infrastructure."
To prevent this danger, Altmann advocates an international ban on armed MAVs, similar to the ban on landmines. Until then, development will proceed apace.
[emphasis is mine]

So please tell me about banning landmines. Did that mean that they all suddenly and magically disappeared? Well no. Did that mean that nobody uses them anymore? Well no. Did that mean that terrorists can never get their hands on them? Well no.

How can making something illegal stop terrorists? Nearly everything they already do is illegal!!! I'm laughing, but also shaking my head at this stupidity. As has been said elsewhere, I couldn't make this up.


~Matt

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