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"The primary attraction [of writing sf] is the sheer pleasure of creating something from whole cloth."
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People suspected of acts of terror may still disappear into a legal state of limbo, but at least they get a vigorous personal legal representative.
Eventually, Max calls a halt to the questioning:
In an interview with Technovelgy.com, Greg Bear had this to say about Max Detention:
Greg Bear: [Laughs] "A little bit of satire there. Following what's happened with habeus corpus and so on, I think we are going to look at a period of time when the Federal detention systems could get a little bit gnarly. It's certainly bad in Gitmo, but what if it were to extend to local jurisdictions, which has been requested. This is what they would like to do. Is it a good thing? Perhaps not. So I do satirize it a little bit. Although I do think this computer 'Max Headroom' is perhaps better than some public defenders. And maybe more reliable."
T: This may be a personal question, but are you opposed to the idea of Gitmo-style detention centers where people just disappear for years?
GB: "In terms of public relations alone, it's a disaster. It removes our high profile as a moral nation. It's reprehensible, it's not effective, I don't see anything coming out of it, it's bad planning and the fact is that the Geneva convention was signed by many, many countries for the basic reason that it helps protect your [own] troops.
Violations of the Geneva convention during WWII were vigorously prosecuted. Now we stand aside and say that we do not need to be a part of the international community? I can't see where that makes any sense.
There's this "24 hour" scenario where the guy knows where the nuclear weapon is and you have to torture him to get the information out of him. As the British will tell you, and the people who are tortured will tell you, that's not very effective. People will say anything, and how will you judge that information? When you torture someone and they've given you information, you have no way of judging its veracity. You may have people who've been trained to give you the same story.
You can't trust [these prisons] to be self-accountable, you can't believe the information, you can't trust your government and if you can't trust your government you can't trust law enforcement."
(Read the rest of Greg Bear's interview on Quantico.)
Also, check out these stories about the real-life software lawyer programs already in use and development. See AI Software 'Robot' Lawyers Next Year and 'Expert System' Found Practicing Law Without License. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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