5 ms·
What is the difference between police calling in a SWAT sniper or an armed robot dog? In both cases the officer has the ability to remotely order the shooting o
by nexuist 7y ago
What is the difference between police calling in a SWAT sniper or an armed robot dog? In both cases the officer has the ability to remotely order the shooting of a target.
Yet police officers do not call in snipers into every occasion. What is important is not the means, but the constraints imposed on the means to incentivize proper decision making.
- zepto 7y agoSnipers are not machines.
- nexuist 7y agoSure, but what is the difference between a human or a machine agreeing to the same order? Of course the human may have free will, but the majority of people are trained to follow orders from figures of authority. It is improbable that a police sniper would refuse a hit based off of some ethical dilemma, especially when all the information they have on a situation is fed to them by their police colleagues. Heroes are rare and their presence should not be taken for granted. Counting on a human to do the right thing is almost never the right choice if you can help it.
- zepto 7y agoIn an individual instance, sure, but over time people can and do defect from corrupt forces.