Will Justice Computers Decide Your Fate?

Posted 13 Sep 2005 at 00:06 UTC by steve

A Boston Globe article describes the coming of Robo-justice and poses the question of whether we'd be better off with the consistency of logical law computers or with the uncertainty of Supreme Court Justices picked for their lack of opinions. The article notes that even a Supreme Court Justice can reconsider an opinion and change over time. On the other hand, AI software with perfect logic and instant recall of all written law offers consistency. The article goes on to say that while judges aren't likely to be replaced by robots any time soon, software is being used increasingly in the law profession. Fuzzy logic is used to improve the results of legal document retrieval systems. Australian researchers have developed software that predicts the outcome of divorce proceedings so accurately that it is being used to determine when out of court settlement is a better option. Software is also being used to presort paperwork in various government bureaucracies.

Mercy Triumps Over Justice, posted 13 Sep 2005 at 14:45 UTC by The Swirling Brain » (Master)

I'm just wondering will these computers be only Objective or can these really be Subjective too? Anyway, I don't think I want these beasts doling out so-called justice to me. I guess REAL justice dictates the death penalty for everyone for even the slightest wrong. What we need is wisdom, mercy and perhaps intervention not so much justice and interdiction. I'm afraid we'll get the latter. We need less justice and hate in the world and more mercy and love. I'm not sure a computer will ever really understand these concepts. The best we have to hope for is an aid in seeing all sides but not necessarily seeing the truth because does anyone really see the truth much less can a computer? The word "Justice" has been distorted so that it is no longer something good that we must defend for everybody but something bad that we must defend against for everybody.

Eh?, posted 15 Sep 2005 at 15:07 UTC by dogsbody_d » (Master)

"I guess REAL justice dictates the death penalty for everyone for even the slightest wrong."

Man Alive! What jurisprudence/ethics course did you take?!? Surely "REAL justice" would be, y'know just.

"The best we have to hope for is an aid in seeing all sides but not necessarily seeing the truth because does anyone really see the truth much less can a computer?"

Ah, I see the same folks teach epistemology too. ;)

"The word "Justice" has been distorted so that it is no longer something good that we must defend for everybody but something bad that we must defend against for everybody."

Eh? Did I miss a meeting?

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