The Mexican immigrant who set up a global drone firm | Hacker News Reader

The Mexican immigrant who set up a global drone firm

bbc.com

44 pointshocaoglv28 comments

A couple thoughts here:

1) Great to see Mr. Munoz getting some press for himself since it's been Chris Anderson getting all the attention until now with his involvement in 3d Robotics. A bit sad that it's in the context of Munoz being "a mexican immigrant" rather that merely being "an awesome human" but I guess that's the angle here

2) There is a big rift between the UAV community and the general public regarding terminology. No one - not a single person as far as I can tell - in the community calls them "drones" because it is an ugly word and it's associated with machines that fly to pakistan and murder people. Everyone - every single person - outside the UAV community does call them drones. I see no solution to this except for the fact that if you're a part of that community and you meet someone else who is, and you call it a UAV or multirotor, they know you're "in" which is sort of cool I guess ;-)

"If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew"

Really good points.

1) I am a Mexican American so seeing a successful Mexican in tech is really uplifting because there are very few that I can relate with. Definitely an angle that the journalist used so I agree with you. The headline unfortunately caught my attention but hey that's life.

2)Fantastic point on the terminology. This is now filed in my brain for later use. Thanks!

No one - not a single person as far as I can tell - in the community calls them "drones"...

It's not entirely unanimous though. A popular UAV community site is called http://diydrones.com/

This is analogous to the euphemism treadmill. Pretty soon "UAV" will become too dangerous sounding and the community will switch to another label.

Yes you're right, lots of beginners are coming over from "the public" and still call them drones.... And there are a lot more of them than experienced RC folks.... so I'm guessing that maybe the word "drone" will grudgingly be accepted.

Yes, lots of blogs and sites with "drone" in the domain name... part of our google-seo world I think.

I have found that to the general public, drone now means either of two distinct things:

1. Any type of multirotor, regardless of how autonomous it is or whether it has a camera transmitting video

2. An autonomous fixed wing military aircraft used to take grainy green videos and drop bombs

Although, actually, the second option would more likely not be the default, and called a "military drone" to clarify.

All feel good fuzzies about American dream this and that aside.... let me get this straight, he's an illegal alien creating an illegal business with illegal documents in order to break laws by flying drones for commercial purposes?

<sarcasm>Do you know the smallest violin in the world?</sarcasm>

He's not an illegal alien. In the article, he said that he has a greencard (he's probably naturalized by now). And commercial drones are used by many industries legally - film being one of them.

he was an illegal resident for 8 months in 2007 and not a single part of his business is illegal. I would like to see some proofs of your ridiculous claims.

I'm pretty sure no one stays illegally for only 8 months than gets a Greencard after that time.

you are probably right therefore he probably wasn't even "illegal", the article only says that he was just waiting to get his green card, he maybe held a visa.

You do know that there's no logical reason why there are countries to begin with?

All countries are, are "people" with fences and guns, willing to slaughter people they don't like.

That's just plain stupid. Of course there are reasons for countries. Look at the subject countries, the USA vs. Mexico.

And those "stupid" boundaries are just lines in the sand. Yes, 2 disparate groups claim ownership over which side of the line someone/something falls on.

But the underlying point is the same: the reason for the "country" is because people with guns and a fence said it is.

And it would be ideal if we all worked together to do something constructive.

You've got it backwards: As long as we live in a world of finite resources, it's utterly rational to capture the best ones then draw lines to defend them. It's irrational idealism that leads to the opposite conclusion.

And, we have enough resources for everyone to have a place to live, and food to never starve. And most civilized places have figured out a basic health system so people don't suffer needlessly.

Yet people are homeless, and people die from malnutrition and starvation. And the sick are ignored, or looked at as cash cows.

And it's not "irrational" idealism. It's acknowledging that there are other ways to socially go forward, rather than the capitalistic "I got mine, so fuck you" mentality. There's enough for everyone. No if's, and's, or buts. It's about time we matured as a global culture and strive for that end.

Culture and identity come to mind as valid reasons to preserve a country.

Each people has a different identity, heritage, customs, etc; and it's the right of those people to protect their identity, enforce a code that they see fit, etc.

This kind of thinking is what has Africa and Eastern Europe all fucked up, forcing different indigenous groups together, carelessly increasing tensions so bad that wars break out. Go tell Bosnians, Israelites, Japanese, etc., that they shouldn't have their own country, see what happens.

A different interpretation would be that Africa and Eastern EU was fucked up because of the current notion of country: essentially group of people should group together if they have the same identity and agree to the same code, with the corollary being that they can leave and join any group that they share the identity/ code without much obstacles. In other words, countries should exist, but border and restriction on movement shouldn't be.

What part of "waiting for the green card" did you miss?

Yes, it sucks when an immigrant can do a better job than you huh. But don't worry, between the massive immigration BS, absurd healthcare costs and other things there's less and less reasons for someone to immigrate (legally, or even illegally) to the US

I know this is a touchy subject for many people, so I'll pardon your lack of reading and understanding TFA, but I'll paste the important parts here for you to re-read several times until it clicks:

> Mexican immigrant Jordi Munoz says that waiting for his green card after he first moved to the United States made him feel as if he was living "in a big jail".

He may or may not have been an "illegal alien". He was waiting for his green card which would have given him authorization to work legally within the USA.

This is reiterated here:

> Yet he could not legally work, or even enrol at a college, until he got the identity card that proved his right to live and seek employment in the country.

This in the following paragraph it says:

> But instead of just sitting around during his frustrating seven-month wait back in 2007, Mr Munoz, a keen model plane enthusiast and computer programmer, started to build his own drone in his garage.

Nowhere does it say he was an "illegal alien" while he built a company. Nowhere does it mention he used "illegal documents", or built an "illegal business". Irregardless, he seems to now be a fully-authorized resident building a fully legal business.

Take your xenophobia and lack of reading comprehension somewhere else.

Regardless

'Illegal aliens' don't have permission to accept employment, but in most cases it's perfectly legitimate to carry on business as long as you pay your taxes. I don't think legal residency in the US is a prerequisite to obtaining a business license in most states, not least because many US companies are owned by people who live elsewhere.

Not just "illegal aliens" either, when I visit the US from Australia, I use the visa waiver program - which prohibits me from accepting (or even seeking) employment while there. (and I'm fine with that)

What the hell is wrong with you? He's the founder of a very successful company and the article describes his humble beginning and struggles. How is that different from the bazillion of other links on HN?

The politics on this site are hilarious.

Lack of a "green card" does not make someone illegally in the US. You can have a temporary work/student visa, etc. The green card grants PERMANENT residency to non citizens.

Can't you just be happy that this guy came from nothing and built a great company?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com