> It is a common misconception among tech people that all systems operate in rational ways, but this is only really the case for machines.

Very elegant and concise. I would say this extends to all deeply complex fields: engineering, physicists, quant, etc. They all have a mindset of "I can understand the whole system because they have logical components that build on top of one another" and so therefore expect and demand that all other fields do the same.

To be fair, wiser engineers seek to discriminate between the rational and irrational parts of a system.

A video of someone committing a crime carries far more weight than an eyewitness account currently.

I dont know if that is really true

TONS of people a convicted based on mainly eyewitness accounts, later to be released when proper evidence is found to exonerate them

Most of the Innocence Project is made up of cases like that

Eye-witnesses can at least be prosecuted for perjury if they're found to be deliberately lying. It's hard to apply the same threat to a CCTV camera.

Honest mistakes are obviously a separate issue, but the parallel there would be bad lighting or a corrupted recording, neither of which are new issues.

"Honest" (subject to police pressure) mistakes in identifying people are vastly more common than a video accidentally showing a different face.