Don’t be shocked if I win the Nobel Peace Prize for this!
Really!
Ok, sorry, they don’t give Nobel Peace Prizes to people named Mr Evil. However…
For decades, everyone has wanted to solve the problem of gun violence. Liberals want to take away your guns, and conservatives want to ensure the responsible use of weapons. The result is that nothing gets done and each side blames the other.
Here’s how to solve the problem: Artificial Intelligence. It’s not an immediate solution, but it’s one that could effectively solve the gun violence problem within a decade.
As artificial intelligence gets better and better, it will eventually be good enough to solve the problem of gun violence to the satisfaction of liberals and conservatives alike.
How?
Imagine a weapon smart enough to know whether you’re at the gun range, or in the woods hunting for deer, or in a Wal-Mart parking lot trying to harm people. The weapon would work perfectly when used appropriately. It would fail to function as a weapon when used inappropriately. It would be smart enough to know when you are using it for self defense, and smart enough to keep you from using it for murder. The artificial intelligence technology would not use only a few pieces of information to determine whether the weapon’s use is appropriate or not; it would use imaging technology, facial recognition, location, a legal database, user history, and many, many more parameters to make the right decisions. There is no reason to use an assault-type weapon in a mall, a superstore, or in Times Square; it would not allow you to do this. Also, it would not allow you to shoot an unarmed person of any race, gender, or stereotype for any reason. And please understand, this does not take place until the technology is ready to do this without fail. The perfection of the technology is more important than anything else, because a few failures will doom it to the graveyard of public opinion. Every single problem must be solved before the technology is implemented.
I admit that the technology is not here yet. But it could be here sooner than later if government leaders, technology companies, and the gun industry would prioritize it and forget politics.
Some of you may be thinking that this just can’t be done.
If that’s your argument against it, you’ve already lost. It means you haven’t been paying attention to the advancement of artificial intelligence and computer technology over the last few years.
But in order to get a buy-in from both liberals and conservatives, it CANNOT be implemented until the technology is really, really, really excellent; it must be better than good. The artificial intelligence has to be so accurate that it NEVER prohibits a sportsman from participating in a legal activity. It also has to be good enough to protect a kid that jumps out in front of it with a toy pistol. And it has to be smart enough to allow its use for legal self-defense without hesitating. It also has to be cheap enough to not burden would-be gun owners. And it has to be secure enough that it can’t be hacked or bypassed to prevent it from protecting innocent people.
There must also be a reasonable agreement as to who holds the keys to artificial intelligence weapons. Certainly, it can’t be the government. They’ve proven time and again they can’t be trusted. Most likely, it would be an independent board consisting of non-partisans who believe in the Second Amendment and the rights of individuals. Even better, when artificial intelligence reaches the level where it is smarter than humans, the artificial intelligence technology will control itself under the restrictions initially established that it must protect the innocent and that it must protect the rights of gun owners.
Yes, it’s a tall order with thousands of more things to be worked out, technologically, politically, and socially. But it can be done. After all, when many years ago we set our minds to going to the moon before the the end of the 1960s, we were successful. This may be a similarly complex task, but if we decide to do it, it will become a reality.
— Mr. Evil