Yes, they are, but there is a feathery notion that some pigeons may not be.
In short, some people believe there are pigeon drones flying around the place.
They believe they are part of a government surveillance system, but is there any truth to these growing rumors?
Why the Humble Pigeon?
We have already seen that surveillance equipment can be attached to a cockroach, and we have seen that simple electrical impulses can be used to control the cockroach’s movements.
However, the reason this surveillance device is not deployed is that the equipment being carried by the cockroach doesn’t have the battery life to make it worth the effort.
In fact, it is far more efficient and effective to build cockroach-sized drones and send them into buildings through mouseholes.
At least, in this case, the battery can be hidden inside the drone’s outer shell.
So, if we can do this for cockroaches and for tiny drones, why not a pigeon?
The thought process is that pigeons are very common in towns and cities.
They can land next to people in parks and sit outside windows and listen to conversations and watch people.
Even if people are comfortable having pigeons around them when they are discussing crimes against the state, just how many people are sitting in parks or in their living room discussing these sorts of things?
It is similar to the idea that lamp posts have listening devices in them.
If that were the case, where are all the people talking about their criminal plans while standing next to lamp posts?
The pigeon may be a welcome and common unassuming sight in towns and cities, but they are not known for attracting criminals or for being around when people are discussing crimes and such.
The Cold War Battery Problem
During the Cold War panic, socialism was growing and the left-wing Soviets were making progress across Europe and into America.
As their message was being grasped by poorly educated people and drug-addled hippies, there was an underlying suspicion about sleeper agents and covert surveillance.
People honestly believed that people could be brainwashed into becoming secret agents.
They also believed that the Soviets had put people in positions of power in the USA to take control when the war heated up.
People also believed that satellites could see through house roofs and that they were being watched by drone pigeons and rats.
The problem then, and the problem up until recently, was that of power.
Do you remember old phones where the battery was 90% of the weight?
Keeping a drone-powered was difficult enough, and having it move with a heavy battery inside, not to mention fly, was just not worth the effort.
These days, thanks almost entirely to the Smartphone industry, we have very powerful, compact, and light batteries that can even power flying drones for hours.
The weight and inefficiency of batteries has always held drones back (be they mechanical or be they pigeons), and that problem no longer exists.
Pigeon Drones Are Possible
If you have ever seen a stuffed pigeon, it looks pretty real.
Birds have eyes that do not exemplify the fact that they are alive.
Put a bird next to another bird, and unless it is something like an owl, then it is hard to tell which is stuffed and which is alive from its eyes alone.
If the feathers, feet, and eyes can be easily recreated for drones, then how do we tell which is a real pigeon and which is a drone?
We can recognize them based on their movement and how they fly (if they fly).
If you put the very best and most realistic drone/robot pigeon next to a real pigeon, then it is very easy to tell them apart (unless they are sleeping).
However, if you put a drone in a bunch of pigeons on the floor, then it is very difficult to tell the drone from the real one.
This is perhaps one of the reasons why people are worried about drone pigeons.
It is very conceivable that we may be fooled by them.
Are There Pigeon Drones Among Us?
Sadly not. Though the creation of pigeon drones is possible, flying pigeon drones are highly impractical.
A flying drone will have a very low battery life, and a non-flying one may arouse suspicion.
They are very expensive to create, and there is always the risk that they may be discovered by a member of the general public and then sold on eBay for a lot of money.
This brings us back to the practicality of using pigeon drones for surveillance.
Why bother spending tens of thousands on a pigeon that has a terrible battery life and no guarantee of success, when you can hack somebody’s Alexa, Siri, Smartphone, or computer, and listen to them all day long.
Even the likes of Mark Zuckerberg have admitted to covering their laptop camera when they are surfing the internet because they know how easy it is to hack personal devices.
What About All The Theories That They Exist?
Well, that is just the thing, they do exist.
They have been created, they have been tested, and they work.
The problem is not “If they exist” the problem is that nobody is willing to spend the money to deploy them in urban areas.
The risk of damage or theft is too high, the battery life is not worth the effort only have a tiny chance of success, and they are wildly inconvenient when compared with modern hacking.
Why spend tens of thousands to create a single pigeon that may meet one criminal per month and learn their secrets, when you can hack a criminal’s phone and listen to them all day for just a hundred dollars of a hacker’s time?
The fact is that the pigeons you see around you are just pigeons. And that’s a good thing.
Pigeons are good for many things. They are creatures with thoughts, feelings, and the desire to live and survive.
If you do catch one watching you, they are probably wondering if you have food you are willing to hand out.
