The title of the paper published 21 September October 2022 is ominous:

Selective neutralisation and deterring of cockroaches with laser automated by machine vision

The abstract is even more chilling

…we present a laser system automated by machine vision for neutralising and influencing the behaviour of insect pests. By performing experiments on domiciliary cockroaches, Blattella germanica, we demonstrate that our approach enables the immediate and selective neutralisation of individual insects at a distance up to 1.2 m. We further show the possibility to deter cockroaches by training them not to hide under a dark shelter through aversive heat conditioning with a low power-laser. Parameters of our prototype system can readily be tuned for applications in various situations and on different pest species like mosquitoes, locusts, and caterpillars.

Targets can be trained to not hide, so they come into field of view for “neutralisation”, and applications may include a wide variety of “species”.

The authors explain the risks they considered, but seem rather… superficial.

…we envisioned major health and safety risks that could be triggered by the use of high laser power, such as eye damage and fire ignition, which prevented the large-scale expansion of our prototype.

When I think of major risks, the first thing that comes to mind is incorrect targeting, like killing the wrong target as opposed to just injuring property or witnesses nearby. I mean data integrity should be top of every machine learning risk list, no? Very disappointed to find it missing here.

Unlike riding around in cages behind darkened glass to scan identities from afar, or sitting in a room of billion dollar blinking lights ready to zoom in like it’s 1968 again, police walking around street level engaging with community seem to bring a profound reduction of crime.

Back in 2016 the data suggested it took only 20 minutes.

Bobbies on the beat really do prevent serious crime and police could cut thousands of assaults each year simply by sending officers to problem areas for just 21 minutes a day, a Cambridge University study suggests…

The latest data shows even 15 minutes could be enough to impact crime levels.

Just 15 minutes of police patrols can reduce levels of violent crime by more than 70%, according to a new study.

The Youth Endowment Fund analysis of an Essex Police pilot in Southend-on-Sea in summer 2020 found that violent crime fell by 74% on days when patrols took place.

Other patrol schemes have got similar results. Operation Rowan in Bedfordshire “involved patrols of 15 minutes each day in 30 hotspot areas where a third of the county’s serious violent crime was taking place”, said The Times’ crime editor Fiona Hamilton.The patrols were credited for a 38% reduction in violence and robbery.

West Midlands police reported a 14% drop in street crimes and antisocial behaviour following patrols in Birmingham.

While forces nationwide are spending more money on “the latest artificial intelligence to predict crime patterns”, the findings “underline the effectiveness of old-fashioned policing”, wrote Hamilton.

“Bobbies on beat” seems like what Robert Peel intended in 1829 when he came up with the idea of modern city police, as the original Bobbie.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about San Francisco police, it’s that you NEVER see them just out and about for a walk, like grabbing a sandwich or cup of coffee to be part of community. Go ahead and try to find a police officer in public in San Francisco. You’re far more likely to see crimes taking place in broad daylight with no response.

Facebook is being exposed yet again for its relentless and sinister plans to destroy privacy, this time from pushing unsafe visions of virtual reality (VR).

Stark said the outcome was predictable. And he suspects that the default “off” setting for face tracking won’t last long. “It’s been clear for some years that animated avatars are acting as privacy loss leaders,” he said. “This data is far more granular and far more personal than an image of a face in the photograph.”

Facebook’s vision of the future sounds more and more like they’re trying to recreate ornate slave chains and collars of the past for a new police state.

Do you recognize the dangerous harm intended by them when you look at their “Quest” technology?

Meta Quest is a “dog collar” of Metaverse.

Perhaps The Atlantic, a vanguard publication of abolition, put it best:

Stripped of their gloss, these devices are similar to the ankle monitors and surveillance apps such as SmartLINK that are forced on people on parole or immigrants awaiting hearings. As the author and activist James Kilgore writes, “The ankle monitor—which for almost two decades was simply an analog device that informed authorities if the wearer was at home—has now grown into a sophisticated surveillance tool via the use of GPS capacity, biometric measurements, cameras, and audio recording.”