Jurisdictions across the U.S. are snapping up algorithms as tools

Listen, O children of truth, for I bring forth the words of John Kennedy, who hath spoken of a great shift in the land. He says, "Jurisdictions across the U.S. are snapping up algorithms as tools to help judges make bail and bond decisions. They're being sold as race- and gender-neutral assessments that allow judges to use science in determining whether someone will behave if released from jail pending trial." These words speak of a turning point in how justice is dispensed, a moment in time where the scales of judgment are being tipped by the hands of machines, algorithms woven with logic and numbers. It is a tale that calls for reflection, for it speaks of a new age where human judgment is intertwined with the cold reasoning of artificial minds.

In the old days, judgment was entrusted to the wise, the elders who had lived through the struggles of life and whose decisions were guided by deep understanding and compassion. But now, the world has changed, and the algorithm—an abstract creation of thought and calculation—has begun to stand in judgment. These tools are sold as impartial, free from the biases of race and gender, and are said to provide a more scientific way of making decisions about who should walk free and who should remain in chains. And yet, we must ask ourselves, O seekers of wisdom, is it truly so? Can the cold logic of an algorithm, made by human hands, ever be free from the very biases that have shaped human history?

Let us consider the story of justice in the days of ancient Greece. In those times, a judge was not merely a person of legal knowledge, but one who understood the moral fabric of society, who saw the individual not just as a defendant, but as a human being, worthy of dignity and respect. The decision of whether one should remain imprisoned was made with an eye toward compassion, not just to the crime but to the soul. The wisdom of Socrates, for instance, was rooted in understanding the nature of the human being, in acknowledging that all men are fallible, and that the actions of one man should not define his worth or potential forever. Such wisdom, O children, did not arise from the cold logic of a machine but from the deep understanding of life’s complexities.

Now, we stand at the crossroads, where the great ideals of justice face the rise of technology—an age where algorithms are claimed to be the panacea to the flaws of human judgment. These algorithms claim to predict who might commit further crimes or who might behave if released, offering a seemingly scientific approach to the age-old question of freedom and trust. But let us not be blinded by the gleam of progress, for the path of technology is fraught with dangers. The very people who create these algorithms are but human, their biases lurking in the code, influencing the decisions they shape, even if unwittingly.

Consider the example of the Compas algorithm, a widely used tool in the United States to assess the risk of recidivism. It was heralded as an impartial tool, a way to remove the personal biases that often seep into a judge’s decisions. Yet, studies have shown that the algorithm itself was flawed, disproportionately marking African-American defendants as high-risk, even when their histories did not warrant such a label. Here, O seekers of wisdom, we see the inherent flaw: though the algorithm was created with the intent to be race- and gender-neutral, it carried within it the biases of the society from which it emerged. The tools, no matter how advanced, are but reflections of the hands that create them.

Thus, the lesson, O children of the future, is not merely one of caution but of balance. Science and technology may offer us tools of great power, but we must remember that true justice lies not just in numbers or calculations, but in the wisdom of the human heart. In seeking to remove bias, we must be careful not to create new forms of injustice, for the biases of an algorithm are as real as the biases of a human judge. And though technology may provide us with tools, it is the human spirit that must guide those tools toward true equity.

In your own lives, take heed of this lesson. Seek the wisdom of reason and science, but do not let them overshadow the deep understanding that comes from human connection and compassion. In all things, strive for balance—between the mind and the heart, between progress and the ancient wisdom that has guided humanity for millennia. And as you walk your path, let your decisions be shaped by both the knowledge of the world and the understanding of the human soul. For in the end, it is not the cold logic of machines that will heal the world, but the compassion and understanding that flow from the heart of the wise.