3 ms·

One less death doesn't mean anything to you? Wouldn't you prevent a death if you could?

by detay 10y ago

billybiro 10y ago
Of course I'd prevent it, and of course it means everything. I'm just saying that it's incredibly easy for terrorists to identify, without the help of Google at all, specific areas where humans congregate in greater numbers in order to increase the casualty count when their aim to to do so. Hence many terrorist atrocities that have already occurred have done so in places like airports, train stations, music/sports venues etc. Moreover, these are venues with serious capacity and are unlikely to be the kind of places where users of Google's new service will look for. They're more likely to want to know, "Is my favourite downtown bar busy?" which might represent a few hundred people at most, whereas the average sports stadium is always busy when a game is on, and holds significantly larger numbers of people.
- bubbabojangles 10y ago
  Surely the opportunity costs of attacking an unsecured crowded bar over a secured sports stadium are favored toward an unsecured bar. Recently there were posts here concerning unethical practices in software development. https://medium.freecodecamp.com/the-code-im-still-ashamed-of-e4c021dff55e#.pcybezmgw https://medium.freecodecamp.com/the-code-im-still-ashamed-of... Google somehow gets a pass on these practices for some reason. They have a lot of power and influence over the things they decide to do with the information they are volunteered. I think they should be cautious with releasing real time data on where people are congregating.
Shengbo 10y ago
Might as well close down all bars, airports, concert venues and any public transportation. Just imagine how many deaths we could prevent.
termain 10y ago
In an absolute sense you're not going to prevent any deaths unless you're preventing lives. Everybody alive is going to die. One less death relative to what?
- detay 10y ago
  This is a tool that solves a math problem. (Where are more people?) If someone uses this tool for such an act, he/she will most probably find the most crowded target area on a particular time and that would mean MORE people would die. How hard is it to comprehend? Also pardon my french, for being a citizen of a country where almost a living bomb went off every single month for the last two years...
  - wu-ikkyu 10y ago
    Should all large gatherings of people (festivals, music concerts, sporting events) cease all advertising and promotion out of terror?
yabatopia 10y ago
You do know you could be on your way to a poor country to help sick people there right now? Don't you care about sick people dying? You could have prevented several death of loving fathers and mothers by now, and - let's not forget - their children! Instead, you decided to post this. Are you a terrorist? Reminds me of that joke about U2 singer Bono. At a U2 concert in Glasgow, Scotland, Bono asked the audience for total quiet. Then, in the silence, he started to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds. Holding the audience in total silence, he said into the microphone, "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies." From the front of the crowd a voice with a broad Scottish accent pierced the quiet … "Well, fuckin stop doin it then, ya evil bastard!"
sctb 10y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13013699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13013699 and marked it off-topic.

One less death doesn't mean anything to you? Wouldn't you prevent a death if you could?

by detay 10y ago

One less death doesn't mean anything to you? Wouldn't you prevent a death if you could?

Of course I'd prevent it, and of course it means everything. I'm just saying that it's incredibly easy for terrorists to identify, without the help of Google at all, specific areas where humans congregate in greater numbers in order to increase the casualty count when their aim to to do so. Hence many terrorist atrocities that have already occurred have done so in places like airports, train stations, music/sports venues etc. Moreover, these are venues with serious capacity and are unlikely to be the kind of places where users of Google's new service will look for. They're more likely to want to know, "Is my favourite downtown bar busy?" which might represent a few hundred people at most, whereas the average sports stadium is always busy when a game is on, and holds significantly larger numbers of people.

bubbabojangles 10y ago
Surely the opportunity costs of attacking an unsecured crowded bar over a secured sports stadium are favored toward an unsecured bar. Recently there were posts here concerning unethical practices in software development. https://medium.freecodecamp.com/the-code-im-still-ashamed-of-e4c021dff55e#.pcybezmgw https://medium.freecodecamp.com/the-code-im-still-ashamed-of... Google somehow gets a pass on these practices for some reason. They have a lot of power and influence over the things they decide to do with the information they are volunteered. I think they should be cautious with releasing real time data on where people are congregating.

Shengbo 10y ago

Might as well close down all bars, airports, concert venues and any public transportation. Just imagine how many deaths we could prevent.

termain 10y ago

In an absolute sense you're not going to prevent any deaths unless you're preventing lives. Everybody alive is going to die. One less death relative to what?

detay 10y ago
This is a tool that solves a math problem. (Where are more people?) If someone uses this tool for such an act, he/she will most probably find the most crowded target area on a particular time and that would mean MORE people would die. How hard is it to comprehend? Also pardon my french, for being a citizen of a country where almost a living bomb went off every single month for the last two years...
- wu-ikkyu 10y ago
  Should all large gatherings of people (festivals, music concerts, sporting events) cease all advertising and promotion out of terror?

yabatopia 10y ago

You do know you could be on your way to a poor country to help sick people there right now? Don't you care about sick people dying? You could have prevented several death of loving fathers and mothers by now, and - let's not forget - their children! Instead, you decided to post this. Are you a terrorist? Reminds me of that joke about U2 singer Bono. At a U2 concert in Glasgow, Scotland, Bono asked the audience for total quiet. Then, in the silence, he started to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds. Holding the audience in total silence, he said into the microphone, "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies." From the front of the crowd a voice with a broad Scottish accent pierced the quiet … "Well, fuckin stop doin it then, ya evil bastard!"

sctb 10y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13013699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13013699 and marked it off-topic.