Posts Tagged: what could go wrong?
Ain't That America
6

I Think I Will Not Go To The GOP Convention In Tampa This Summer

| May 2nd, 2012

"It is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law." —Florida governor Rick Scott, explains his decision to refuse Tampa mayor Bob Bruckhorn's request that he sign an executive order to ban the carrying of concealed weapons at the GOP convention which will be held in the city in August. Here's a scenario: One of those who would flout the law pulls out a plastic toy gun in a crowd. Then, 200 law-abiding citizens pull out their real guns and start firing in a legal act of self-defense. But they all have bad [...]

The Machines
5

Hello, Friendly Prison Warden Helper Robots!

| November 30th, 2011

“As we’re almost done with creating its key operating system, we are now working on refining its details to make it look more friendly to inmates.” —Professor Lee Baik-Chu of Kyonggi University, on the Asian Forum for Corrections' plans to begin a month-long trial deployment of four-wheeled, 5-foot-tall mobile surveillance robots in a prison in Pohang, South Korea in March. The robots "will feature cameras as well as different kinds of sensors to help them in their primary task, that is to detect risky behaviour including violence and suicide." But don't worry. "The robot is not a security guard. His work is not to stop the violence in [...]

Too Soon
0

Yes, Great, Let's Have Nestle Feed The Whole World's Babies

| April 23rd, 2012

"Swiss food group Nestle is to buy drugmaker Pfizer's baby food business for $11.85 billion, beating out French rival Danone in the battle for dominance of fast-growing emerging markets. The world's biggest food company had to dig deeper than expected into its ample pockets to win the high-stakes fight for Pfizer Nutrition, which makes 85 percent of its sales in emerging markets and is Nestle's biggest deal to date." —What could go wrong?

The Machines
5

The New Robot Prison Guards Are Here!

| April 16th, 2012

I was out of town all last week and didn't read the newspaper or turn on my computer or TV. What'd I miss? Oh, the new, friendlier-looking prison-guard robots are being field tested in South Korea. I was hoping they'd look that friendly! And they are equipped with a human-emotion monitoring system, to help prevent suicides so as to enable longer-term flesh harvesting. Good!