Killer Robots in San Francisco? REALLY?!?!

 

Subscribe to My Blog! December 6, 2022 Killer Robots in SF? REALLY?!?! PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com When I saw the email from Bloggellini Diana telling me about a protest at 9:30 am yesterday morning against the vote of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to buy killer robots for the police department, I knew I had to show up. KILLER ROBOTS?!? ARE THE 8 SUPERVISORS WHO VOTED FOR THIS (INCLUDING MY OWN) NUTS? WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE HERE? LET'S JUST SAY: GIGANTIC. Why are we even talking about this? So many of the speakers said something like, "I cannot believe I have to say these words -- No killer robots in San Francisco!." And so many of us in the crowd were saying the same thing to each other: "I cannot believe we have to protest this!" The city of San Francisco has GOT to be an oasis of sanity in a world that gets more and more absurd. And here it is, a Killer Robot: Isn't it cute? You can tow it behind your van! And please don't call it a killer robot. That's so crude. It's a "lethal autonomous weapon. commonly called by its acronym: L.A.W. Get it? L.A.W. enforces the law -and with no risk to the police! The protest was called at the last minute by Supervisor Dean Preston (scrutinizing his phone in the above photo), so there weren't a lot of people there. Preston called it because there's going to be a second vote today on the killer robots. There's a chance that, if three Supervisors change their minds, we'll be done with the issue. One supervisor already has. I phoned and emailed my own supervisor, Raphael Mandelman, to tell him he was out of his fucking skull to think that a weapon like this would never be abused. The public is, by state law, supposed to have 30 days to comment on issues like this, but the killer robot acquisition was added at the last minute to a bill that had already been approved. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:   Police have said they would use the robots to kill only in extremely rare cases with violent suspects, such as mass shooters, suicide bombers, or others who are armed and endangering the public.. A high-ranking SFPD official would have to approve any use of the deadly robot. You see where we're going with this. During the terrible mass shooting at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, the police didn't stop the killer, because they were afraid to risk their own lives. Understandably so. If only the Uvalde police had had their very own killer robot, so many little children's lives would have been saved! Certainly only "a high-ranking official" would have made the decision. And certainly, the robot would never have shot anyone except the killer. I do understand why police would prefer sending in a robot to risking their own lives when facing a crazy person with an assault rifle. And I certainly understand why armaments manufacturers go to sleep dreaming of selling a Lethal Autonomous Weapon to every single LAW-enforcement department in the country. But, in the immortal words of Alexandra Petri, the satirical columnist in the Washington Post: "I think if you are going to draw a line someplace, killer robots should be on the other side of the line." Click here to read Petri's entire hilarious column on this subject. After the protest, I went home and did my bit for the cause, easy to do since I live in a storefront apartment. I made a display in my window of the quite wonderful poster, a print-out of Petri's column, and the contact info for my own supervisor: Now I wait with baited breath to hear about the vote of the Supervisors this afternoon on killer robots.. AND the vote in Georgia to see how many people there have retained their sanity. ALL FOR NOW, BLOGGELLINIS! Terry