The incredible machine?
Ever played any of the computer game series The Incredible Machine or the old kid's board game Mouse Trap? Both games make a puzzle out of making you solve a simple problem in a really complicated way. That's what I thought of when I read about robot camel jockeys.
Some of the Persian Gulf nations are notorious for their camel racing. Racers frequently have children from places like India and Pakistan kidnapped or purchased and brought to the Gulf, where they are enslaved and horribly mistreated. Between beatings to keep them in line and half starving them to keep their wait down, the kids are forced to race the camels. So in Qatar some robotics engineers are trying to replace the abused children with robotic jockeys. If and when they can perfect it, they hope to eliminate the despicable practice of enslaving these children. A respectable goal...
Couldn't these nations just umm... enforce their own laws against stealing or buying, then mistreating these kids? There's a thought! In practical race changes, here's an easy one. Jockeys have to weigh in. If they are under a certain amount, weights are added to bring the rider up to the legal amount. How hard is that? Duh.
Not that I care about camel racing, but mistreating those kids is awful and it really doesn't seem like a difficult problem to solve.
Some of the Persian Gulf nations are notorious for their camel racing. Racers frequently have children from places like India and Pakistan kidnapped or purchased and brought to the Gulf, where they are enslaved and horribly mistreated. Between beatings to keep them in line and half starving them to keep their wait down, the kids are forced to race the camels. So in Qatar some robotics engineers are trying to replace the abused children with robotic jockeys. If and when they can perfect it, they hope to eliminate the despicable practice of enslaving these children. A respectable goal...
Couldn't these nations just umm... enforce their own laws against stealing or buying, then mistreating these kids? There's a thought! In practical race changes, here's an easy one. Jockeys have to weigh in. If they are under a certain amount, weights are added to bring the rider up to the legal amount. How hard is that? Duh.
Not that I care about camel racing, but mistreating those kids is awful and it really doesn't seem like a difficult problem to solve.
posted by Patrick at
1:50 AM
3 Comments:
You'd be surprised how hard it is to keep kids from being mistreated here in the US, let alone in countries like that.
On the other hand, Mouse Trap was one of the best games ever, right up there with Operation.
By not a difficult problem to solve, I referred to my suggestion that they have a minimum weight for the riders. Weigh ins and minimum weights are standard in US horse racing. You won't have 50 pound kids riding because the minimum weights are all over 100. With such a minimum, the incentive to enslave and half starve little kids is gone.
Yeah, but in the US, human life (and not just the men) is actually valued. Can you say the same thing for Qatar? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is happening in countries where women are still stoned to death if their husband or father thinks they were inappropriate with a man? I just don't think that people who care so little for human life would care to enforce weight limits just so some slaves are treated better.
I suppose they could just fine or ban people whose riders didn't meet the weight limit. But then they could just enslave bigger kids, give them all a cookie from time to time. But cookies are expensive! Who needs that kind of hassle? It's so much easier to just buy a robot. Then you just have to buy some gas for it, you don't have to worry about cookies, or clothes, or hiring the slavers to keep the pesky kids in line, or the inconvienent clean up involved when they die from lack of a cookie.
Ok, so I don't know how much the cost difference would be between buying a robot or two and keeping slaves would be, as I've never had to worry about either. But these people are obviously lacking humanity to appeal to, so I don't really think they'd be likely to enforce a weight limit. But maybe appealing to their practical/financial sides would be more apt to getting the job done. But hey, whatever gets the job done, I'm all for. Weight limits, robots, hell - tell them they'll get 97 virgins when they die if they don't enslave anymore kids. If it works, go for it!
Sorry, I'm bitter today. I need a cookie.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home