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Robots Are Being Used To Shoo Away Homeless People In San Francisco (qz.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: San Francisco's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has been ordered by the city to stop using a robot to patrol the sidewalks outside its office, the San Francisco Business Times reported Dec. 8. The robot, produced by Silicon Valley startup Knightscope, was used to ensure that homeless people didn't set up camps outside of the nonprofit's office. It autonomously patrols a set area using a combination of Lidar and other sensors, and can alert security services of potentially criminal activity.
In a particularly dystopian move, it seems that the San Francisco SPCA adorned the robot it was renting with stickers of cute kittens and puppies, according to Business Insider, as it was used to shoo away the homeless from near its office. San Francisco recently voted to cut down on the number of robots that roam the streets of the city, which has seen an influx of small delivery robots in recent years. The city said it would issue the SPCA a fine of $1,000 per day for illegally operating on a public right-of-way if it continued to use the security robot outside its premises, the San Francisco Business Times said.
In a particularly dystopian move, it seems that the San Francisco SPCA adorned the robot it was renting with stickers of cute kittens and puppies, according to Business Insider, as it was used to shoo away the homeless from near its office. San Francisco recently voted to cut down on the number of robots that roam the streets of the city, which has seen an influx of small delivery robots in recent years. The city said it would issue the SPCA a fine of $1,000 per day for illegally operating on a public right-of-way if it continued to use the security robot outside its premises, the San Francisco Business Times said.
EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!
This is probably just the beginning.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
This seems cruel and unnecessary. Let's also consider that many veterans who have served our country in combat have trouble adjusting to civilian life. Many of them end up homeless, because we abandon them after they serve us fighting for our freedom. American troops are fighting against terrorists in places like Afghanistan and Iraq so we can be free. Shouldn't we thank our brave men and women by helping them adjust to life back in America rather than running them off with robots? Without the sacrifices by American soldiers for our freedom, we wouldn't have the luxuries we enjoy. We should be donating to help our veterans instead of the cruelty of chasing them away with robots.
I'm gonna flood the place with homeless robots to counter.
Table-ized A.I.
There's homeless hackers who need robot parts, too. Won't someone think of the homeless hackers?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Humans are also animals.
Mr. Robot, meet Mr. Baseball Bat!
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
and this seems very cruel
I find it remarkably hypocritical that the SPCA of all organizations is chasing homeless people away from their local headquarters. Don't they realize that people are animals too, and deserving of at least the same caring and consideration that they'd give to homeless cats or dogs? Do they think that horses and cattle are deserving of their attentions but homeless humans aren't?
Good, inexpensive web hosting
what about a $40 proximity light and $10 ebay security camera? What value does a "robot" even add if it's just going to call a security guard? This sounds beyond stupid, but I guess that is the state of "news" today.
Have your way with me mods, I've got karma to burn!
The homeless population in San Fran is a massive problem. I've had my car's window smashed three times over the course of four years for trivial crap i've left in my car. Seriously, they really think that my FM transmitter and 75 cents are worth something? And this is in Portrero FFS.
You consistently see these animals constantly shooting up, leaving needles everywhere, pissing in the street, and hassling you for money. They're a blight and the city's permissive attitude towards them only encourages more to show up.
It's time we stop wasting money on these animals when they OD with Naloxone. If they want to drug themselves to the point of death, let them. It's time we let Darwin do his work.
Zap them, beat them, lock them up and forcibly detox them from whatever drug they love, I don't care. It's high time vagrancy is treated the same way the homeless treat our communities, with reckless abandonment.
those 5 dollar tasers at dollar store are coming in great. Passing those out to homeless and told to short out any robot they see.
Apparently the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals doesn't think humans are animals.
... is whot bwings os tugevza tsuzay.
... seriously hilarious grey-hat hacker prank waiting to happen. I suspect bananapeels won't cut it, put I'm sure that plastic tarp, sailfishing string, graphite spray/powder, oil, spray-paint, craltops, remote controlled tilt-ramps, duct-tape, wall-to-wall carpeting tape, some other trinkets and perhaps even some more elaborate wireless/mobile connection hacking can produce balls of fun with this partolbot. Or some way to mislead it into a pit or curb with fake portable walls or something.
Don't tell me you weren't thinking about this yourselves the minute you read the story.
Bottom line:
Could some local hacker crew get to it and post an anonymous video on youtube about the results? I'd like something to laugh about.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I'm surprised no one went all-out, dousing the thing with a gallon of gasoline and lighting a match. Burn, baby, burn!
San Francisco recently voted to cut down on the number of robots that roam the streets of the city, which has seen an influx of small delivery robots in recent years. The city said it would issue the SPCA a fine of $1,000 per day for illegally operating on a public right-of-way if it continued to use the security robot outside its premises
Maybe the city should hire the homeless people to shoo away the robots, and issue tickets.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
I have seen this story in other venues, and am having trouble believing it's for real. The SPCA? Not a particularly wealthy organization or one that is so on the technological leading edge that they'd be using robots.
Bruce Perens.
Americans haven't been fighting for our freedom in decades if not longer.
American Hegemony? Sure.
Lucrative economic exploitation through military action? Yep!
Defending us from terrorists? Nope. Otherwise we would have started out peacekeeping mission in Saudi Arabia, followed closely with the execution of Osama bin Laden's family therein, and the dissolution of bin Laden construction.
Why hasn't any of this happened? Because the US only gets into wars after real or falsified military action against it (go and read the trigger for the Spanish-American war for instance), for economic hegemony, or as punitive action against countries which stand up to it.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't show common decency to veterans, or that more effort shouldn't be placed into supporting them after their return to civilian life (or better yet some veteran-only communities run like a military base with civilian paralleled jobs assigned to them, for those veterans who can't cope with actual civilian life.)
Remind the makers that the homeless have the power to start massive wildfires.
Large disheveled man looking for lottery tickets in the garbage...
They should be having the homeless care for pets, and then trying to adopt off successful pairings of homeless and animals to the yuppie assholes of San Francisco and the adjacent communities :)
If nothing else, they could vaccinate and spay or neuter homeless before adopting them out as well. :-)
How often do you see a commercial on TV to adopt a pet? Cue Sarah McLachlan...
Now, how often do you see commercials *anywhere* advertising that you should adopt a child?
...are animals too! But then an awful lot of dedicated 'animal lovers' have strong misanthropic tendencies.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
The vagrants in SF are like no other. They are a dangerous menace. Easily the most aggressive and violent I have seen and a physical danger to others. Only because the city coddles them to a ludicrous degree are they like this. Normal people are intruding on THEIR city.
The problem would be dramatically lessened if the city had a fucking clue about how to treat them. Being homeless is not a crime, but attacking people, stealing, shitting in the open, and vandalism are. The bums need some consequences for their behavior to nudge them down the right path--involuntary detox also.
Talk about great PR. I'm recommending these to my employer and curious if we can get residents to pitch in for renting some along some bike/walking trails in my town. Constant homeless problem, and all they can do is post 72-hour notices for them to vacate. If we can get a notice posted within hours of them moving a camp, perhaps we can stop the camping.
âoeWe werenâ(TM)t able to use the sidewalks at all when thereâ(TM)s needles and tents and bikes, so from a walking standpoint I find the robot much easier to navigate than an encampment,â Jennifer Scarlett, the S.F. SPCAâ(TM)s president, told the Business Times.
It's very strange that the SPCA of all organizations is acting like that rich tech bro a few years back who published a diatribe about how the homeless people on his building's street weren't being sufficiently controlled by the city.
My idea for fixing the problem is to re-open state mental hospitals. Almost all of the homeless problem is due to mental illness and drug addiction. Where I live, there are 5 massive, closed mental hospital complexes within 50 miles that housed thousands of patients each before the deinstitutionalization wave of the 70s and 80s. Why not reopen them as voluntary treatment centers again? Instead of beating and lobotomizing patients, give them the help they need to fix whatever problem is interfering with them having a normal existence.
They'll just switch to very large bug zappers . . .
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
and I can't think of one!
they could just install a few speakers outside and play a really annoying song over and over.
The artificial housing scarcity in CA and the libtards fueling it need to be hauled off and placed in a mental institution where they can't hurt anyone.
Nah, it's about poverty. If drug addiction lead to homelessness, Robert Downy Jr. and Lindsey Lohan would have moved into cardboard boxes decades ago.
The homeless ain't the ones paying for those sidewalks. WTF should they get more say than a paying customer (i.e., taxpayer)???
...for illegally operating on a public right-of-way...
If it's public property, how can you be illegally on it? I know you can take over/block public sidewalks (well, unless you are homeless, then SF and other liberal cities don't give a rip), but how is a roaming robot illegally on a public sidewalk?
I'm shocked - shocked I say! - that an organization devoted to the euthanasia of homeless animals showed something less than charitable Christian kindness to homeless people.
no further comment.
You do know that using words like 'libtards' invalidates your opinion from the start, right?
Then business as usual.
You think that they would use guard dogs. They must have plenty.
Is there a better way to promote their motto "We love animals. We hate humans."?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Cities in California give me this image of the residents having compassion for the less fortunate (and supporting higher taxes to try and execute that.) Then the residents go all NIMBY about undesirables they don't like in a public space.
Homeless, illegals, and H-1Bs. No normal American would consider moving there. The problem is mostly the invasion of illegals. Millions of illegals now infest CA. And it is a sanctuary state.
On one hand, I really like that the robots are discouraging crime and discouraging tent cities. There are shelters with food services available to the homeless. It is annoying to be constantly panhandled. In my city, the panhandlers are getting pretty brazen. Some are doing it to scam people. One guy actually had clean clothes on and a pair of more expensive sneakers than I had. It was so brazen that I called attention to it. He quickly beat feet.
On the other hand, I think this is just plain ugliness and hypocrisy. It's even sick adorning the robots with cute stickers. Why not help advocate solutions to the problem instead of simply sweeping it out of sight and out of mind? Especially from an organization dedicated to helping lives ... I fear for the days when the robots will actually fight.
I don't know if it's the case in SF, but I'm pretty sure other cities make businesses responsible for keeping the sidewalk in front of their building clean and free of loiterers. So, is the ASPCA responsible for keeping homeless people from camping out in front of their building? Because there could be a whole other layer of absurdity in play here.
So the homeless problem in SF and other liberal bastions are because society is fucked up? What about the hobos and bums? Do they share any responsibility at all or is it just society that is fucked up?
I am asking because I haven't ever met a person in my life who wants more homelessness and more misery for people. I am quite certain "society" wants to resolve this.
Give it a laser, problem solved.
Please note that this article is misleading and has been updated with the following edit:
Update (Dec. 13): This post has been updated to include comments from Knightscope.
“Contrary to sensationalized reports, Knightscope was not brought in to clear the area around the SF SPCA of homeless individuals. Knightscope was deployed, however, to serve and protect the SPCA,” A spokesperson for Knightscope told Quartz. “The SCPA has the right to protect its property, employees and visitors, and Knightscope is dedicated to helping them achieve this goal. The SPCA has reported fewer car break-ins and overall improved safety and quality of the surrounding area.”
Since the SFPD refuses do do anything about the squatters (literally) pooping on the sidewalks businesses are running out of options beyond relocating to areas where lawlessness is not encouraged. SF, you reap what you sow. Failed city-state.
It says something that the city's problem is "robots crowding the streets" and not the part of homeless people crowding the streets. I don't know what that is, but it says it.
then it would be america !
Then perhaps all those Republicans who are hellbent on outlawing abortion because it "kills a person" should enact laws
Perhaps the Democrats hellbent on enlawfulling abortion should enact laws to allow for not just robots, but robots to take the homeless people loitering and grind them into dog food. After all, it would just be a really late term abortion for a clump of cells no-one wants anymore to improve the lives of everyone around.
So I should put you down as a "Maybe" on the issue of Abortions into the 63rd Trimester?
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the ugliest piece of hardware I ever saw.
While I believe we can and should do "something" to help the homeless, and preferably something more systematic and organized than we currently do...
I've lived around homeless people. It's not fun, it's not noble, it's not soul-enhancing. Homeless people degrade everything around them. Tell me true, have you ever seen a homeless person put something into a garbage can? I'll bet you've seem lots of homeless people taking stuff out of the garbage can, but putting stuff into the garbage just isn't part of their scene.
The signature characteristic of the homeless lifestyle is degradation. If left to their own devices they'll degrade their environment to the level of their own dysfunction. The signature behavioural characteristic of the homeless lifestyle is chaos, dysfunction, disorder and dirt. It's a profoundly unhealthy way to live.
Yet if you simply ignore that, or pretend that we can "understand" the disorder away, you risk degrading your own life. And there's no "bottom" this can sink to either. For every low you might think exists, I'll bet a new low is right around the corner.
You cannot eliminate homelessness, or the homeless, without becoming a fascist society. As long as we have free will and individual choice, there will be homeless people. A fascist society is a worse problem.
Thus it is worthwhile trying to reduce homelessness. It is dangerous and naive to think we can eliminate homelessness. And given my experience, I don't really want to live near homeless people. A homeless person who is on the path to recovery, OK, I might be up for that. Those homeless have reached for the lifeline.
A person lost to their addictions, in the grip of mental illness, disruptive and aggressive, and certain they are "living free without The Man bringing them down"? Yeah, no, keep them away from me. I'm not your friend, I don't have a dollar for the bus, I cannot loan you a cigarette, and I don't want to hear about how the police (or your girlfriend, or drinking buddy, or the homeless person one row over) stole your pants. It's likely not true and you are doing nothing effective to solve the problem. Get into rehab, start living indoors at the shelter, take control of your life, get some work, start living life. At the moment you are little more than the walking dead. Investing in you is a waste of my time and money.
That sounds harsh and I suppose it is. But is giving you a single cup of coffee really fixing your problems? It might be a salve to my conscience but I'm not investing in you until I see someone actually making an effort. A cup of coffee! What the hell is that in the face of your yawning need for everything civilized?
Someone using words you don't like doesn't make their opinion or argument incorrect.
...is like the blindfolded members of a crowd each shouting their experience of the elephant all at once.
I have to laugh when SJWs and others pontificate ignorantly about "society ... failing" homeless people.
Cliche. Trite. Stupid.
I'm not as fast, or strong and smart as most.
Has society "failed" me by not providing for "equality" of genetics?
All you ignorant SJWs bitching about "equality" of outcome, how about I give you my PO Box (I have no street address because I'm poor and homeless) and you can STOP "failing" me by sending me some of YOUR money.
Or just shut the fuck up.
I've been poor and homeless for most of the past 18 years.
I've learned a thing or two about poor and homeless people.
For a majority? The overwhelming MAJORITY?
They will always be poor.
Society has NOTHING to do with it.
Are you that stupid?
The poor you shall have with you, always.
And, most of the "poor" you see, some holding signs asking for handouts?
Many (if not most) get "crazy pay."
That's what we call SSI and SSDI in the streets. An average of $970 or so per qualified individual.
To qualify you need little more than a diagnosis of "alcoholism" or heroin "addiction."
Look it up. Ignorant fucks.
Free methadone. In the morning.
[thank you tax payers]
Free taxi ride to get it and come back to their subsidized housing.
[thank you tax payers]
Heroin dealer comes to apartment (where I couch surfed for a while) and delivers to "poor" person who pays cash with YOUR fucking tax dollars.
Many just take their crazy pay and move to the streets.
CHOICE.
More money for 40 ouncers and and a fix.
All you "society has failed them" types?
Go choke yourselves.
-- "I'm not in a hurry; I'm in Hawaii." The Homeless Guy
What a ridiculous waste of money; but, by all means don't use that money to help people, because why. If I were homeless there and saw one of these, I'd beat that robot and co-opt it so it pulled my stuff around. F them.
Using robots is a bit different from hiring a tough bully with a truncheon which is the classic solution to a noticeable homeless population (Great Depression). When an area has only one area where the homeless won't be harassed or molested; there gets to be a bit of a name for it. i.e. Hooverville, Hobo Jungle, Public Camp. What is the name for it in your community?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/e/e0/20090312174935%21Hobo_Jungle.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States
NRRPT/RCT
it doesn't make it incorrect. but one can't take it serious nonetheless