Editing 1630: Quadcopter

{{comic
| number    = 1630
| date      = January 15, 2016
| title     = Quadcopter
| image     = quadcopter.png
| titletext = I always have to turn off nature documentaries when they show these scenes.
}}

==Explanation==

There is large controversy over {{w|Quadcopter|quadcopters}}, which are usually referred to as ''{{w|Unmanned aerial vehicle|drones}}''. People worry that they will spy on people and essentially interfere with their lives in places they do not want them. 

For this reason the US {{w|Federal Aviation Administration}} is now requiring any "drone" (unmanned aerial vehicle) to be registered so that it can find out whose fault it might be that a quadcopter interfered with commercial aircraft--or carried off a citizen to be devoured.

Recently, since drones have become more common, companies have begun selling remote-controlled drones. It will thus be commonplace for people who wish to use these that they take a class on how to fly them, because it can be tricky. There is currently a drone called {{w|MQ-1 Predator}} which is used a lot by the {{w|CIA}} and {{w|USAF}}. Although it's not a quad-copter, the idea behind this comic could come from this drone, taking the name literally to give drones predatory behavior. This comic thus takes people's worries to the extreme, suggesting that the drones become sentient and can cooperate together to grab a human being and fly off with him, just like a pack of wolves or a group of eagles. 

This happens to [[Cueball]], the teacher, while his students ([[Megan]], [[Ponytail]] and another Cueball-like guy) do nothing to help him. Afterwards they discuss if they should have done something, but then take the view that now that the drones are sentient, they have become a part of nature, and that you should not interfere but just "let nature take its course". This is a common comment in nature programs about wildlife, where the speaker tries to explain why the team that was there to film the poor animals dying did nothing to help them - because they will not interfere with nature.

This comic shows how hypocritical that comment is, because if a lion decides to kill and eat humans, that would be natural, but we would do anything in our power to kill this lion, and not just let it run off with our children or the old and weak people. So in such a case with Cueball being taken by wild quadcopters we would not just let nature takes its course. 

The title text refers back to the above as [[Randall]] confesses that he has to turn off any nature documentaries which show scenes of animals killing their prey, while the speaker tells that this would be part of nature. This continues the theme of treating drones as an occasionally-ugly but accepted part of nature.

The Cueball student is holding a remote.  It is possible that he is controlling the predatory quadcopters, which is reinforced by the fact that he turns the remote when the quadcopters pass him.

Sentient quadcopters were part of the game in [[1608: Hoverboard]], where [http://xkcd.com/1608/950:-1084+s.png one quadcopter is speaking to the other] over the lava lake in the Mount Doom crater to the left. How to solve the problem of too many drones was mentioned in [[1523: Microdrones]]. Just over a week before this comic was released another comic also had as subject a situation where our technological inventions begins to take control over us, see [[1626: Judgment Day]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball to the left talks to Megan, Ponytail and a Cueball-like guy, with a remote control. They are standing to the right. Behind Cueball, on the ground, there is a quadcopter.]
:Cueball: Welcome to Quadcopter-flying school.

:[Cueball looks over his shoulder as three other quadcopters fly in towards him from above and left. The other three people are in the same position.]
:Cueball: Today we'll be learning the basics of- 
:Cueball: ...Uhh..

:[In this frameless image the three quadcopters all grabs hold of Cueball, two in each of his arms, one takes hold of his legs. And then they lift him up from the ground. He is thus hanging almost horizontally, with his head over Megan and his feet over the place where he stood before. The other three just stands there looking up at him.
:Cueball: Um

:[Cueball is carried off by quadcopters, his head has already exited the top right corner, only his legs and the last quadcopter still in the frame. The other three have turned around looking up and right after him.]

:[Megan looks down again and the other two turns towards Megan. Cueball is gone and has only left his "tame" quadcopter behind on the ground.]
:Megan: Should we have helped?
:Ponytail: No. It's cruel, but we have to let nature take its course.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]