This is a specific issue of a general problem of AI/computer judging, where humans think they're judging on specific criteria, and write it into the computer, w

This is a specific issue of a general problem of AI/computer judging, where humans think they're judging on specific criteria, and write it into the computer, without ever taking a moment to ask whether that's actually what they want. I use speeding in vehicles a lot. The point of a 55MPH speed limit isn't really that cars should be going exactly 55MPH at all times. It's an approximation of a complex situation that could handle only one number. But it's not actually a law of physics. Rigidly handing out tickets for people doing 56MPH is missing the point of speed limit. (As are many of the "You're doing X over" flashing signs, generally put in places that are precisely where the speed limit is too low and what people are doing is actually fine.) Now that we finally have the technology to determine whether a gymnast was or was not one millimeter over some line, the question should be raised, is that what we actually want to judge on? Because just because we humans thought we were judging on that, just because we thought that's what we wanted, is it really? It is this examination step that has been missing in every rush to insert computers into some judging system. We thoughtlessly reify accidents of history and what used to be easy to judge. At least in the case of gymnastics we're not going to send anyone to jail because of such thoughtlessness, but the sport could be destroyed. In the end, it still needs views, however abstracted the sports may seem to be from that, and after the novelty wears off, seeing humans out there competing for the most robotic and soulless performances runs the risk of gradually, but steadily, destroying all support for the sport. Now, personally, I'm not sure this wouldn't be a net gain for humanity in this particular place. But it's certainly not what the gymastics community as a whole wants and they really need to slow down and apply some thought to what they really want before they let someone reify that into code. They won't. Nobody else is either, for things far more important than this. But they should.