4 ms·

If they can't actually identify a gun as a gun, why are they engaging?

• NathanKP 17y ago
  If you have read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell there is a detailed analysis of an incident in which police officers on the ground, less then twenty feet from a man, fired on him and killed him because they thought the wallet he was holding was a gun. When you have a deadly weapon in your hand, and you are scared and trained to see weapons, not cameras, then what you see is an enemy target with a weapon.
  • deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  • jacquesm 17y ago
    Every year there are countless hunting accidents where hunters will swear they've seen a deer only to find out they've shot a dog or a fellow hunter. Similar mechanism at work.
  • jasonwatkinspdx 17y ago
    I've read that in the structure of the human brain the Amygdala has the ability to detect sensory inputs similar to threatening memories and can the override our normal action formation. This is that sudden sharp panic you get when walking through a house at night and some combination of shadows looks like a figure or animal. It's very easy for our brains to trick us... and if your finger happens to be on a trigger when this happens...