Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The First 100% Robot Judge and A Few Cases of Self-Racism

By Scott Adams

If you have been watching CNN, you know Anderson Cooper has been reporting about the discovery that a sitting judge is actually a robot. His name is Gonzalo Curiel and he is presiding over the Trump University case.

Curiel looks human on the outside, and he has passed as human for decades. But Cooper made it clear in his interviews yesterday that while science understands that 100% of humans are biased about just about everything, this robot judge is not susceptible to being influenced by his life experiences. It sounds deeply implausible, but no one on CNN challenged Cooper’s implication that Judge Curiel is the only bias-free entity in the universe. Ergo, he must be a robot.

Anyway, lots of folks on Twitter are asking me why Trump would accuse the robot judge of being “Mexican” when that is obviously a racist thing to say. Did Trump make a huge mistake, or is it some sort of clever persuasion thing?

Let’s dig into that.

For starters, it isn’t appropriate to label people – or robots – “Mexicans” if those people or robots are created in America. For example, I have an American friend with Italian heritage who often refers to herself as “Italian,” and obviously that is a case of self-racism. I find it offensive.

Read the rest here.

3 comments:

  1. ─ [...]Cooper made it clear in his interviews yesterday [...] this robot judge is not susceptible to being influenced by his life experiences. ─

    I love it when people twist their brains into a pretzel in order to defend idiotic statements made by El Trumpo. Why don't they concede that the guy is a thin-skinned sore loser and that the judge's heritage has nothing to do with his rulings? Does my heritage make me unsuitable to run databases? Would my 'biases' affect the numbers I turn out for my employer? Or am I not a person with the RATIONAL SELF-INTEREST to be as objective as possible in order to build a good reputation that helps me remain in my job?

    Because in ALL OF THIS, what has been missing from the discussion is the fact that people are self-interested, that this self-interest would compel them to be more rational and not less, yet somehow this stops being true when someone dares - dares, I tell you! - rule against El Trumpo's interests. Is the judge tragically incapable of making a rational decision not precluded by his heritage? Because unless El Trumpo's supporters and Scott Adams can READ MINDS, they have NO evidence that the judge's heritage is COMPELLING HIM to rule against El Trumpo.

    ─ For starters, it isn't appropriate to label people – or robots – 'Mexicans' if those people or robots are created in America. ─

    People are not created. They are born. And by saying a person is 'Mexican', the implication is that his or her sympathies lie somewhere else for that reason, invariably. That means, Scott, that you're arguing for heritage-based DETERMINISM.

    I find that offensive. Am I being too 'sensitive'?

    ─ It sounds deeply implausible, but no one on CNN challenged Cooper’s implication that Judge Curiel is the only bias-free entity in the universe. Ergo, he must be a robot. ─

    No, Scott. It means his RATIONAL SELF-INTEREST would compel him or her to build a reputation for being fair and principled rather than biased, despite political leanings, hangups, failings, fetishes, what have you. Unless the guy has a personal problem with profiting from his reputation, which would mean that he's insane. Or that he's a robot.

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  2. I have downloaded the entire docket report for the TU case in San Diego with links to every paper, order and opinion filed in the case. If the claims about getting folks to call and raise their credit limits in order to buy more “training” for $35,000 are true, I think that TU is a scam. Whatever it is, there is certainly enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

    What ruling is Trump whining about? I saw an opinion granting in part and denying in part a defense motion to dismiss. The judge dismissed the more exotic claims and kept in the “normal” fraud claims. The judge ruled on 5/31 to release to the public the TU “scripts” used by the salespeople. Big deal.

    I have yet to read a single article by anyone who has analyzed this judge’s rulings. Where’s the wacky ruling made because the judge is a Mexican? Does Trump carry on like this EVERY TIME he is challenged? Perhaps we should support his run for the presidency because he will be seen by everyone as a toothless buffoon thereby weakening the current religious faith in the magic of government solutions.

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  3. This is one of the dumbest articles I have read on this otherwise great blog. I don't think anyone is trying to make the claim that the judge in question is free from bias. All people are biased. What people such as Anderson Cooper are saying is that there is no evidence that the judge is ethnically biased based on his ethnicity. To make the claim that all people are naturally biased towards their ethnicity, as proud trumpkin Scott Adams does, is to justify all forms of affirmative action and complaints about white privilege. If white people just cannot help themselves and be naturally prejudiced against other races or ethnicities, then reasonable people will agree that surely some form of government intervention is justified to protect minority rights. If, on the other hand, you believe people are individuals, as a proper libertarian should, then you will judge each person's actions on their own merits. Sadly, that kind of individualistic analysis is quickly disappearing in right-libertarian circles.

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