Two of the greatest challenges in war are (1) getting your weapon to hit what you are aiming at, and (2) destroying what you hit.
Over time, great improvements have been made in the boom part. Well tested and proven explosives, fuses, and triggers have made assuring the ‘bang’ part of a weapon is quite predictable. Thus, if you could put the bomb somewhere close, there was a good chance the target was destroyed.
Refining the accuracy part – hitting what you are aiming at - has been an interesting, and in some ways, a more challenging progression.
So, some brilliant folks had a few ideas to more precisely put the explosives where they needed to be. There were competing ideas. One was to employ advancing technology like radar, and later-on GPS and lasers. A competing concept was using tested and proven biological technology trained to zero in on the target. That is to say, installing, or integrating, a ‘lab rat’ (or something like it) into the weapon that was trained to ‘fly’ the payload directly into the target - or in this case a pigeon.
https://cyberneticzoo.com/bionics/1940-project-pigeon-1948-project-orcon-b-f-skinner-american/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
https://www.military-history.org/feature/pigeon-guided-missiles.htm
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_690069
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/bf-skinners-pigeon-guided-rocket-53443995/
We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!
You are listening to An Ounce. Season 6. Episode 9, The Pigeon Guided Missile.
Two of the greatest challenges in war are (1) getting your weapon to hit what you are aiming at, and (2) destroying what you hit.
For example, during the 1900s – during the World Wars - there were issues because very expensive and deadly torpedo’s would accurately hit what they were being aimed at – but often they failed to detonate. But over time, great improvements have been made. Well tested and proven explosives, fuses, and triggers have made assuring the ‘bang’ part of a weapon is quite predictable. Thus, if you could put the bomb somewhere close, there was a good chance the target was destroyed.
Refining the accuracy part – hitting what you are aiming at - has been an interesting, and in some ways, a more challenging progression.
Accuracy
One of the ways that poor accuracy was overcome, was in making the explosive much more powerful. That way all you had to do was get close to the target. The problem with a bigger boom than necessary was that lots of stuff that didn’t need to be wiped out - was obliterated – including people.
So, some brilliant folks had a few ideas to more precisely put the explosives where they needed to be. There were competing ideas. One was to employ advancing technology like radar, and later-on GPS and lasers. A competing concept was using tested and proven biological technology trained to zero in on the target. That is to say, installing or integrating, a ‘lab rat’ (or something like it) into the weapon that was trained to ‘fly’ the payload directly into the target.
The Winner Loses
Experiments were tried with rats – but at the beginning of World War 2, Burrhus F Skinner gave ‘the-tried-and-true’ pigeon - what some folks in the bigger cities might deridingly refer to as flying rats - a try. Dr. Skinner found that pigeons were so much easier to work with. So, the rats lost out on a chance to be heroes.
Too bad for the pigeon. Because the result of a successful accomplishment of their assigned task was - instant and unavoidable death for the pigeon.
I would imagine that for the carefully trained pigeon death was going to be quite a surprise. In the training process, three pigeons were strapped inside a mock-up of a bomb – or missile – this little flock was securely strapped individually into their own personal theater compartment. A small electrical contact with a thin wire was glued to their beak. The mockup – just like the real projectile - was equipped with three mirrors to split a live video feed from a single camera onto three separate glass screens. The pigeons were trained, with a food reward, to peck at the screen in front of them on anything that looked like a battleship.
Yep, the pigeons could be taught what a battleship looked like. To them, it looked like a yummy reward.
Inside the missile the pigeons would furiously peck at the live picture of the ever-enlarging (as they got closer) picture of the battleship in front of them. The electrical contacts on each of the three birds beaks hitting the electrically conductive glass screen, sent signals to correct trajectory, and guided the missile into its target.
In training these brilliant little bird brains they enjoyed a yummy treat for their work. Unfortunately – the birds were being deceived. It was the worst kind of bait and switch, because in real life… well … as they say, at least they went out in a blaze of glory.
A Lucky Break
Both the high-tech version of a guided missile, and the bird guided missile, were being developed at the same time. In some really good news for the Pigeons! …. Well, it was a close race, but there were some ground-breaking advances in electronics, and radar, and such. And the pigeon bomb was never called up out of testing - into battle.
As a result of the militaries choice, I imagine tech stocks went up in value, and the financial prospects for pigeon ranchers took a hit.
Still – a good thing if you were a pigeon.
Interesting how the winner of the competition – in this case between the rats and the pigeons for the honor of becoming war hero’s – was probably not going to result in a happy end for any pigeon who was really good at recognizing and pecking at the image of a battleship.
With the immediate reward of a yummy treat, the wonderful trainability of pigeons, and their innocent ignorance and short-sightedness - they were being led to their probable destruction.
As the human nerds came out on top in this competition of missile guidance, the life expectancy of pigeons, in the service of their country, was extended.
So here’s the Ounce
The immediate satisfaction of doing something simple and easy will often rob us of a positive long term outcome.
So - Don’t be a bird brain – you have the ability to look ahead, you can seek the wisdom of others, you can often see into the future and predict the long-term consequences of attractive short-term choices.
Choosing the instant reward can be the worst choice ever – just sayin’.
And, that’s it. An Ounce, submitted for your consideration.