PC "predicts" crime, Philip K Dick rolls over in grave
By Ryan Block 
posted August 4th 2005 3:40PM
posted August 4th 2005 3:40PM
Some things to remember about the police crime analysis system that predicted with, eh, some accuracy the time and place of a robbery in Yonkers, New York, which resulted in an arrest of two suspects. First is that the computer predicted the crime would happen on South Broadway, a very major thoroughfare in Yonkers. Second, the computer predicted the crime would occur in a window of four hours. So yeah, we'd probably agree that chances are between sundown and midnight someone's gonna get robbed on a big street in New York—ah, the miracle of modern computing.
hah, great pic
Sounds like an application of asimov physco-history in action.
Um, my PC has predicted that on my drive home tonight I will encounter approximately 10 people illegally jaywalking in front of me.
Lame.
Dang, yo. I gots to peep that off Bittorrent and predict me some crimes on my Presario!
Two Words:
Minority Report
There is a tv series called numbers where the math whiz brother helps his fbi agent brother predict crime & bust bad guys. But he only uses a chalkboard & high level math. Using a computer is cheating.
We all predicted that someone would say "Minority Report".
yeah, the only crappy part about the internet is that nobody can hit him
Way to go #5.
Now I'm wondering which was it, the title or the picture, that helped you come to the conclusion that they were referencing Minority Report?
Three cheers for captain obvious.
I predict that he will read your response sometime this month.
my computer has predicted that a copyright crime will be perpetrated at my house in 2 minutes and 16 seconds
#5: Elaborate please. What is this "Minority Report" of which you speak?
I love you guys.
Hear hear for good comments.
Well, it's not exactly the same as a big street in NYC. Yonkers is north of the city and though South Broadway is pretty big, I don't think it averages 2-3 robberies a night. Maybe I'm just an optimist, though.
The question that'll really get your goat is, if the PC hadn't said anything, would the robbery still have happened?
Pete, in that part of Yonkers, any cop who watches any given spot long enough is pretty likely to see SOMETHING go down. It's actually a fun field trip to park around Getty Square around 11 PM and watch the mayhem.
it's nice to know that someone took the time to develop a fabulously expensive fortune cookie...
wow - my hamster can predict a crime will occur in New York, and she's only got one eye. I've got a graphing calculator here that says an old person in Florida is near death.
I have to say that unlikely as it is that this thing will be of any use in the future, i would still like to know who programmed the thing. All they could program is data from previous crimes to which, say for example a bank, would already have their own sercurity measures to guard against. So it cant predict any crimes using new technology/tactics and that makes it totally useless... am i wrong?
Apparently the future will still hace short-sighted IT and Security, as the wife was able to get into the Chill-A-Crook using Anderton's Eyeball-In-A-Baggie... without a couple planes full of shocktroops dropping in on her.
The question is, Is statistics, statistically possible? The answer may take you to the origins of pie.
They can't do that! It's geographical profiling! Now South Broadway will get hassled by the cops just for being South Broadway.
Sorry, that is the best I can do, #11 is my favorite.
I saw a special about this on CBS2 News. It has taken a couple years to develop, and counts on the cops entering every robbery,assult, or attempted robbery. It then compiles graphs that (in this case) stated that crimes in this aeria happen often on Wensday 21:00-1:00, so they put cops there. I cant say how smart the software really is, but it could be done without any computer, and I feel that calling a "precrime detection software" is just not true
P.S: the origin of pi and pie are quite diffrent.
I saw a special about this on CBS2 News. It has taken a couple years to develop, and counts on the cops entering every robbery,assult, or attempted robbery. It then compiles graphs that (in this case) stated that crimes in this aeria happen often on Wensday 21:00-1:00, so they put cops there. I cant say how smart the software really is, but it could be done without any computer, and I feel that calling a "precrime detection software" is just not true
P.S: the origin of pi and pie are quite diffrent.
#5:
your post was four words
#22:
mmmm... pie....
Origin of pie:
Caveman got tired of eating all meat. So he made pie for a tasty change.
Caveman really liked pie. He ate it every day coming home after hunting all day.
Cavewoman recognized this pattern and used it to predict Caveman's needs. She started to make pie every day to be ready for Caveman when he got home.
So there you have it, kiddies. The origins of pie and pre-crime.
(Crappiest comment ever, I know.)
(Crappiest comment ever, I know.)
nahhh
pi/4 = 1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9 -.......