In Perspective, Planet: Forgive me! A question on extrajudicial killing by robot!

[Asher Kelman]

Doug,

How mind-boggling a question of racial profiling might be and police over-reactions, I am not at all flummoxed or discouraged. We will simply break down the complexity to bite sized morsels that folks with a stake in this matter can come to civil terms with. We are not moving mountains, just learning to tunnel through them or bipassing them so they cannot so readily impact the fabric of our lives. Blacks shouldn't fear their kids driving through a mostly white township and the families of policemen should not have to fear that some crazed activist might execute the man or woman they love and depend on.

I am very optimistic that we are on the cusp of change!

Here in California, we have a commission starting, as of last week, to begin to establish the tools in order to evaluate "racial
profiling". Representatives from community advocate groups scholarly experts, police, serifs and government agencies are being given a frame of reference for what the legislator needs as data. They committees will hammer out how "what" data is collected and based on what standards - racial make up of community v prosecutions v convictions. Lots of matters to discuss, but we in California and other states like N Carolina, (already with much more progress), will help create an eventual national consensos for all the imponderables that union lawyers might want to object to.

We will have progress. We have no other choice going forward.

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Doug,

How mind-boggling a question of racial profiling might be and police over-reactions, I am not at all flummoxed or discouraged. We will simply break down the complexity to bite sized morsels that folks with a stake in this matter can come to civil terms with. We are not moving mountains, just learning to tunnel through them or bipassing them so they cannot so readily impact the fabric of our lives. Blacks shouldn't fear their kids driving through a mostly white township and the families of policemen should not have to fear that some crazed activist might execute the man or woman they love and depend on.

I am very optimistic that we are on the cusp of change!

Here in California, we have a commission starting, as of last week, to begin to establish the tools in order to evaluate "racial
profiling". Representatives from community advocate groups scholarly experts, police, serifs and government agencies are being given a frame of reference for what the legislator needs as data. They committees will hammer out how "what" data is collected and based on what standards - racial make up of community v prosecutions v convictions. Lots of matters to discuss, but we in California and other states like N Carolina, (already with much more progress), will help create an eventual national consensos for all the imponderables that union lawyers might want to object to.

We will have progress. We have no other choice going forward.

Glad to hear of all that.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Extra judicial killing of civilians! We cannot be blind to the risky process we are allowing to gain traction in our society! Eventually, will "smart robots" be sworn in as police officers? Right now, police refer to their canine companions as "Canine Pilice Officers"!

In recent events, a police chief took on the right to simply solve a problem of a cornered suspect "not negotiating" by blowing him to pieces. Almost everyone considers that justifiable. After all, when you murder cops, you don't get to walk away alive to boast about your deeds!

At present we seem to "know" that the cornered suspect was the police killer. However, at the time he was blown up, there was no chain of ballistic evidence to match bullets in the murdered officers bodies to his weapon. Many of the demonstrators had guns, as is the privilege of almost anyone in Texas!

Folk are still not taking seriously the danger in having police, who are not at immediate risk once a suspect is cornered, to decide to evaporate a suspect with a bomb.

The argument that we cannot put officers at unnecessary risk doesn't ring true if one would consider our response to a cornered wild bear or lion.

Why couldn't the robot have administered a gas or simply shot him with tranquilizer darts? Why couldn't they have let loose 4 police dogs? Israelis do that successfully to subdue gun wielding terrorists commandeering a bus with hostages!

The danger to us is that before long, empowered police commanders will be "protecting" their officers by ordering armed crack houses with reinforced doors to be simply blown up!

Does this happen anywhere else in the Western World?

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Why couldn't the robot have administered a gas or simply shot him with tranquilizer darts?

I have a feeling it was not equipped for that. Remember, this was a "looking around and bomb removal" machine.

And I'm not sure how "administering a gas" would have worked in a large, multiple floor, open-wall parking garage.

Why couldn't they have let loose 4 police dogs? Israelis do that successfully to subdue gun wielding terrorists commandeering a bus with hostages!

Now, that sounds like a good idea!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Michael_Stones]

The following video suggests that American police used robots as killing machines well before the Dallas incident. Definitions of a robot include "a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements" and "a person who behaves in a mechanical or unemotional manner". Behaviour by officers in Fresno, California, when shooting and killing an unarmed 19-year-old white man appears to accord with those definitions. Nobody in their right mind would call that behaviour civilized. Conclusion: Those Fresno police officers were either dehumanized before entry into the police force or dehumanized by the culture within the force.

https://youtu.be/1ZW_ARzMYX4

I am very optimistic that we are on the cusp of change!

Here in California, we have a commission starting, as of last week, to begin to establish the tools in order to evaluate "racial profiling". Representatives from community advocate groups scholarly experts, police, serifs and government agencies are being given a frame of reference for what the legislator needs as data. They committees will hammer out how "what" data is collected and based on what standards - racial make up of community v prosecutions v convictions. Lots of matters to discuss, but we in California and other states like N Carolina, (already with much more progress), will help create an eventual national consensos for all the imponderables that union lawyers might want to object to.

We will have progress. We have no other choice going forward.

Asher

Asher, I applaud your optimism but think you're naive. 1. High homicide rates across the USA cannot be put right simply by improved race relations. 2. Conclusions proposed by commissions or committees always represent compromises across conflicting agendas that hinder translation into effective action. It seems all too obvious to citizens of other countries that your problems in the USA stem from too many guns and the associated fear-and-threat gun culture.

Journalist Gwynne Dyer quoted Stephen Pinker on the reasons why gun culture persists in the USA: click here]. Pinker's book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, is well worth reading.
Pinker's thesis is that democracy came to the USA before its citizens could trust the state, it's laws, and fair enforcement of those laws. A corollary is that until Americans come to believe in the justice provided by the state, there'll be no resolution. The only solution is to disarm yourselves.

Mike

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Michael,

Journalist Gwynne Dyer quoted Stephen Pinker on the reasons why gun culture persists in the USA: click here].

A very interesting essay on the genesis of the gun culture here. I had never recognized that premise.

But its nurturing from that genesis has required crafty support from the gun industry. Without that, there was the danger that the gun culture might to some extent die out over the years as we became more - civilized.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug