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  • Laser weeders?!

    From Tony Nance@3:633/280.2 to All on Thu Jun 26 22:56:57 2025

    What could go wrong?

    Commercial laser weeders are being used in agriculture on the West Coast
    of the United States. These are large machines that pass over crops,
    take photos, identify weeds with onboard computers and then kill them
    with a laser. …

    "Shooting lasers at foes is the stuff of science fiction, but now, a few farmers are fighting one of their greatest nemeses with a new technology—laser weeders. ... "

    https://phys.org/news/2025-06-lasers-common-herbicides-zapping-east.html



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    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)
  • From Tony Nance@3:633/280.2 to All on Thu Jun 26 23:53:09 2025
    On 6/26/25 9:31 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    In article <103jg2q$3edjs$1@dont-email.me>,
    Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:

    What could go wrong?

    Commercial laser weeders are being used in agriculture on the West Coast
    of the United States. These are large machines that pass over crops,
    take photos, identify weeds with onboard computers and then kill them
    with a laser. …

    "Shooting lasers at foes is the stuff of science fiction, but now, a few
    farmers are fighting one of their greatest nemeses with a new
    technology—laser weeders. ... "

    https://phys.org/news/2025-06-lasers-common-herbicides-zapping-east.html



    As long as they're not frickin' laser beams

    so far?


    we are probably OK.

    Well yeah, sure.
    Probably.
    Maybe.
    For now.

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    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)
  • From Ahasuerus@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Jun 27 07:31:21 2025
    On 6/26/2025 8:56 AM, Tony Nance wrote:

    What could go wrong?

    [snip] identify weeds with onboard computers and then kill them
    with a laser. …

    As Robert Sheckley's "Watchbird" (1953, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?46236) suggested, the
    interesting question will be "How do you define 'weeds'?"

    --- MBSE BBS v1.1.1 (Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)
  • From WolfFan@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Jun 27 11:25:43 2025
    On Jun 26, 2025, Ahasuerus wrote
    (in article <103ke79$3m8kf$1@dont-email.me>):

    On 6/26/2025 8:56 AM, Tony Nance wrote:

    What could go wrong?

    [snip] identify weeds with onboard computers and then kill them
    with a laser. …

    As Robert Sheckley's "Watchbird" (1953, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?46236) suggested, the
    interesting question will be "How do you define 'weeds’?”
    They wear red ball caps


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    * Origin: the pack (3:633/280.2@fidonet)
  • From Jay Morris@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Jun 27 12:02:40 2025
    On 6/26/2025 8:31 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    In article <103jg2q$3edjs$1@dont-email.me>,
    Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:

    What could go wrong?

    Commercial laser weeders are being used in agriculture on the West Coast
    of the United States. These are large machines that pass over crops,
    take photos, identify weeds with onboard computers and then kill them
    with a laser. …

    "Shooting lasers at foes is the stuff of science fiction, but now, a few
    farmers are fighting one of their greatest nemeses with a new
    technology—laser weeders. ... "

    https://phys.org/news/2025-06-lasers-common-herbicides-zapping-east.html



    As long as they're not frickin' laser beams we are probably OK.

    If you just have a small garden plot you can use the FarmBot, which does
    the seeding, feeding, and weeding, although without a laser.

    https://farm.bot/?srsltid=AfmBOoqU1D9_hnrpBBPwku692wv1KoR8bz2taIZ8Rz6Q5cpJRpt-4r9n

    --- MBSE BBS v1.1.1 (Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)