The concept of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) being used in everyday civilian life fascinates me.  The possibilities with these miniature planes are endless.  I think that UAV's could be a very vital addition to many businesses and services throughout the United States.  

Taking into consideration that I am an engineering major, I feel that UAV's can help make advances in the field that I am currently studying.  This topic does affect me and my values because I think the world should advance as technology advances.  There is a lot of controversy over the legality of unmanned aerial vehicle flight within the United States.  UAV's can aid engineers and scientists in their discoveries, research, and design.   In my junior year of high school, I took a course called "Principles of Engineering" which was taught by Stephen Avila.  Avila has a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from the University of South Carolina.  This class used the creation of UAV's to teach young students about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM for short.  In groups, we would design a UAV that would fly using parts that were given to us.  We would then fly our designs to see if they worked.  This is very valuable first hand experience with UAV flights.

The two classes in high school that I took were very important to the establishment of my views on UAV's.  My credibility also comes from the extensive research on unmanned aerial vehicles that I have completed due to my interest on this topic.  

Sources

Farms of the Future Will Run on Robots and Drones

UAV's are just now being implemented into farms around America.  They are becoming some of the most useful tools to modern farming.  This is due to their high efficiency and potential to help famers save millions.  The main evidence in this article is the interview the author does with the owner of Mulligan Farms.  The Mulligans tell the author about the different technologies they use and future technologies they are going to invest in.  The article also states that UAV's are being paired with GPS technology.  The GPS technology enables them to fly without human control and automatically check farm fields by themselves.

Nova Next is an informational news source.  Their aim when writing is to inform people of the newest scientific discoveries and technologies.  The source mainly supports the implementation of new technologies into society.  The author, Taylor Dobbs, uses the interview with the Mulligans to support drone usage in agriculture. 

This article is biased because it does not mention any negative effects drones have on the agriculture business.  Since Nova Next supports scientific advancement, it only includes one side of the argument: drones are a positive attribute to society.  The author is credible due to their research and first person interview with Mulligan Farms.  

Conservation Drones 

The claim made in this source is that drones are helping authorities across the world stop wildlife poaching.  Thousands of animals are illegally killed everyday for reasons that are not justifiable.  Authorities across the world try to stop the killings from occurring.  Since they can cover a large area in a matter of hours, drones are a great solution to locating poachers.  The evidence used in this article includes interviews with the authorities that try to stop the poachers. 

Written by National Geographic, the purpose of this article is for the safety of wild animals.  National Geographic cares a lot about nature and its inhabitants and has their best interest in mind.  The company wants to stop illegal poaching because it hurts many different species. 

National Geographic is a very well trusted magazine with a bias towards the protection of the natural world.  They company writes about the natural world around us and want what is beneficial to its safety.  The writer, Linda Qiu establishes her credibility by looking at different case studies and presenting them to the reader.  She uses primary sources to present information.

The Orwellian Age Is Here

The claim of this article is that drones are too invasive of a person's privacy in the United States.  The author refers to police usage of drones in context of the book 1984 by George Orwell.  In this book the government begins to spy on people to an extreme extent.  This article states that if we let police departments use drones freely, we are setting ourselves up for a society just like the book 1984. This article uses the book 1984 as an example of what could occur if our society allows the widespread use of drones.

The major value this article is concerned with is privacy of the people of the United States.  The author believes that if we let the government continue to advance their drone technology then we will soon become like a 1984 society in which the government knows our every thought.

This article is very biased.  It assumes the worst possible situation with drones and does not discuss the positive side to them. The author, Thom Nichols, does not see light in drones for future usage.  He believes that people should band together to rid the United States of governmental drone usage. 

Reflection

The research question "How can drones be safely implemented into society?" is arguable because there are people that think drones should be made entirely illegal in the United States.  Others believe that with the advancement of drone technology we can become a technology centered country.  Most articles that I have read for my topic are one sided therefore the bias is strong which leads to very strong opinions.  When I decided to research drones, I thought that implementing them into Civilian life would be easy and sensible.  I now see that drones must have a lot of legislation passed before they can become a widespread piece of everyday technology.  I may need to revise my research question to say how could drones be beneficial if implemented into society instead of how can drones be implemented into society. 

