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Comment by LeonM | Hacker News Reader

I'd argue that the noise plays a big part in firework displays.

Like with racing, the noise is a big part of the experience. And this comes from someone who gets really annoyed by loud motor vehicles.

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Panic and disorientation from fireworks noise can impact wildlife and domestic animals. Firework explosions do not last long enough for animals to become accustomed to the sound. I see the lack of explosion noise as a plus

This holds for humans too. I have a childhood friend who's dad was an Army Ranger in Vietnam. Literally the last guy on a hill once. He would always try to be a good dad and attend Fourth of July festivities. It wouldn't take long before he was shaking and sweating. As a former weapons officer myself, I give zero shits about fireworks and would love to see some drone acrobatics instead.

We condition our cuddly civilians not to freak out when they hear large explosions by having fireworks as a plausible cover. I don't know how you make all of society 'soldier safe'.

And explosions. The drones are pretty but unless they explode they're no substitute for fireworks.

i gave good news: there is a great deal of research and development of exploding drones

Anything can be made to explode.

Except a black hole. And fundamental particles. And bits. And verbs.

> Except a black hole.

The Black Hole Bomb and Black Hole Civilizations - Kurzgesagt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulCdoCfw-bY

Given enough time, even black holes explode. Hypothetically of course.

I saw these live, followed by real fireworks afterwards. Surprisingly, the fireworks paled in comparison (and this was a large professional fireworks show). Re the noise: In both cases there was music, but IMHO fireworks noise gets rather monotonous after a while.

They could be paired with wireless headphones distributed to attendees, similar to silent discos. You could even pipe music to the masses, along with explosion sfx synced with the drones.

If they can do that, they can figure out how to make it go bang

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