Could Technology Create Modern-Day 'Leper Colonies'? 452
theodp writes "Back in the day, leprosy patients were stigmatized and shunned, quarantined from society in Leper Colonies. Those days may be long gone, but are our mapping, GPS, and social media technologies in effect helping to create modern-day 'Leper Colonies'? The recently-shuttered GhettoTracker.com (born again as Good Part of Town) generated cries of racism by inviting users to rate neighborhoods based on 'which parts of town are safe and which ones are ghetto, or unsafe'. Calling enough already with the avoid-the-ghetto apps, The Atlantic Cities' Emily Badger writes, "this idea toes a touchy line between a utilitarian application of open data and a sly wink toward people who just want to steer clear of 'those kinds of neighborhoods.'" The USPTO has already awarded avoid-crime-ridden-neighborhoods-like-the-plague patents to tech giants Microsoft, IBM, and Google. So, when it comes to navigational apps, where's the line between utility and racism? 'As mobile devices get smarter and more ubiquitous,' writes Svati Kirsten Narula, 'it is tempting to let technology make more and more decisions for us. But doing so will require us to sacrifice one of our favorite assumptions: that these tools are inherently logical and neutral...the motivations driving the algorithms may not match the motivations of those algorithms' users.' Indeed, the Google patent for Storing and Providing Routes proposes to 'remove streets from recommended directions if uploaded route information indicates that travelers seem to avoid the street.' Even faster routes that 'traverse one or more high crime areas,' Google reasons, 'may be less appealing to most travelers'."
Re:no ghettos pre-internet? (Score:2, Interesting)
i've lived in NYC since the early 80's and if you were white you were dumb to go to the south bronx or harlem. especially at night.
I would like to point out that in any place that is poverty-stricken, not blending in is a big problem. A black guy wandering around a trailer park will attract just as much trouble from the people that live there. Race by itself isn't what causes this, it's the larger issue of tribalism. For example, if you're wearing a hoodie and carrying a bag of skittles and wandering through a gated community... you're also in it in a bad way. People need to be aware of their surroundings and know when they're not 'part of the herd'. Standing out in a crowd attracts attention... usually of the unwanted variety.
if your kid passes the gifted and talented test to get into accelerated kindergarten, the crappy schools will have spots open in their G&T classes because parents don't want their kids going there
Red shirting and a whole lot of other issues make 'gifted and talented' a crap shoot based more on being in the right place and the right time than actually being gifted or talented. People who truly are gifted and talented find public and private education to be a hell hole because it's a one-size-fits-all approach, with a focus on test results and rote memorization over critical thinking, independent thought, and creativity. I can pretty reliably figure out your general intelligence level by asking how bored you were in school, and if you had any friends. If you were very bored and had no friends before college... chances are good you were well above average. Your grades are totally irrelevant in this analysis... I never ask people how good they did in school... I asked what the experience of school was like. It's a much more reliable indicator.
Difference between the problem and the symptom (Score:5, Interesting)
As an analyst, to me it's a question of data cleanliness. Yes, people should be able to look at the facts (i.e., crime rate) and route around a higher risk area if they so choose. Trouble is, there's a partial racial component driving those crime statistics (i.e., minorities more likely to be arrested) which probably inflates the "true" crime rates for those neighborhoods. If people are going to get all bent out of shape, they should do so up-stream. Tackle the issues that inject a racial element to crime statistics and leave the people looking for an objective measure of risk assessment alone - they're only using the best available data to make a decision.
Easier said than done of course...
Re:If all the neighborhoods where green people liv (Score:5, Interesting)
The first point is that racists seldom believe that they're being racist. Because that would be irrational and they all have very rational (to them) reasons for believing whatever they believe.
The second point is that you would be basing your opinion upon a visual characteristic when the real reason might be something you cannot see. Such as economics. Bad neighborhoods have low property values. So poor people live in bad neighborhoods. Not because they're bad people but because that is what they can afford.
Maybe. But if you're aware that you're greeting him "normally" then you're probably a racist.
When I see an old Chinese woman walking her poodle on the street I treat her the same as I would any other person who was not ...
Old?
Chinese?
Female?
Poodle-orientated?
Re:PC at its best (Score:4, Interesting)
That's when it's time to lie, lie, and lie again because getting what you want is what matters, not humoring anonymous shitbags on the internet.
For example, make up some psych excuse about a family member needing a very quiet neighborhood because they are under treatment for agoraphobia. Look for crime reports, and ask on forums where people won't defend toxic areas because the forum members don't give a shit about PC.
Don't be shy about where you look for info. If I wanted a quiet neighborhood, I would have no compunction about asking on the Stormfront forums! My security and my comfort and my property values are what matter to me.
It's every man or woman for themselves, and if you land in some shithole because you were lied to no one who lied to you will be there to help. While White Flight was an economic disaster for the Detroit tax base, it was pure unadulterated flawless win for the people who Got The Fuck Out as fast as they could. None of them could have changed anything by staying.