Quote:
Originally Posted by zarqu
Depends on the remidial actions, of course. Neuroscientist Jim Fallon has the neurological and genetical correlates for psychopathy, yet he is a not a murderer but a neuroscientist. Why? He cites positive childhood experiences as negating any genetical vulnerabilities. |
And that's a key flaw in both the Sibyl System (as it appears so far) and in TinyRedLeaf's analysis. It puts far too much emphasis on genetics (re: "nature") and not enough on broader sociological factors (re: "nurture").
To be fair, the world in Psycho-Pass isn't exactly a dystopia. In fact, it has many nice perks to it... as long as you're one of the fortunate ones, like Akane. But for the rest, you don't even get a chance to overcome your genetic predispositions, like Jim Fallon did in real life.
The fact is that people
can change, and/or overcome predispositions towards certain harmful behaviors, as long as an environment conducive to such change exists around them.
But the Sibyl System doesn't provide such an environment - Rather, it institutionalizes people, "playing the odds" and giving up on them without giving them a real chance in life.
Again, to be fair, I see some value in having basic aptitude tests, and setting that as part of a screening procedure for certain professions. It is true that genetics sets certain
limits for people, but it's not as absolute as TinyRedLeaf is making it out to be. I firmly believe that free will does exist, and that denying that is one of the worst things a person can do.
And when you take away a person's free will at the age of five, and give them no real choice at all, I don't think that's something that should be defended. I know some people who were troublemakers in the school that I went to and grew up in, and they ended up being productive and law-abiding members of society.
And as for this 2nd episode, my impression is that "the criminal" was a guy experiencing romantic jealousy over another guy that was getting close to a girl that he had a crush on (I'm pretty sure the criminal was glaring at that young couple that were joking around and playfully teasing one another). Was his bad Psycho-Pass reading rooted in such jealousy? That's an admittedly subtle impression that I was getting. And if it's just rooted in jealousy, then it may well not be something that actually requires dragging him away like a total criminal. Doing that to him just risks making him
feel like a total criminal, while a softer approach would likely work better.
And yeah, I wouldn't want some overbearing machine, like
Clippy or a Zelda fairy, constantly telling me what to do and exactly how many calories I should eat. That's my choice, and I'm not a "latent criminal" for wanting to maintain it without an annoyance chirping constantly around me.
The holographic imagery is nice though. That's a neat perk. At least for those in professions that afford them...