The latest dystopian tech craze? Robotic police dogs.
By
At first, each new surge of artificial intelligence and robotic technologies can seem perfectly benign, even playful.
Take “Spot,” the
robotic, four-legged “doggie” that actually has no spots, no puppy eyes, no
tail to wag, and can’t bark.
It’s very undoggy. In fact, this electronic critter is
rather creepily nightmarish, but it’s marketed by cute videos, including one of
Spot mixing margaritas (admit it, that beats training your real dog to bring
your slippers to you).
Each artificial canine — manufactured by Boston Dynamics, which
is owned by Hyundai — sells for about $75,000.
So who’s buying them?
Mainly such big corporate outfits as oil refineries, mining operations, and electric utilities that want an unblinking eye to monitor and record workers, visitors, protestors, and all others who approach their facilities.
Just one more layer of our cycloptic
surveillance society.
But the point at which Spot really loses all cuteness
and turns into a menacing beast of authoritarianism is when it’s turned into a
police dog.
There’s been quite a public backlash, for example, against the Honolulu police department for deploying one of the robotic canines in a tent city for homeless people.
In addition to outrage at the obvious class bias in
siccing Spot on the homeless, the public outcry grew hotter when it was
revealed that the police had used federal pandemic relief funds to buy their Spot!
As usual, corporate and government officials assure us
that this latest tech marvel won’t be used to spy on innocent people, be
weaponized, or otherwise bite us on the butt. Trust us, they say.
Sorry — that dog won’t hunt.
OtherWords columnist is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. Distributed by
OtherWords.org.