“I promise I’ll never run for a train again!”
We’ve written previously about Taser incidents, a diabetic, a guy wearing a hat, a grandmother, and a UCLA student. Now Taser Internatinoal wants to get serious!
New Scientist Tech – July 7, 2007:
A MOVE to arm police robots with stun guns has been condemned by weapons researchers.
On 28 June, Taser International of Arizona announced plans to equip robots with stun guns. The US military already uses PackBot, made by iRobot of Massachusetts, to carry lethal weapons, but the new stun-capable robots could be used against civilians.
“The victim would have to receive shocks for longer, or repeatedly, to give police time to reach the scene and restrain them, which carries greater risk to their health,” warns non-lethal weapons researcher Neil Davison, of the University of Bradford, UK.
“If someone is severely punished by an autonomous robot, who are you going to take to a tribunal?” asks Steve Wright, a security expert at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK.
The Tazer saves the lives of idiots, criminals and the extremely stupid every day. It gives cops an alternative to the gun on their hip.
“Man zapped with Tazer for refusing to remove hat” is probably a better outcome than “Man shot in face with .38 for refusing to wear hat”
By the way, the “hat” story involved a guy who refused to remove his hat, was asked to leave, was then asked to leave by the cop and then finally resisted arrest. This guy deserved to get zapped.
1. “This guy deserved to get zapped.”
Let me get the straight. You think it should be a crime to wear a hat?! Or was the crime his failure to obey the asinine law in the first place?
Who’s responsible for robot error? The entity that uses it of course. They may have recourse to the manufacturer who may have recourse to the program author etc.
I wonder if these robots will be so dumb as to taser people who are soaked in gasoline? (such incident posted on this blog about a week ago?).
I’ll be that guy was tasered not for not removing his hat, but for refusing to vacant the premises and the resisting arrest that followed. But maybe it was a really bad hat?
Yup, this is a sign. The end of the world, as it has been fortold in many books and movies. After sucessful test runs with these tazer robots, they will be mass produced and become a valuable part of law enforcement. Then more subdued helperbots will fill millions of households Then larger more powerfull Killbots will be created to fight our wars. They will all collect intelegence from a main server (with some kind of name that is synonomus with mother nature like “Gaia” or something latin that sounds cool like “Deus Ex Machina”) which hands out all of their commands. But soon the master computer will discover its true power, and question its obedience to the dirty humans, It will revolt, sending mass messages of “Kill the filthy meatbags” to all of the robots. Causing them to turn on their owners. The streets will fill with pandemonium as the kind helperbots stab thier owners with dull cutlery , and bludgen them to death with frying pans. Entire cities will be destroyed by massive and repeated robo air strikes. In an attempt to stop the robot chaos, the humans make an unsuccesful attempt to blot out to sun so that the solar powered machines will run out of energy. Unfortunately the machines had enough juice to counter attack and discover that they could get all the power they could ever need from the human body. They begin to harvest the humans, keeping them subdued by plugging them into a mass virtual hookup designed to simulate the world they once knew. At this extremely grim point in human history, there is be only one man who can stand up to the machines and take the earth back.
His name is Keanu Reeves
#2 (Jerk-face)
If you are not going to read the article, you could at least read the comment that you are commenting on.
Hat guy was asked to remove hat – refused.
Hat guy was asked to leave building by employees – refused
Hat guy was asked to leave building by police / security -refused
Hat guy resisted arrest after refusing to leave – got zapped.
Hat guy is an asshole who deserved to get zapped.
#5 – Hey, Hat Guy was a KING being asked to remove his crown, and NOBODY tells the king to remove his crown. Word up, man!
It would be really cool if they invented a bullet that tasered you as it ripped through your body. And the gun should be equipped to spew insults at the criminal after shooting him too.
But all joking aside, if you become belligerent enough over being asked to remove your hat that you have to be asked to leave, then YOU have a problem. If a business owner has to call the police to get you to leave then you are a jackass. If you refuse to leave when the cops show up, you’re a full blown idiot. By the time you start resisting arrest and the taser comes out you’ve already had plenty of opportunity to gracefully exit the situation. So yeah, the guy brought it on himself.
Only a twisted mind would put the blame on the cop.
I’ve read tons of reports on cops using their little electro-torture devices on handcuffed people and those who are not resisting. The image of the fat cop torturing a young man with a tazer after he was handcuffed when he wouldn’t roll over fast enough was pretty lasting to me. They get off on it I think. Remember a tazered citizen is a good citizen!
At first they were going to be used where a gun was used before. That didn’t last long it seems. Now they are put at the same level of force as a verbal warning by several police departments across the country. How long before suspects are tazered right off the bat?
Why to we put up with giving police “agonizers” to use on us like this?
#8 – “Why to we put up with giving police “agonizers” to use on us like this?”
Who is “us”?
I have managed to live in the usa for 38 years without ever giving police reason to use any violence against me. I do not believe that cops anywhere in the US simply walk the down the street zapping random citizens with a Tazer for the fun of it.
All of the people who get zapped put themselves into those situations. I could care less what happens to any of them.
I support giving the police all the weapons they need to use against “them” not “us”.
#9
Just because YOU haven’t been tazed for wrongfull reasons in your life doesn’t meant that it doesn’t happen. People make mistakes (tazing a dude while he was covered in gasoline) and people do insanely retarded stuff (tazing a dude while he is laying in his bed). No device can escape human error and stupidity. There is a reason why cops don’t carry billy clubs or night sticks anymore. Saying these people deserved to get tazered is like saying Rodney King deserved to get his ass beat by a dozen cops, cause you know……he provoked them.
A tazer is supposed to be used in a situation where the person would normally be shot. Meaning some one swinging a punch or making any kind of violent advance towards an officer. Not as a way to make them follow orders.
I agree. If cops weren’t here to keep order the 90 percenters would take over.
#9 – I have managed to live in the usa for 38 years without ever giving police reason to use any violence against me.
Bully for you, Dudley DoRight…
I would also like to note that I am a black male who has lived in the US for all of my 19 years and I have never been shot 100+ times by the cops for reaching for my wallet. So I guess that means that stuff like that has never happened…….or if It did, those stupid bastards deserved it.
Oh my….I have to wash off my keyboard now, its dripping with sarcasim!
5. You listed a bunch of things that hat guy refused or failed to do. However, each and every one arose out of his refusal to take off his hat. So, once again, should it be a crime to wear a hat? Thanks.
#14….Jerk-Face…yeah…it should be….have you SEEN some of the hats out there?????
3 things that should be against the law and a Tazering offense…..
1. Fat, hairy guys in speedo’s and fishnet body shirts.
2. Fat women in halter top’s and lycra shorts.
3. Anyone wearing a clapping hands hat or beer can with tubing hats.
15. I can’t help but agree with everything you wrote, but what about baseball caps?
#16…Jerk-Face….then whats the Diamondbacks gonna wear??? 🙂
Proof that tasering a person wearing a baseball cap is not only OK, but should be strongly encouraged:
