[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

My problem with the PP Sybil System is this:

Spoiler:

Since PP seems more like a theoretical thought experiment than an exploration of how people would actually behave under certain circumstances, the brains-in-a-vat solution didn't cut it. The Sybil system, if it were an AI, would have needed a theory - a formula to work out stuff like crime coefficients. A SF writer would have to think this sort of thing through. But the solution is as simple as: "outside perspective is more objective, especially if you lock more perspectives together". That is so simplistic it borders on being downright stupid. And because it's brains in a vat, you needn't even think about what sort of formula, what sort of human impulses make you prone to crime. It's just a black box consensus. It's a cop out.

Spoiler:

The show actually provided a very valid reasoning behind incorporating human brains into the super computer of Sibyl. It's because machines could not hope to understand the complexity of human nature. Machines are in fact, really stupid. Any computer engineer could tell you how stupid a computer is, and we're not getting any closer to them being even 1/100 capable as a human being in thought processes. So the idea that humans would have to be a part of the system is a fairly logical one. I personally think if this process was completely algorithmic base though, it would not have mattered much. Someone or something, AI or otherwise, would have to be coming to these decisions whether they are part of the system or operating the system. The exact mechanism behind the PP ratings was pretty irrelevant in the end because the PP ratings (aside from criminally asymptomatic individuals) were more or less quite accurate.

Secondly, the fact of the matter is that the psycho pass seemed intently focused on the idea of free will. Makishima in the show was basically fighting for that all along. For him, and I would judge Urobuchi Gen since Makishima served as a sort of mouth piece for him I'd imagine, having a completely safe society is meaningless if we strip away free will from the people. Life isn't worth living if human beings do not make their own decisions because we then begin to regress as sentient beings.