The Justice Algorithm
Why do we need judges? Why do we leave important decisions to flawed, biased, distracted, even corruptible human beings? Couldn’t A.I. do this job so much better now? So much more cleanly, precisely – without all that messy, human subjectivity? Couldn’t we just submit the evidence to a great big algorithm to determine guilt or innocence? Or, if that involves too much ambiguity, at least to determine appropriate sentencing, taking all appropriate factors into consideration? Shouldn’t there be a single right answer that can be reached in each case? After all, we have, in most jurisdictions, a constitution that lays out our moral and societal values and guiding legal principles. Of course, these aren’t specific to any situation, so we also have a set of laws that dictate very clearly what’s allowed and what isn’t. Admittedly, we keep having to make new ones to keep up with a changing world, but they’re as comprehensive and up-to-date as our political systems allow. We know what...