Crime and punishment in a post-singularity society

Submitted by [deleted] t3_116zvnl in singularity

One of the strangest aspects of a post-singularity society that has mastered AI and brain interfaces is that punishment as we know it, at least for baseline humans probably won't exist. Not that it will be necessary anyways as simply physically stopping crime from happening will just be easier (at least in well-developed polities.)

Some might consider this dystopian, but installing certain mental augments and modifications may be mandatory for citizenship in specific areas or for access to specific facilities. Individuals who are not using the required mods may be flagged for everyone to see or even physically banned from specific locations. I could especially see this being a thing in more authoritarian cultures. There will likely be drones and surveillance everywhere and the majority of attempts at crime will probably be foiled before anyone is harmed. If an individual is not comfortable with this, they will likely have the opportunity of moving elsewhere so this will not be as dystopian as you might imagine. Many people may not care either way as the privileges they get from following the rules will be so great anyways.

In the rare case that baselines do commit crimes or make continued attempts to do so they will likely be detained or have their privileges taken away until they accept psychology rewrites to prevent that behavior in the future. Again even this detainment may not be so bad as they might be allowed to live in a pleasant virtual world or a luxury facility by our current standards.

As for dangerous posthumans and AI's, I think societies will spare no expense in completely eradicating them if they get out of line. This is one of the reasons space colonization will be so important. I could see laws that prohibit people who have used illegal and extreme modifications from so much as entering within one AU of polities containing baseline humans. For example, if a sect of hyper-enhanced uploads were to begin trespassing into forbidden orbital trajectories their cognition nodes may be targeted with a swarm of nukes. There is a huge difference between a human misbehaving and a superintelligence committing acts of terrorism.

Overall I think people will actually have a lot of freedom of lifestyle and plenty of incredible opportunities but rules will still exist and you may physically not even have the capability to break them. People probably won't want to commit crimes anyways as most desires will probably be fulfillable through legal means.

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jojomomobobococo t1_j99jhwh wrote

Interesting post. I hope we get a string of these "(noun) in a post-singularity society" posts.

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turnip_burrito t1_j99kini wrote

IMO the ideal would be that to be part of a society in the first place, the person must consent, and if they no longer consent, they can immediately leave and find a different one. This means that if they receive one of those "psychology rewrites" you mentioned, it's only because they consented to the rules of the society enforcing that in the first place, prior to punitive action. Whatever society they choose can have whatever form of punishment or rehabilitation they actually want, and it will be ethical because they chose to live in that society.

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Emotional-Dust-1367 t1_j99ksln wrote

I wrote a short story once about a futuristic society where they’ve solved aging. Everyone lives forever and is young forever.

In the story a character commits a crime and kills another person. There is no longer life in jail as that would mean infinity and is considered cruel. So the solution there is to deny him access to anti-aging treatments and simply let him age and die “naturally”

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xott t1_j99pv9h wrote

It's probably that a post-singularity society will also be a post-scarcity society where poverty won't cause crime as it does today.

Crime prevention needs would be a lot lower.

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SmoothPlastic9 t1_j9a09w0 wrote

The easiest way is to just modified your brain and make everyone act the same and think in the same way

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isthiswhereiputmy t1_j9a9yeg wrote

I can imagine there would still be forms of discipline. There might be special privilege put on meeting what is personally desired. It does beg the question what the motivation for crime might be in a situation where people already have ultimate freedom.

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Iffykindofguy t1_j9anqbs wrote

Crime is caused by unchecked mental illness/trauma and desperation. If the AI can manage those, it can manage crime

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TheDavidMichaels t1_j9ayv38 wrote

Looks like the commies are still kicking in the AI world. Everyone seems to enjoy fantasizing about their impending enslavement by their AI overlords. In the United States, I don't see top generals and military personnel easily embracing AI interfaces on their bases anytime soon. Moreover, we seem to be entering a global downturn that may resemble a new dark age. The global economy is in shambles, and globalization and all its investments are on the verge of ending. Technological development requires massive amounts of investment, which is likely to suffer an 80-95% reduction in global investment. The era of free money is over, and it will take a decade or more to return. The problem is that a lot of misinformed people with no understanding of the geopolitical situation keep making incredible statements and assumptions that are remarkably naive. No one in their right mind wants to be a pet to an AI, and why would a super intelligent being bother keeping biological parasites alive? It wouldn't, and the idea that you can create an AI that won't instantly delete you if it's smarter than you is simply stupid.

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xott t1_j9bbqz8 wrote

Replying to arckeid (#1,882,322)

Maybe "crimes of passion" could still be attempted.

Although you could view these as "crimes of emotional dysfunction"and be very hopeful that interaction with a post-singularity AI would help identify/cure these before they happen.

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Frumpagumpus t1_j9bhttf wrote

inb4 this guy reads manna.

i think most intelligences will be virtual and humans that don't end up uploading themselves will be amish (or equivalent culture) and live on what is essentially equivalent to a modern day indian territory or historical re enactment farm.

you wont have to go anywhere to get your brain re wrote if you broke the rules.

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