Drones over Denmark and dark magic

On Thursday, the prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, addressed her country in what was effectively a wartime statement, regarding the sudden appearance of mysterious drones over critical infrastructure, civilian and military.

- Ross Douthat

I say “effectively” because normally a wartime statement would identify the enemy and explain the nature of the conflict, and Ms Frederiksen’s speech was a bit weirder.

It was a statement of resolve in the face of a “hybrid war” that was circumspect about both the identity of the adversary and appropriate response. It’s probably the Russians, she suggested: “We can at least state that there is primarily one country that poses a threat to Europe's security — and that is Russia.”

But Russian culpability isn't certain, and neither is what comes next. In place of a call to arms, there was an uncertain trumpet: “The authorities have raised the alert level. And they are preparing for various scenarios.”

Watching the speech and watching videos of the drones, I thought of the famous line from sci-fi author Arthur C Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

I used to interpret that aphorism as a straightforward comment on how the average modern person depends on machines whose workings he will probably never really understand. The computer turns on, the plane takes off, the drug kills the bacteria. Someone hopefully understands how it all works, but you're basically taking it on faith.