Well over a decade after first teasing the idea of making home deliveries via drone, Amazon is now actively testing the concept in a Dallas suburb and elsewhere. Reports suggest the reaction is, well, mixed. Yes, some customers seem delighted. But other residents complain the drones are loud, annoying, and creepy.

“Having all these drones flying around is actually a big, big problem,” the president of a homeowners association in an affected neighborhood told The New York Times.

This should be no surprise: Technology innovation has long met with mixed responses. But lately, tech is sparking a lot of flat-out divisiveness. Aside from delivery drones, Meta’s smartglasses (or “pervert glasses,” as critics call them) and Flock license-plate readers are among the tech products that have inspired heated opposition, sometimes taking the form of physical destruction.

And of course arguments over the pros and cons of AI—from pushback on data centers to alarm over its effect on education and human creativity, among other issues—have dominated cultural discourse for a couple of years now.

Every innovation has critics, skeptics, and outright opponents. And in some ways, the entire internet era has been one long debate about digital innovations and their potential repercussions.

Once upon a time, for instance, Apple AirPods were controversial. Unveiled in 2016, they forced a shift from wired headphones that nobody asked for, cost an absurd $160, and looked ridiculous. But evidently, most of us got over that, as Bluetooth headphones are now routine.

Similarly, the initial iPod was mocked by some as an overpriced indulgence from a company that had lost its way; it became a hit product that paved the way for the world-changing iPhone.

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