🧵 View Thread
🧵 Thread (84 tweets)

Let's Grant The Premise. What if @birdsarentreal?https://t.co/gXHxXhnXDq

First, let me tell you about how post-truth absurdism can act as a framework and platform to discuss the nature of uncertainty and provide a window into a different way of thinking. It can hide activism behind a veil of intrigue.

Robert Anton Wilson is said to have been part of the group that levitated the pentagon. https://t.co/L7POsp1HGLOne might ask, if birds aren't real: what are Orinthologists actually doing? Are they in on the joke, or are they also being hoodwinked? Wink wink.

So if we Grant the Premise that birds aren't real, even if it might just be an emergent activist covert op to highlight the creeping unease of surveliece systems, what can we learn?https://t.co/yRHTqSPfly

Here, a self described Orinthologist discusses a rumor about 65 million dollar fund used to kill birds. https://t.co/VU0WOWZ12x

He admits to making that factoid up. The real thing he's referencing is "The secret cold war" that was ran in part by a the time Allen Dulles https://t.co/gSC6lu4xMg

So I learned about CIA operations during the cold war via https://t.co/uQbh9VxTTGWhat if birds aren't real?

So why birds tho? Maybe there were ulterior motives for killing birds and replacing them with fake ones?Well lets go on to explore what else that could be true of. So lets type in "CIA BIRDS" into google.https://t.co/SRtAa3YW6A

I just don't use words you do.Error bars? Chaos? Quantum Physics?"But it's random variation around a signal, a true signal, and when you add all of the random variation on each side of the true signal together, you get closer to the true signal."https://t.co/pBrodP9afB

Ah I see there is another result that suggests this is all just made up phooey.Oh wait, this is the audubon society. They could be in on the joke, or otherwise being hoodwinked too? wink. wink.https://t.co/RcKZuGZtTj https://t.co/t23FIfhUVb


"They trained ravens to basically deposit things in rooms in particular places, and those things could be listening devices, for example."https://t.co/q1zkUTzoy8

Ok, they still insist that these are trained living birds. So that doesn't actually help us learn if the birds are fake or not. Looks like most of the other links are on this topic too. We still have to Grant The Premise. Birds aren't real! So I gotta keep searching.

What's this about a bird like stealth drone tho? That sounds like something I could verify myself.https://t.co/B6kQu5zsRi

"Aquiline could fly much closer to its targets, producing high resolution photographs and recording stronger electromagnetic signals. [...] could also secretly drop off payloads of specially developed sensors near sites the CIA wanted to closely monitor."https://t.co/7xnqS3vgN8

Alright, so if you train a live bird to spy. the enemy would just kill all the birds. So you make a fake bird that is resistant to poisons.So let's flip this. Did other world powers work on training birds and give us a reason to be suspicious and kill them?

Well, I do know that we've got businesses making fake bird-like drones.Festo did a ted talk about a "SmartBird" I remember. Let's look that up on YouTube.https://t.co/gfkaaSOTRG

Typing "flying bird robot" into google shows other countries have the manufacturing prowess to do this.https://t.co/lt4d1ahcmm

Scrubbing thru YouTube, I found a "bionic bird" (ornithopter) that looks pretty convincing. https://t.co/KguVEUQjcq

Looks like @mybionicbird appears to be from France? https://t.co/3HDwlAAR4KAt least according to the Indiegogo campaign. https://t.co/sGB1ky9An6

Festo appears to be originating out of Germany, FYI https://t.co/hdsermoczS

Stanford University (USA) has come out with a model that seems to even have working feathers. https://t.co/epLPdO8meO

The Audubon society also discusses that design in more detail."With modern materials, engineers have come a long way since Leonardo Da Vinci drew a glider with flapping wings." https://t.co/DlCUfAdx9D

I like that they mention Leonardo's because I personally tracked down a flapping wing design from the late 1700s that may have worked similarly. https://t.co/KjVjNaBXgP

Drawing humans with wings."The inhabitants of the town, believing him to be a lunatic, heretic, or a fraud, burned his "demonic" flapping-wing creation. Marín lost all hope and, feeling disgraced and deeply depressed, never attempted flight again."https://t.co/dheSUOWpD3

Clear Flight Solutions has developed a hawk-like drone that scares away bird for airports. https://t.co/qGN52zmoKz

This website talks about it a bit.https://t.co/DwYqL0UpZd

What if birds aren't real?Interestingly, they have since rebranded as "The drone bird company" and even have a subsection on "unobtrusive surveillance" https://t.co/VdNpmq7fsg(Website says based out of The Netherlands).

"I think people would mistake that we have comedic intent, because we will tap into these trends, but what people need to understand is things like that on the TikTok are very intentional. The meme is the modern day parable" https://t.co/GVZHej8iWZ

Would be a shame if that project is actually an attempt at a post-truth cathartic parody of conspiracy theories that is being used as a way to laugh during stressful times. Because I tend to take things literally, and very seriously.What if birds aren't real?

Looks like they have a youtube page. Gonna spend some times watching it. I'm gonna get myself birdpilled.https://t.co/Ca8UUbGSet

They're very specific on the numbers and use very precise language. From 1959 to 2001. and "genocided over 12 billion birds".https://t.co/wiHAAO3sqL

I learned they have a reddit.I saw a drone design claimed to be from Dubai. Gonna try to track this company down.https://t.co/aE9NXnsgvp

On the way, I just found a drone design using tail feather for maneuvering. https://t.co/IowTsUrMpIhttps://t.co/kgiR3XPiLGThey're based out of Switzerland.

"replicate about 90 per cent of the movements of a real dove, the person said, adding that they also produce very little noise, making them very hard to detect from the ground, and are so lifelike that actual birds often fly alongside them." https://t.co/Ft7t9WMS0Q https://t.co/yjqPDbU94D


I know that it's pretty easy to convince birds that a random flying paper airplane is another bird. I once managed to get a hawk to attack a similar design as this "Flapping Bat"https://t.co/W6vs7qyIONhttps://t.co/0H4KxHCjyy

Something I'm not looking forward to is cloud based GPU farms with low-latency connections to cheap low-power autonomous 3d printed bird drones. https://t.co/l1ji0svToz

Anyone know if we've got lightweight flexible solar panels yet?https://t.co/OyiNDOA33o

Amazing what you can predict if you are paying attention.https://t.co/Au5mvKMu2G

"The results show that due to the ultralightweight of corrugated cells and their ability to expand at higher temperatures without bowing, an enhancement in the flight time up to 19% is achieved compared with the commercial cells" [August 2020]https://t.co/rYN0xfmcLH

The fun thing about disguising a drone as a bird is that it means you have to detect and kill the birds too just to be safe.So who's working on using lasers to shoot down fast moving flying things?https://t.co/n48tM2yxOn

If birds aren't real. Then maybe laser avoidance is already programmed into them? https://t.co/o7g18vWKRt

Did you know that the guy who proposed shooting down rockets with lasers is also behind the idea of shooting down mosquitoes with lasers?https://t.co/RYoi1edsjn

What to do with robotic birds vomiting up wasps that can open doors?https://t.co/kom93mTZaH

Still can't find that drone from Dubai. But found another of my favorite ornithopter designs by a hobbyist. https://t.co/NXkt7rHhTC

More on "unobtrusive surveillance" bird > "two things are needed to trigger birds’ flight instinct: a silhouette and wing movement. “If it doesn’t look like a predator, they don’t care. And if it doesn’t move like a predator, they don’t care either.”" https://t.co/GyW9S6456c https://t.co/fS9MPWsUEd


Looks like the drone from the Reddit is just the Festo SmartBird presented at a trade show. Has the same structure internally and similar mold.Didn't recognize it at first cuz I've only seen footage of prototypes.(screenshot from 10 minute mark https://t.co/e3WJo2Xfkf ) https://t.co/sk0cyzK24o


Drone on Drone warfare.https://t.co/bZyfylEG2h

Tired: Birds Aren't Real.Wired: Insects are fake.https://t.co/jCNvmXQoOe

"AeroVironment Develops World's First Fully Operational Life-Size Hummingbird-Like Unmanned Aircraft for DARPA."https://t.co/vDEzMEqdRV

Birds aren't real, and insects are now fake.https://t.co/l64tiMFlZc

"In a post-truth world dominated by online conspiracy theories, young people have coalesced around the effort to thumb their nose at, fight and poke fun at misinformation."https://t.co/F2NphHmmBAhttps://t.co/IIIb8u6bW6

Kids these days and their *checks notes*50 years of mind-fuck-as-protest.https://t.co/jwglkxue9phttps://t.co/1P6ZzIZaM3

Do you wonder what it sounds like to be stuck in a reality tunnel?Do you think it sounds like an echo chamber?https://t.co/xiVrWu36hU

You poor thing, you think birds aren't real?That's just a distraction. You think that's a tree they are perched upon?https://t.co/xnNUbnfLcR

Birds aren't real tho.https://t.co/4kXTrhtU3B

In the process of researching this thread I have been shown how my search habits are being tracked down by social media's tools. Reddit has kindly alerted me that my browser spent 109 minutes on /r/BirdsArentReal/https://t.co/NdmWktr9E1

I'm so happy that reddit tracks all this information about me. Like how long I spent with a tab open on r/birdsarentreal while researching a droneI'm sure that this information isn't going to be pooled into some sort of surveillance-esque dossier or anything like that. https://t.co/qRFy8NbVlx


I have since changed my browsing habits on that site.I am still using it to find out about fake birds tho. It just showed me this article about border patrol drones https://t.co/4lswOMD7Yv

I am still subscribed to /r/manna/ It's a great place to find utopian and dystopian uses of technology. Particularly good at spotting "dual-use" technology.https://t.co/CYHuMe0ltW

Tired: #birdsarentrealWired: #dogsarentrealhttps://t.co/2J37ed9Lxjhttps://t.co/9EHyOIUoeZ

Hummingbirds aren't real.https://t.co/2ZqiuB1fPH

The Bionic Bird / Meta Fly Thing is just a rip off of the Avitron AFAICT.https://t.co/aJGlLkhnz0

This is bird propaganda."Planes, rockets, and helicopters are (optimistically) decades away from being able to carry out most of the tasks birds are capable of."https://t.co/FPhhqqZ97S

Antennas. No one knows where they came from, shows up in a propaganda disseminating article."Elsewhere, engineers working on the GRIFFIN Project say they recently made a significant breakthrough in developing the world’s first true bird-like drones." https://t.co/I6mFyaIWBm

What if birds aren't real?https://t.co/OkQHwmeTME

"Of course, in an ironic twist on the “Birds Aren’t Real” parody, one can also envision intelligence agencies and militaries languishing at the prospect of having a real covert spy drone that could be easily overlooked as being a common bird." https://t.co/JPjqbZ5lz1

Everytime I look up this thread, I search for "orinthopter" on @hackaday to see if anyone has reverse engineered fake birds. Yesterday they posted a pretty big advancement in the field.https://t.co/Gxcqtj7zUE

If you wanna reverse engineer fake birds, make sure you take into account the valve-like mechanism that occurs when the wings lift upward. As discussed in this engineering brief from 9 years ago. https://t.co/AYC1Ewlp4D

Always have been.https://t.co/SdUWtgUd4j

Something something training fake birds to drop pretend rocks.https://t.co/8zbyiuqkWf

Therapist: Spy Balloons aren't real & can't hurt you.The Loons: "aims to employ stratospheric balloons to drop a shower of electronic sensors into denied areas [...] disguised as rocks with concealed solar cells that can keep sending back data for years" https://t.co/EafSeFYTCw

Are fake birds dropping fake rocks on your fake solar panels?You can solve so many problems by just moving light to where you want it.https://t.co/Hv4gK5wIj2

"Researchers resurrect dead birds as drones, thanks to taxidermy"https://t.co/e0hofPrSYDwat.https://t.co/wXUfXo0v49

Birds aren't real.https://t.co/wlQO7zBUGM

Insects aren't real."in 2008 the U.S. Air Force released a simulated video showing MAVs about the size of bumblebees"https://t.co/CCBdfjarE0 https://t.co/tpkaHNeIN4


"what makes me proud to work in this facility is knowing that you know years down the line I will be able to have contributed to a new capability for the warfighter" [OCT 2011] https://t.co/OMiQIVM1cG


Birds aren't real.https://t.co/lpLJk3yTVY

RIP Peter.https://t.co/zqihaBwReX

> "A poorly studied mechanism of wildland fire ignitions occurs when a bird perched on an overhead power line is electrocuted, its plumage ignites, and the burning bird falls into and ignites dry vegetation." https://t.co/WyKTr4OM8X

What if Birds Aren't Real?https://t.co/ZUi1iNLOoC

Birds aren't real.https://t.co/d6ZRRVJUADhttps://t.co/QPybaoZU23 https://t.co/IdW6srR8nu


Spiders aren't real.https://t.co/Z0OfxYIx1T

"Thus, these spiders appear able to detect airborne sound at distances in the acoustic far-field region, beyond the near-field range often thought to bound acoustic perception in arthropods that lack tympanic ears"https://t.co/j0D0iouJHOhttps://t.co/ayHB5ckuKR