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FiftyTwo comments on Open Thread, December 16-31, 2012 - Less Wrong
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Comments (159)
Quick thought experiment for you all: A machine has been invented that can view the past (type in place/time/date and you can see what happened then with perfect accuracy). Would you allow the police to use it to investigate crimes?
The easiest answer, the one that leapt to my mind with a moment's thought, is "Yes, if they get a warrant."
That would probably be the answer that fits best into the current American legal system. (I have even less understanding of the laws of other countries, so I can't make any claim about that.)
If I have the power to allow or disallow such a thing, do I also have the power to arrange enforcement of rules saying that's all the police can do with it?
I think police investigation would be a very minor concern compared to the massive social upheaval that the device would cause. A very similar idea was explored in The Light of Other Days - not a great book plot-wise, though.
I read the original short story in one of the Asimov collections but didn't realise it had been made into a full length novel.
The classic short story E for Effort also discusses this.
What's the time limit? Can you just view what's happening 5 seconds ago anywhere in the world?
Yes, why not?
Yes.
Do we allow independent historians to use the device? What happens to conventional accounts of WWII, etc?
Yes, modulo the Fourth Amendment rights of the participants. Under most circumstances, using the evidence of the machine in court would require obtaining a warrant in advance of turning it on.
Are we to assume it has the many, many safeguards needed to prevent it being used for other purposes?