This is a phenomenal application of how fine-based bounties can be used to rapidly improve compliance with the law. Incredible work. I would absolutely use this if I lived in NYC; I'll recommend it to my friends there.
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Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
111–120 of 351 posts
Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#112Genuinely curious, why aren't people allowed to say this is dystopian without getting flagged? What rule, specifically, does that violate? I think this is dystopian. Paying people to rat out their fellow citizens. Nightmarish. What if this idea was applied to the laws ICE is trying to enforce? Would you think that's dystopian?
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Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#113I feel it's Orwellian, or Stalin-esq to have us being paid off to snitch on each other. Certainly, if you have evidence of murder or something, please do report it. But for an idling vehicle? Note that these laws are only targeting idling while parked, rather than during normal use, such as at a traffic light. This is called "true-idling" or "long-duration" idling. Has anybody considered how much CO2 or other greenho…
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Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#114I feel it's Orwellian, or Stalin-esq to have us being paid off to snitch on each other. Certainly, if you have evidence of murder or something, please do report it. But for an idling vehicle? Note that these laws are only targeting idling while parked, rather than during normal use, such as at a traffic light. This is called "true-idling" or "long-duration" idling. Has anybody considered how much CO2 or other greenho…
I think the intent is less about the CO2 emissions as about the air quality that people have to breathe (hence a stricter standard in some locations). I don’t know about measurable effects but I hate when I pass a long-idling truck and can taste it in the air.
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Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#115Genuinely curious, why aren't people allowed to say this is dystopian without getting flagged? What rule, specifically, does that violate? I think this is dystopian. Paying people to rat out their fellow citizens. Nightmarish. What if this idea was applied to the laws ICE is trying to enforce? Would you think that's dystopian?
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Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#116Feature request: the ability to report illegally parked police vehicles
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Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see where you’re coming from, but the alternatives are either that the law isn’t enforced, or the state ramps up its own surveillance, which is more dystopian to me. I see this as in the same vein as SEC whistleblower awards, which I’ve never heard described as dystopian. Businesses just don’t have the same expectation of privacy that individuals do.
I mean, the law not being enforced is wayyyyyyyyy less dystopian than this app and the numerous other ones like it that are bound to spring up. I'd rather live in truck fumes than a hyper-automated snitch surveillance state.
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Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't trolls - it's people getting triggered by a provocative topic. For plenty of obvious reasons, different people have different reactions to this kind of thing. Btw, " Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data. " ht…
Anything goes. All you need is $10, a few proxies and AI promps for viral marketing. Don't forget to flag posts you don't like with your sock puppet accounts.
If you're sure about this, I'd like to see a link or two to specific cases.
Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#119feature request: AI-based risk analysis, with a model of which types of commercial vehicles at that location are likely to be controlled by organized crime
Re: Show HN: Report idling vehicles in NYC (and get a cut of the fines) with AI
#120I like the general idea, and I’ve been surprised this hasn’t taken off elsewhere, eg citizen videos for traffic violations like blocking intersections, it seems these should be ROI positive for the city to implement (lower enforcement costs, more ticket revenue).
I really don't understand why anyone would want this Do you really want to live in a society where we're monitored for even the slightest infractions at all times and automatically punished regardless of any circumstances that might explain the behavior?
In Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach, Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker showed crime can be discouraged if the expected punishment outweighs the reward. Expected punishment has not one, but two important factors: How big the punishment is, and how likely the punishment is to actually be levied.
Punishment likelihood depends on how likely the crime is to be detected in the first place. Older societies such as medieval Europe or Qing dynasty era China used the death penalty for so many seemingly minor things, and this formula was a big part of why. State authorities at that period of human history had a very low chance of actually detecting something like forgery. So in order to deter criminals they had to ratchet up just how big the potential punishment actually was if you did get caught.
Conversely, as our societies have improved their ability to detect crimes, our stomach for policies like “Forgery is punishable by death” has rightfully taken a nosedive. So, yes, the trend I've seen across the centuries suggests to me I might well prefer to live in a society where the detection rate is higher than it currently is. There's no reason to suspect we've hit upon the optimal point for human flourishing where we are now.