Christian_Baker
Christian_Baker on Hacker News
Re:Amazon shareholders reject facial recognition ban
on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @10:11PM (#19987683)
No. PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
http://fooledbyrandomness.com/pp2.pdf
The issue is not whether it is amoral or not to do something. The issue is in the inherent asymmetry in making an error.
If i knowingly sell a hammer to a particularly wicked individual, perhaps a dozen or so innocent people will perish due to my actions.
However, if i sell facial recognition to the wrong individual, I may have wiped out an entire generation, gene pool, race, etc.
The probabilities of either event are irrelevant. What matters is the consequences of the fat tails.
Wicked use of a hammer != wicked use of mass surveillance.