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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.
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.'"
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?
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Irony... A ticket and fine for the robot in a public area, nothing for the homeless loitering and interfering with businesses.
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.
My dad was veteran who fought the Nazis. He lead a very successful life. Both my parents were veterans of WWII and Korea. They weren't drunks or drug addicts, and both worked hard all there life.
Today's veterans have a couple choices: 1) suck it up, and act line a man, 2) become a homeless drug addict, or 3) go on a shooting rampage, mowing down as many strangers as possible.
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.
You're making it sound like the homeless are all veterans. Sure there are homeless veterans, but let's not try to explain homelessness as a veteran problem. The thing is, this 'veterans have trouble adjusting' schtick is a recent thing. We had millions of men in uniform for WW II and many of them saw really bad stuff. A few came back with what was termed "shell shock" (I knew 2 of them) but millions adjusted just fine. Now that PTSD is a 'thing' suddenly we have thousands and thousands of veterans thus affected. What's up with that? Is the current generation of veterans just so very sensitive that they can't hack what their grandfathers could? Do you think the horrors of war are worse now than they were then? Or are we encouraging people to self-identify as 'affected'? Seems to me calling out veterans is misguided and not the point. And I'm a veteran myself.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
Self-esteem issues, undiagnosed psych or even physical issues making work difficult? It's not as simple as "they want to bum around."
You're thinking of WWI. When we entered WWII nearly all of Europe was still in Nazi hands, as was North Africa. And we had been supplying the allies with weapons and machinery before that. The Japanese controlled nearly all of the Pacific west of Hawaii. The U.S was in the war for part of 1941, all of 1942, 1943, 1944, and part of 1945. At the end of the war we had 16 million men in uniform. So, no, it wasn't "basically" over when we got in.
Maybe, just maybe people are being diagnosed with a mental illness when previously the prevailing attitude was 'suck it up;. Previous veterans had to get on with their lives with their own resources, plenty of WW2 veterans topped themselves. Remember back in WW1 shell shock was initially attributed to LMF (lack of moral fibre). Attitudes have changed since then.
New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
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.
People coming home from WWII got ticket tape parades and a booming economy. In an era where a high school diploma could net you a decent job, they had advanced training on top of that. As a society, it was understood that the women pressed into the work force by necessity would be vacating those jobs en-masse as soon as the troops came home. Even manual laborers made enough for a single income to modestly support a married couple.
Does any of that ring true for Vietnam?
Gulf veterans get respect, but no booming economy, no jobs being vacated, and everyone thinks you need a degree to pump gas (I'm only slightly exaggerating on the last one).
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.
Among extensive debates with a young-ish Japanese Senpai about WWII, we last concluded that even though I did not know a single person that suffers serious injury (mental and physical) that's supposed to have been ravaged by Japanese Army, sample of our experiences are inaccurate, as broken people are not likely to get married, reproduce, and generally savagely maimed victims don't survive for 4 decades for me to meet in my 1980s childhood. (He acknowledged that he himself had an uncle that was broken after returning from WII, and only faintly remembered said uncle as a NEET that was propped up by rich family, drink himself silly and do nothing but laze around in his home and lived just a little past 60 years.)
And that also sums up most people's experiences with their WWII veteran Dad and Granddad - people that's well adjusted enough to go back to live a happy/productive life or at least raise a family of course are not a fair sample to gauge PTSD. I don't know much about homeless vet situation in 1950s, but real broken ones probably landed up in a mental institution by 1950 or succumb to alchoholism and most probably die childless at their 50s/ 60s.
Talk to WWII veteran that still maintained vitality to talk about his experience at 93, Year 2017? Of course youngsters will have an impression that every single one of them WWII is tough as rock.
I would include more, but most of the references are from authors that I am sure you would immediately reject.
Indeed, because it would take a historical revisionist to suggest that there was something particularly "leftist" about support for eugenics when it found support widely across the political spectrum.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel