HACKER Q&A
📣 amichail

Why not replace prisons with augmented reality headsets?


Instead of locking people away, give criminals AR headsets that put them in a kind of safe mode. They’d still live in the real world but with restricted freedoms until their sentence is served. Could be cheaper, more humane, and better for rehabilitation than traditional prisons.

  👤 uberman Accepted Answer ✓
How would this safe mode work? Are you suggesting that the glasses be permanently affixed or able to deliver some kind of punishment if they detected bad behavior?

Sounds like something out of Black Mirror to me.

👤 JohnFen
Is that really much different/better than ankle monitors? What's the point of the AR? What is gained by not allowing them to see actual reality?
👤 Bender
They will not cooperate. Ankle trackers mostly work because the general public does not see them. Some of your coworkers could be wearing them and you would not know. AR will be obvious and they would just accept being a criminal is the only viable path.

Meta would probably also lobby against this as it would associate anyone using AR with being felons. People would start actively looking for the glasses. This could lead to violence.

I could however see a middle ground. Put them in a pod (The Matrix) that uses AR and some form of mind / muscle stimulation to keep them from going crazy. It would be something like the show Altered Carbon or The Matrix except that they would be mostly conscious. They could live in virtual worlds that help them function in society and learn new skills. When they revert to violence no real people get hurt. Or if they choose, they could just keep hurting people in the virtual world and that would be fine. They could be utilized later when required for war. The system could determine when they may be safe to release. We might be in a pod right now.