Should I feel guilty? Two years ago I drafted a novel with drones doing nasty things, and a year ago I published it (my first!). Now, it seems like every other news story features drones in some misdeed or other.

You have the drone that crashed on White House grounds, the drone that shoots off a handgun, the drone that stalled efforts to fight a California fire, and the several (many now?) instances of reported near miss/strikes of drones and commercial airliners.

Of course, it’s not all bad. Amazon is looking into speedy delivery of merchandise with drones, and news teams and filmmakers alike are getting some killer footage with drones–the stuff that would have required expensive helicopter rides in the past.

That last benefit has many people excited. Amateur filmmakers and just plain hobby-enthusiasts alike want to get into the act. Why not? It’s fun. It lets us all go and explore the world from the comfort of home and our underwear.

I won’t drop into alarmist mode. I’m sure I don’t need to repeat all the warnings and calls for regulation and restraint. I would like to appeal to common sense, but well… I wrote about the lack thereof not long ago.

I will say this. Anyone with a little imagination can use drones to accomplish some wonderful feats, and some nasty deeds as well. One recent news story about swarming drones made me think about the fictional imaginings I concocted in two of my stories. Well, that wasn’t fiction for very long. Let’s hope the worst of it does stay fictional.

As with all technological wonders, it’s up to us to make them work for us and for good. Drones aren’t inherently evil. Let’s hope we don’t end up using them to produce nightmares.