Re:Stop Explaining Black Box Models for High Stakes Decisions
by TeMPOraL on Friday November 01, 2019 @08:07AM
(#21417878)
Variance reduction isn't the direct reason we lock away people or restrict their opportunities; personal and public safety is. So a serial killer is hunted and imprisoned, and work is done to detect would-be killers before they kill. Variance, however, is a safety issue in many areas - e.g. gun ownership, police service, flying, driving. So we have psychological evaluations not just to weed out the individuals obviously incapable of handling a task safely, but also the highly unpredictable ones.
>Truly unpredictable people get locked up and/or are given medical help, but even less unpredictable people are tested and kept out of professions and activities where that unpredictability could cause problems.
Given our knowledge about e.g. Narcissists or psychopaths their behavior is not totally unpredictable. I guess a serial killer could be extremely predictable, but not something we want in society.