The Ascent of Drones

“The March of Progress.” Bored? Just show this image to your favorite evolutionary biologist and ask them why it annoys them!

We’ve probably all seen this image, which purports to show how knuckle-dragging chimpanzees turned inexorably into fully-evolved men who look just like Buff Abraham Lincoln. I suspect that a lot of people assume that the history of all drone (or unmanned aerial vehicle) technology follows the same simple, linear pattern as the “March of Progress” illustration does.