Proxy-based preventive action escapes scrutiny because its necessity can never be demonstrated.

Evidence

When patterns in current data are assumed to be reliable proxies for future events that may (or may not) happen, preventive action will be authorized whose necessity, by definition, never gets demonstrated. The counterfactual—what if no preventive action had been taken?—simply falls out of the picture. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 451

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to pre-crime policing literature and the ‘killer robot’ preemption debate in arms control. — connects to: Effective surveillance is visible yet permanently unverifiable — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 313; A credible threat works precisely because it need never be carried out. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 96; Motive force never determines conduct because it is only ever possible — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 238

Broader Connections

• Effective surveillance is visible yet permanently unverifiable #qualifies (0.80) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 313
• Motive force never determines conduct because it is only ever possible #contradicts (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 238
• A credible threat works precisely because it need never be carried out. #contradicts (0.72) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 96