Amazon customers’ biggest gripe about this tiny video drone seems to be with the fly time, which runs about 4-5 minutes. That’s not bad for a drone this size (and this cheap), but it’s not great.
On the other hand, it is a tiny magic flying machine with a built-in camera that transmits video wirelessly to your phone’s screen in real time. Which some might call “pretty cool,” others “amazing,” and time-travelers from 2007 “impossible.” But tiny video drones are real, and the industry is already mature enough that we’re selling one on Meh.
Which goes to show that technological advances don’t necessarily make people happier, they just present more opportunities for disappointment.
Consider airplane Wi-Fi. Louis CK has pointed out how quick people are to complain about problems with airplane Wi-Fi despite that fact that it’s the internet in the sky. We should be supplicating before the almighty power of technology, not sending complaints to the Gogo Internet customer service team when we can’t text our dog sitter.
Imagine what we’ll have 10 years in the future. Teams of tiny drones that make your bed. Huge drones that will take you to work. Medium drones that deliver Dippin’ Dots. Will we be satisfied with these technological marvels? Of course not. Our bed-making drones will make too much noise. Our personal transportation drones won’t have enough cup holders. Our Dippin’ Dots drones won’t have banana split flavor.
Of course, this disappointment in trifles is the engine of advancement. If everybody had been satisfied with propeller planes we would never have invented jets. As soon as we decide our machines are “good enough,” our great technological achievements will grind to a halt.
So we applaud those nitpicking Amazon customers who start their reviews with “I would have given this five stars, but …” or “I wanted to love this, but …” We have them to thank for the constant march of progress. Were it not for their seemingly trivial concerns, we would never have received smart phones, tiny video drones, or those silicon ice trays that don’t crack and are way easier to get the ice out of than the old plastic ones.
