Are You Ready for Pre-Crime?
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We love to watch big blockbuster movies and fantasize about becoming Iron Man in real life...but what if fantasy could truly become reality?
It may seem crazy to believe that a sci-fi movie like 'Minority Report' could go from fiction to actuality, but that's what is being proposed by Kent Kiehl, Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico. Though we may not have precognition to see a crime before it happens, Kiehl is asserting that by examining MRI scans of criminals completing impulsivity tests, we can predict which inmates will most likely become repeat offenders. However, the results do not account for all factors that can be attributed to criminal activity including drug/alcohol use, socioeconomic background, mental health, age, family history of incarceration and level of education.
At the end of the day, even if the science were to be considered accurate in predictability, there are still a myriad of ethical and legal issues to be considered before such an idea could ever be implemented in society.
Are you ready to have John Anderton arrest you before you commit a crime??