[extropy-chat] Worldwide SOS system

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Emlyn <emlynoregan at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here's a simple sounding idea...
> 
> I was thinking about the fact that people still get lost in
> wilderness
> areas, in a time when we've got satelites covering the globe, taking
> high(ish) resolution pictures of everywhere on the planet I think.
> That's crazy, don't you think?

The 3G phone technologies have built in gps, and even if they are out
of cell range, their signals can be picked up by ELINT spysats.

> 
> So how about this... set up a system for constantly analysing the
> most
> recent high res map information, looking for a big "SOS" anywhere in
> the world. Send any positive results along with GPS coordinates to
> relevant authorities. Then people who get lost could build such a
> thing out of logs or whatever they can find which contrasts with the
> background, and have a good chance of being located and rescued.

I can forsee lots of resources wasted on pranks were such a system put
in place. Criminal pranksterism, even. If I wanted to rob a bank in a
rural town, I'd put out an SOS sign in the other side of town to reduce
police resources.

> 
> There might be a better way to do this. But the idea is that the lost
> person needs to be able to signal to the satellites, requiring no
> special equipment.

How about we let people, who are so stupid as to go into the wild
unprepared, win their Darwin awards as they deserve?

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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