[ExI] first robot kill?

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Jul 22, 2016, at 2:30 PM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:
>> On 2016-07-22 19:07, Adrian Tymes wrote:
>> On Jul 22, 2016 8:47 AM, "spike" <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>> > Partial alleviation of the problem: require the constables to release the video and audio of the encounter between the drone and the perp, perhaps realtime.
>> 
>> Which raises its own problems, but those are being dealt with today.  See "police body cameras", specifically the arguments for and against public release of footage from an encounter - especially if potentially lethal force was involved.
> 
> I think mandating cameras and ensuring the footage cannot easily be manipulated is a good thing. But note that this is all about preventing human misbehavior and abuse of power. 
> 
> My concern was automation making abuse of power automatable. Again, automated use of power that can be (publicly) monitored and held accountable is likely OK overall, but there is a real risk of either making it untraceable/secret, or scaling it up so that when the use becomes abuse there is no chance of responding democratically. These are situations we ought to work to reduce the probability of. 

I share your worry.

In some ways, it's like folks believe power can be tamed by giving power ever more power, but watching it closely. But the incentives to watch are fairly low -- even ignoring hiding it automating stuff -- and the amount of data will likely be too high. I believe the safer way is simply not to concentrate the power in the first place (or dissipate what has been concentrated).

And while we're focusing on policing, this isn't even bringing up -- which is what I think you're getting at -- other agencies within the state who are already operating furtively. The revelations by Snowden and others before and after him doesn't give me much hope here. I supposed the unexpected thing is that power hasn't been more abused -- or maybe it has and we're simply not aware.

Regards,

Dan
  Sample my latest Kindle book, "The Late Mr. Gurlitt," at:
http://mybook.to/Gurlitt
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