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This is just a formalized and scientific equivalent to smelling marijuana

• _jal 7y ago
  As a descriptive matter, yes. But from an interpersonal perspective, it is the raw material of a large change. Like a lot of tech, it favors those already in a powerful position. If you make it cheaper and easier for a nosy boss to be nosy, they will be nosier. Cops will have a field day figuring out exactly how far courts will let them push things. And so on. The potential for surreptitious sampling also opens up new angles for general snooping and blackmail.
  • emmelaich 7y ago
    But if you make it cheaper, then that tilts the balance slightly toward the less well off! Not saying it's any thing equal, but imagine being able to 'get dirt' on those in power easily.
    • zwkrt 7y ago
      I disagree. If these devices were free they would still increase the power divide between those who can wield force and those who can’t. Maybe even more so.
      • _jal 7y ago
        Exactly. These things are more often a force multiplier than an equalizer.
        • emmelaich 7y ago
          My argument is that currently the price is effectively infinite for all but the very rich. Now, it's a lot less. That is to say, n/∞ << n/x.
    • wtmt 7y ago
      It could make it easier, but it takes a lot more effort and time for the “less well off” to expose “those in power” and be taken seriously enough to bring about change...that’s assuming they’re not harmed in the process of doing so. If information about those in power could solve problems of corruption and other evils, many problems we see today wouldn’t linger on for decades.