Editing 1523: Microdrones

{{comic
| number    = 1523
| date      = May 11, 2015
| title     = Microdrones
| image     = microdrones.png
| titletext = Oh, weird, Amazon is out of butterfly nets.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Amazon Prime Air}} is a conceptual {{w|drone}}-based delivery system currently in development by Amazon.com. While on one level he thinks the idea is cool, [[Cueball]] worries about living in a sci-fi dystopia, with those drones flying all around him, tracking his actions, etc. In the third panel, [[Megan]] suggests sending a message to Congress, suggesting a law for making the stealing of drones legal. This would alleviate the problem of drones flying around everywhere because if they did people would catch them to use for themselves. In the final panel Megan begins to search for {{w|butterfly nets}} so they are ready to catch the microdrones when the law to make it legal to steal the drones goes through.

This tactic may not work as well as planned; drones will likely simply fly higher or employ other security measures since there are no regulations on drone behavior.

The title text suggests one of five things:
*Amazon is out of stock of butterfly nets due to everyone purchasing them to catch drones with, implying many people had the same idea like Megan.
*Amazon doesn't want people stealing their drones, so the nets are just suspiciously "unavailable".
*Non-Amazon individuals controlling the drones have pre-emptively purchased them all.
*Amazon has put all of its nets into a private stock, in order to steal other companies' or individuals' drones.
*Amazon's drones have already become self-aware, and have altered the database in order to prevent their capture.


Amazon drones is also the subject of the title text in [[1625: Substitutions 2]] and there are two {{w|quadcopters}} over the volcano lake in [[1608: Hoverboard]]. Also, Cueball is abducted by seemly sentient drones in [[1630: Quadcopter]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing behind Megan who sits at a desk typing on her laptop.]
:Cueball: So how do we regulate all the micro drones?
:Cueball: I mean, Amazon delivery bots sound cool…

:[Cueball stands alone surrounded by three micro drones.]
:Cueball: But I worry that overnight we'll realize we're surrounded by these things, no one will know who's controlling them and then ''bam'', sci-fi dystopia.

:[Megan turns in her chair towards Cueball.]
:Megan: If you wanna slow it down, why not just remove all regulations, but then make drone theft legal?

:[Cueball takes his hand to his chin and Megan turns back to type on the laptop.]
:Cueball: … I ''like'' that.
:Megan: You write to congress.
:Megan: I'll stock up on butterfly nets.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Butterfly net]]
[[Category:Drones]]