Psycho-Pass - Episode 15 Discussion / Poll

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

They have optical sensors.

So it doesn't bump into things or people. Why would it be able to identify people?

[Anh_Minh]

So they can track down specific criminals. I'm pretty sure it was mentioned at some point.

(Or, for that matter, to identify people with a worrying aura so they can send them a mail with advice to medicate some more.)

[Dengar]

Why would they need to track down specfic criminals? Anyone with a high crime coefficient is slated for capture regardless.

Also, it's not like the drones have dominators.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Dengar

Why would they need to track down specfic criminals? Anyone with a high crime coefficient is slated for capture regardless.

Because sometimes criminals escape and cameras are cheaper than full on aura scanners? Again, I'm pretty sure they've talked about using facial recognition to find someone, but I'm not rewatching everything to find it.

Also, it's not like the drones have dominators.

They don't need the drones. Just programming the dominators themselves to unlock when faced with helmets would be enough. Heck, authorizing enforcers to run helmet wearers over with their cars would be enough. They're not dealing with determined ideologues. They're dealing with morons who think helmets equal impunity.

[Dengar]

Ok lets just put it this way.

Since they -didn't- solve the issue straight away, doesn't that automatically assume it's not as simple as you think it is? It's only been like a few days at best since the helmets first popped up.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Dengar

Ok lets just put it this way.

Since they -didn't- solve the issue straight away, doesn't that automatically assume it's not as simple as you think it is? It's only been like a few days at best since the helmets first popped up.

If you assume the writing's perfect, sure.

[Dengar]

Whether the writing is perfect or not really has no bearing on the matter. The matter is, the helmets fool the psycho pass system, and apparently a countermeasure is more complicated than a few button presses.

[Anh_Minh]

Or they're big morons. You can only conclude they have a good reason if you assume it's not an Idiot Plot, or some other kind of contrived reason.

Oh, I get it - they needed the helmets to work so well, or they'd have no story. They needed for there to be no counter.

It's not even about the specifics - though I still think that their mind reading supercomputer should be able to use optics to recognize someone's wearing a helmet, especially when it can use them to tell people apart.

In the end, it's back to my original complaint: the totalitarian society's failing not because its tyranny brought people to a boiling point, but because it's not totalitarian enough. About it's own survival, too, which you'd think would be the one issue they wouldn't trivialize.

[Dengar]

-You- think it should be able to, but it -clearly- can't.

[Anh_Minh]

Which is a bit like seeing some RPG hero blocked by a waist-high fence.

[Dengar]

If you think "technical limitations" equal "magical barrier for no particular reason" then your common sense is gone.

Or do you seriously think everything should be magically possible just because it's "the future"?

[Anh_Minh]

Of course not. But considering that facial recognition is possible in the present, that I think they've used it to tell who entered what building, and that it takes no tech at all to authorize enforcers to bludgeon helmet wearers to death, set them on fire, and pee on the ashes, I find your "technical limitations" to be a poor excuse.

[Roger Rambo]

I'm gonna have to agree with Anh Mihn. If you DO have facial recognition software, it seems a bit bizarre that you can't set it to identify someone wearing a very specific kind of helmet. Certainly ID'ing a standardized and distinctive helmet is allot simpler than the subtle nuances of facial recognition software.

[Dengar]

I still believe you are thinking too easily about this. You're basically asking a motion sensor to do a retina scan. I mean, even if it's technically POSSIBLE for a computer to recognize faces, and even if a Drone IS equipped with a camera, if the Drone isn't equipped with such a feature, then there's not much you can do in just a day or two-three.

I mean, why would the drones even have such a feature to begin with? It's horribly inefficient compared to, you know, identifying their Psycho-Pass?

[Quadratic]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

I'm gonna have to agree with Anh Mihn. If you DO have facial recognition software, it seems a bit bizarre that you can't set it to identify someone wearing a very specific kind of helmet. Certainly ID'ing a standardized and distinctive helmet is allot simpler than the subtle nuances of facial recognition software.

A helmet is not a face. Facial recognition software is specialized to require facial markers to detect human features (eg. eyes, mouth, nose) which helmets obviously lack and/or look different than a face.
Saying someone can just flip a switch to recognise helmets doesn't really make sense, because it'd be like making QR code scanner to start reading car license plates (unless I'm mistaken and they can...).

[Anh_Minh]

"It's a human-shaped and it doesn't have a face. Shoot it!".

Heck, Dominators can recognize remote controlled robots as major threats. We've seen it.

And, again, it's not about the tech aspect, even if I think you're blowing that difficulty out of proportions. It's about authorizing exceptional violence on helmet wearers regardless of what their CC reads.

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

"It's a human-shaped and it doesn't have a face. Shoot it!".

There goes every biker, metalworker, biotechnician, firefighter, baseball catcher, baseball umpire, partygoer, etcetera.

No one needs to authorize violence on helmet wearers, the civilians are already doing a prime job of that. >_>

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Dengar

There goes every biker, metalworker, biotechnician, firefighter, baseball catcher, baseball umpire, partygoer, etcetera.

If you insist on mechanizing the process (and I don't know why you'd do that, except, again, as a way to make waist high fences impassable), you can give people a delay to take off their face coverings. A state of emergency with a curfew would have simplified things, too.

No one needs to authorize violence on helmet wearers, the civilians are already doing a prime job of that. >_>

Because the state's supposed to have a monopoly on violence, and they push that kind of tasks on enforcers and inspectors.

[Quadratic]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

"It's a human-shaped and it doesn't have a face. Shoot it!".

Heck, Dominators can recognize remote controlled robots as major threats. We've seen it.

And, again, it's not about the tech aspect, even if I think you're blowing that difficulty out of proportions. It's about authorizing exceptional violence on helmet wearers regardless of what their CC reads.

I think many poor programmers just curl up in a foetal position and cry whenever someone says, "It's a simple one line if-statement". The technical aspect determines everything. Sorry, but you just described a very complex scenario.
Face scanning: I can understand.
Brain scanning: I can understand.
Recognize human shape (whatever that even means in programming terms!), then if shape has head, then if brain scanning passes but face scanning fails, head looks like helmet, if person is holding hostage, er...too lazy, I give up, crash software .

I don't know about the robot threat. It's possible it was scanning/reading the robot's brain/chip or whatever rather than scanning it optically (I inclined to believe that's the case). Also, it's government developed robots so they'd probably have the specs so they'd know if it's acting abnormally.

[Dengar]

Finally! Someone who understands the basics of programming!

I am assuming that the camera really only serves as a way to not bump into stuff, because navigation is done by satellite, and identification is done by psycho-pass. If you want them to suddenly be able to recognize faces (or even helmets), you have to configure them to do that.

When was the last time someone made a videogame in just an hour?

The technology to make videogames already exists right? So according to your logic, they should


By the way Quadratic, it didn't even occur to me that robots could have something that's comparable enough to a psycho-pass that it can be scanned and assessed by the same mechanic. It's so obvious though. Thanks for that insight.