The “A black-and-white American flag with one blue stripe” was conceived with good intentions, but it seems to have become a controversial symbol that perpetuates a “us versus them” mentality between the police and citizens. The “thin blue line” was meant to “show support for law enforcement—no politics involved.” Now, some say “it feels akin to a Confederate flag.” The truth in its history? It was created to sell merchandise to support law enforcement non-profits. Read full article here
Societal Issues
AI Predicts Crime A Week In Advance With 90 Per Cent Accuracy
An artificial intelligence model built by Ishanu Chattopadhyay and his colleagues analysed crime data in Chicago from 2014 to 2016 and managed to predict future levels of crime down to the nearest 300 metres, a week before they actually happened. While extremely useful, this artificial intelligence has been shown to expose racial prejudice in law enforcement. Hopefully, as the study’s data and methodology have been made available for others to evaluate, these prejudices can be avoided in the next iteration. Read full article here
Merv
August 15, 2022
