Public Life « Solomon Asch Center

Correlates of radical localism across American counties April 15, 2024 Juan MerizaldeChristopher Linebargera Independent Researcher, Arlington, VA, USAb School of Criminology, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA
Examining the counterinsurgency-counterterrorism tradeoff: the effects of targeted strikes on militant attacks February 26, 2024 Brittnee CarterThomas GuarrieriDaniel S. Smitha Department of Political Science, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USAb National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USAc Department of Political Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USADr. Brittnee Carter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas.Dr. Thomas Guarrieri is an Associate Research Scientist at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism and the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Global Terrorism Studies Minor at the University of Maryland.Daniel S. Smith is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at The Ohio State University.
Keeping up appearances: US domestic extremist organizations and the effects of membership on domestic terrorism perpetrators February 13, 2024 Andrew VitekDepartment of Political Science, Penn State University, University Park, USA
International kidnapping by non-state actors: Exploring the relationship between political predictors and the selection of victims January 26, 2024 Kathryn M. LambertDepartment of National Security, American Military University Online, USA
Foreign fighters from the far right and extreme left in the Russia–Ukraine conflict January 23, 2024 Nicola GuerraItalian Studies, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

Elysium (2013)

In Blomkamp’s Science Fiction parable of economic inequality, unmanned vehicles of all kinds are used to control, police, and oppress the protagonist and others. The most common use of unmanned vehicles in fiction has been – like this film – as tools of the antagonists and obstacles.

Drones in Games: Eve Online

Eve Online is a massively multiplayer online game set in the far future. Players pilot space-ships and interact in a universe where almost all aspects of the economy and government are dependent on players, up to and including ponzi schemes and assassinations. Players can also control their own fleet of drones, which can be used […]

FAA Certifies First 2 Types Of Drones For Civilian Use

While civilians have long had access to remote control aircraft and other hobby-level drones, these tended to be small and operated in unrestricted Class G airspace. This FAA certification opens the door for larger, longer range civilian UAVs capable of surveying and mapping inaccessible areas.

A Meta-Study of Drone Strike Casualties

This article investigates the high variance in attempts to count civilian casualties of drone strikes. While the government has at times claimed that there were no civilian casualties, the studies looked at here indicate 7% to 34% of deaths were noncombatants.

The Ethics of Saving Lives With Autonomous Cars Are Far Murkier Than You Think

A discussion of autonomous cars from the point of view of a philosopher.

Colbert Report: Domino’s Pizza Drone

The subject is barely introduced before missile-carrying military drones are referenced, again showing the extent to which the Air Force has defined UAVs in popular culture.

Drones a safety and privacy headache

In this article from Australia, safety and privacy concerns figure largely. Private, commercial, and government operators are all noted, though the dangers of “the issue of children flying model drone aircraft” is probably far less than the more capable government and commercial types.

Germans Play for Time in the Debate on Drones

This article comments on the current anti-drone backlash in Germany. It suggests that public opinion fails to differentiate between armed and surveillance drones. The article further suggests that opinion of drones as a whole has suffered from the criticisms of recent U.S. drone policy.

RAF Waddington drones protesters face trial

An interesting facet of this case is that the RAF base did not launch drones – it merely held the facilities that remotely controlled them. This part of the war can be managed from thousands of miles away. Distinctions between deployed abroad and at home may well be blurring.

FAA warns shooting at drone could result in prosecution similar to shooting at manned airplane

This is the official response to this article from the Guardian, published and posted on this website three days previously.

Published by the University of Texas Press the book features 100 of Hyman's photographs and six critical essays that depict and discuss the emotional aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks -- a time when people from all walks of life created and encountered memorials to those who were murdered. Vernacular art appeared almost everywhere—on walls, trees, playgrounds, vehicles, houses, tombstones, and even on bodies. This outpouring of grief and other acts of remembrance impelled photographer Jonathan Hyman to document and preserve these largely impermanent, spontaneous expressions. This book, a unique archive of 9/11 public memory, is the result of his compiling a collection of 20,000 photographs, along with field notes and personal interviews. For more information about the book or to purchase it, visit the book's page at Amazon or Facebook.

Sramana Majumdar

Exposure Index

Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict

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