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San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

theverge.com

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Re: San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

#21

Post by toofy »

i can see it now, in 2024 The Defcon MurderRobot Village will be wild when a 12 year old remotely strolls right through any security controls, takes it over, and sends it chasing after the spotted feds.

when the most well funded and most sophisticated companies in the world are compromised on a fairly regular basis, who tf thinks this is a good idea?

if the engineers who built this aren’t actively speaking out on what a terrible idea this is, then we immediately know either their judgement is entirely flawed with hubris or they just plain can’t be trusted.

Re: San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

#22

Post by winReInstall »

namaria wrote: post #14
winReInstall wrote: post #10

Imagine a terrorist cell, which has no leader, no members, no financiers but is able to attack anyway. A DAO hires gig workers to assemble a "product" in a property which it has rented, the product is then programed by the DAO to attack the city it resides in. The DAO having speculated on shares of competitors of companies within the city, moves ever onwards. Terrorism as a software glider gun. Its a major theme in m…

Exponential is usually an adjective applied to processes and progressions. I'm having a hard time parsing the phrase "exponential tech advance". What do you mean?

It really is the appeareance of exponential curves in any field. Biology, physics, comp science, as soon as the curve appears, it amplifies the nature of those who wield it.

Comp science is obvious. Physics is similiar - if you have a working fusion device (ripped from a flying car) or any other device with exponential energy density, it amplifies the problems you can solve and cause.

Biology is harder to grasp, no not really after covid. But in theory one day not far away somebody might take a backyard shed and cook something up, which is not even a disease that has "exponential" castrophe written all over it. Imagine a floating Lema https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemna, blue, bio engineered to harvest carbon, all good intentions, wrapped around a bubble of methan for buyoncy. Such a plant, engineered by anyone, could block out the sun.

Re: San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

#23

Post by rapsey »

winReInstall wrote: post #10

Imagine a terrorist cell, which has no leader, no members, no financiers but is able to attack anyway. A DAO hires gig workers to assemble a "product" in a property which it has rented, the product is then programed by the DAO to attack the city it resides in. The DAO having speculated on shares of competitors of companies within the city, moves ever onwards. Terrorism as a software glider gun. Its a major theme in m…

Fortunately what we have learned is that terrorists at the end of the day are pretty dumb. People capable of doing mass damage are not ones to soccumb to extremist ideology.

Re: San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

#24

Post by luckylion »

pacifika wrote: post #13

The robots’ controllers aren’t under any threat at any time.

Tell me you haven't even read the first paragraph without saying you haven't even read the first paragraph.

It's about risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent, not for the officer controlling the robot.

Re: San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

#25

Post by rdl »

pacifika wrote: post #13

The robots’ controllers aren’t under any threat at any time.

Arguably would make it easier to avoid using deadly force. Armed robot vs. barricaded subject with a hostage, the robot could advance with no regard for its own safety and only use deadly force if the attacker goes after any hostages present.

Re: San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

#26

Post by borissk »

There's a hypothesis that the social order of a society depends on the accessibility of the military tech. E.g. in Ancient Greece almost any free citizen could afford to buy the top weapon of the time (an iron or bronze sword) - hence it was very expensive for a dictator to hire a force that could deal with an armed crowd - and this is why they had a democracy. Or a free person in the 13 American colonies could afford a musket or a rifle - hence the American Revolution. On the opposite end in medieval Europe a full suite of armor was extremely expensive and very few could afford one - hence they had absolute monarchies.

Makes me wonder if technologies, like armed autonomous robots, where a single person can easily control an overwhelming military force can potentially lead to erosion of the democracy in the western world.

Re: San Francisco police consider letting robots use ‘deadly force’

#30

Post by mettamage »

rapsey wrote: post #23
winReInstall wrote: post #10

Imagine a terrorist cell, which has no leader, no members, no financiers but is able to attack anyway. A DAO hires gig workers to assemble a "product" in a property which it has rented, the product is then programed by the DAO to attack the city it resides in. The DAO having speculated on shares of competitors of companies within the city, moves ever onwards. Terrorism as a software glider gun. Its a major theme in m…

Fortunately what we have learned is that terrorists at the end of the day are pretty dumb. People capable of doing mass damage are not ones to soccumb to extremist ideology.

Not yet, but 100 years from now they'll be a lot more tech savvy. If I look who's capable of using a computer at all to browse the web, it's a lot more people than I'd have predicted in the early 90s
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