The proposal is fitting for its time: by collecting personal data from various sources, suitable algorithms can make a “psychiatric diagnosis” – enough to identify potential mass killers… In the US, where there is a significant production of “mass killers”, apart from organized crime. The “suspects” will not be arrested preventively; but they will be prohibited from buying weapons through legal procedures… If they insist on killing? They will arm themselves from the black market…
It is not a marginal proposal. It is being discussed favorably at the highest levels of power in the US. The American president (with the support of several congressmen but also many reasonable reactions) is considering funding the initially “experimental” development of this idea; and to create the government agency that will do the work. This latter is called “Health Advanced Research Projects Agency” (HARPA). As for the proposal; It is called “Stopping Aberrant Fatal Events by Helping Overcome Mental Extremes” – “SAFE HOME”. (Americans are good at acronyms…)
According to the idea:
HARPA could develop innovative technologies with high specialization and sensitivity in the early diagnosis of neuropsychiatric violence. It will utilize real-time data analysis in order to achieve accurate diagnosis… Data will be collected from various devices and applications, including Apple watches, “fitness measurement” applications, Amazon’s echo and Google home…
The criticism and disputes focus on the connection between “mental illness” and mass killers. Correct. In most cases, such killers in the US are not “mentally disturbed” but white racists… Correct.
Some (fewer) focused on whether it is actually technologically feasible to predict behaviors. On this issue, the answer should be known: it suffices for the entirety of daily life to be voluntarily datified for everyone to behave in a “predictable” manner. Because if daily life is voluntarily mediated by digital machines, if it becomes “recordable” and “measurable,” it appears so eager to be normalized that “predictability” indeed becomes feasible.
Although the correlation, via big data, of “records of mental dysfunction” (as will be defined and algorithmized each time…) and “mass murders” is (at best) opportunistic, what lies behind it is of strategic importance. The designers of HARPA themselves recommend:
… The HARPA model is the “advanced research projects agency” – DARPA, the gold standard in innovation and accountability. DARPA makes critical investments in innovative technologies for national security. It developed the internet, voice recognition technology, the GPS geolocation system, night vision, robotic prosthetic limbs, stealth technology. DARPA’s success proves that it is an effective government model for translating technology into practical outcomes. There is currently no equivalent vehicle for health on behalf of the government…
DARPA, apart from being a “successful model of a state-funded research center,” is a key technological arm of American militarism. It is not funded to investigate what private companies would explore aiming for market success and profitability. It is funded to improve and upgrade American weaponry across all fields.
HARPA, as the “health control arm” of citizens, is, in effect, a warfare tool on behalf of the American state—both domestically and internationally. This is because “security provision” and “health protection” are the most privileged sectors for both states and private enterprises to legitimize forms of social credit systems within Western societies.
The correlation between mass murders and mental dysfunctions may be an easily contested argument for the state (the American one, in particular) to begin collecting and processing the personal data of its citizens. Strong objections may arise against such an endeavor. However, if it were a matter of a deadly epidemic threat, societal attitudes would likely be far more favorable toward a health surveillance and hygienic behavioral oversight system. And in that case, naturally, it would not be the state funding its own HARPA, but those who had neglected to create such a service for their own benefit…
From this perspective, the creation of HARPA is much more “timely” than its initial justification…
Ziggy Stardust
part of the tribute: surveillance and discipline in the 4th industrial revolution
cyborg #16 – 10/2019