Delivery Drone Will Kill Us All, New Movie Says

Drone technology is creepy. Skywatch, A bold new independent film project has put a spotlight on something we’re afraid to say publicly. How is this going to change our lives as privacy shrinks and the pace of change around us accelerates without relent? Then there's the other side of the fence where I stand. The ‘Ye be witches’ factor didn’t go up in flame at Salem. It survives today, rearing it’s head anytime society sees a new concept threaten to change the routine. Still, as the Super Nintendo was supposed to rot my childhood brain, and Twitter was supposed to make me incapable of writing or reading this paragraph, I’ve come to realize this…

Skywatch, is a short film nearing its fundraising goal on Kickstarter, about what would happen if drones were the industry standard for shipping items across the country. Spoiler Alert: an evil conglomerate tries to use them to kill you (/evil laugh). The film, follows Girl Meets World’s Uriah Shelton Zach Callison from Steven Universe, is about as they accidentally uncover a corporate conspiracy while messing with some delivery drones. What did this help me realize?

For one, I’ve always felt that film is how a society dreams. Like dreams, we produce more films than our minds can possibly remember. The ones that happen to stick with us and create and impact are the ones that speak to a society's collective fears either directly or in an abstract way. I was the guru on uncompleted homework. While the average person has roughly 3 to 5 dreams per night, the one that would matter was that dream about doing the paper you didn’t complete. So how does this apply?

"..Drones were introduced to the public as a mysterious spying, stealth terrorist bombing machine.."

If the social-dream theory is something to go by, the creep factor of drone implementation is something companies can no longer afford to ignore. The fear of drones in the United States has a unique anatomy. Why? Drones were introduced to the public as a mysterious spying, stealth terrorist bombing machine. When? During the backdrop of a post 9/11 world of increased government and corporate surveillance and decreased public trust of the whole thing. Couple this with the seeming de-humanization of the economy from digital and sophisticated robotics and we’re absolutely right to be anxious about the prospect of having hundreds of drones circling our heads.

I’m going to track the Skywatch project for one major reason. It’s success will determine how deeply entrenched the creep factor has become for drone implementation. I predict that no company will successfully implement regular public drone use in its processes without directly addressing the fear factor. As the drone wars heat-up, and we’re yet to have the issue addressed, perhaps Skywatch will be a much needed rude awakening.

Trailer