[extropy-chat] Rapid prototyping makes police state more likely

[spike]

> John Heritage wrote:
> 
> "In fact, there's a guy in the US who was in the process of
> building his own cruise missle [sic] from off-the-shelf parts to
> demonstrate that a terrorist "could do it"


This is something that keeps me awake nights.  Building a cruise missile
would not be at all difficult technically.  A Cessna 152 has a high wing, so
the center of lift is above the CG, and the thrust center is forward of the
center of pressure, so the craft is inherently stable.  So the up-down
control is just throttle, and the left right control can be done stick-only,
forget the rudder, so only two actuators are required, and a simple GPS
system could be used for guidance, and there you have a cruise missile (of
sorts) with a payload of over 200 kg, a range of over 400 km, it is as cheap
as a mid-sized car and is nearly indistinguishable from Ma and Pa Kettle out
for a Sunday ride.  Oy vey.  We need PAC3s in place everywhere, soon.

spike