(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing: 12/3/22: The Killer Robots of San Francisco [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2022-12-03 If you're going to San Francisco Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair If you’re going to San Francisco, you’re going to meet ... some killer robots there. If you are, in fact, going to San Francisco in the near future, you may want to drive very carefully. As Paul Waldman, writing for the Washington Post, explains: Imagine: You get pulled over for rolling through a stop sign, but instead of a police officer tapping your window, you see a drone hovering beside you. “Hold your license and registration up to the camera, and do not make any furtive movements,” says a voice. “Furtive movements?” you think while eyeing the rectangular box on the drone’s underside, which you have heard contains an explosive charge large enough to kill you. [***] [T]he San Francisco Board of Supervisors decided this week to authorize the city’s police to use robots to kill when they decide circumstances warrant it. There was one notable instance, in Dallas in 2016, when police strapped explosives to a robot and used it to kill a suspect. But now that San Francisco has an official policy on the technique, many more police departments are likely to develop their own policies — and to start obtaining equipment necessary to kill people remotely. The technology allowing these drone robots to decide “for themselves” whether to kill you during a traffic stop has not yet been developed, but it is doubtlessly in the works. As it is currently being envisioned, such “robotic” killing will be accomplished via a bored law enforcement officer (probably munching a powdered donut), reclining behind a state-of-the-art computer screen and watching your every move through a drone-mounted camera. Thanks to a combination of popular television shows glorifying violent police operations and the curious happenstance of two failed wars providing defense contractors with literally trillions of Robocop dollars to develop new weapons systems, police departments nationwide have been acquiring military-grade technologies and weaponry for decades. Much like Anton Chekhov’s “gun hanging over the fireplace,” law enforcement organizations are naturally eager to use these technologies rather than leaving them alone, and solicitous defense contractors are whetting their appetites for possessing such capabilities. As Waldman notes, some of the world’s recognized experts on killing civilians have enthusiastically supported the technology: For instance, an Israeli company recently released a weapons system based on small, nimble racing drones, which can autonomously zip through urban areas and locate enemies, then kill them with onboard explosives once an operator gives the go-ahead. It should be emphasized that San Francisco’s action was not taken lightly. As the Post’s Daniel Wu explained, in an article announcing the decision, some namby-pamby bleeding heart, “woke” liberals actually objected to the prospect of mechanized intimidation against the city’s civilian population: Some supervisors in the San Francisco board meeting cast the policy as a necessary move to empower police after several mass shootings across the country. But the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, in a letter sent to the Board of Supervisors, said the policy was “dehumanizing and militaristic.” Opponents of the measure on the board argued that it would sow distrust within communities and not necessarily save lives. “Most law enforcement weapons are used against people of color,” board president Shamann Walton (D) said at the meeting. “I’m really just stunned that we’re here talking about this.” But these obviously hysterical and overwrought objections were soon dispensed with as soon as concerns of law enforcement were given their proper due. The policy, which was first proposed in September, was amended to include the provision allowing lethal force at the request of the San Francisco Police Department. An earlier draft set out that “robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person,” but the SFPD struck out the line and replaced it. It was amended once more during Tuesday’s board meeting to add that one of three senior police leaders must authorize such actions. And that seems eminently reasonable. I mean, seriously, you ought to be able to find one old cop who graduated from the “shoot first and ask questions later” school, even if you have to wake him from a drunken slumber to authorize “robotic” use of force. And if at least one out of three “senior” cops can’t decide whether it’s appropriate for deadly robotic force to be employed in a given situation, then it might (just might, mind you) warrant some reconsideration. You know, just to forestall the headache of all those potential lawsuits. 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