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Comment by ClumsyPilot | Hacker News Reader

> thugs will use it to stop passing vehicles to make kidnapping easy!

We already have this thing, it’s called a red light.

Is there a name for this, when people come up with a plausible sounding scenario for crime driven disaster, but it does not actually have basis in real world? The ‘razor blades in candy’ scares parents every Halloween but is completely made up and has never been reported.

Peter Thiel had a similar moment on Joe Rogan podcast where he explained his elaborate social theory based on how chimps behave, but got the basics of chimp behaviour totally wrong

TL DR: tech people suck at predicting human behaviour

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People do get kidnapped at traffic lights. Here's an incident of it happening in Florida a few months ago.

The ability to arbitrarily stop vehicles would be very useful for this kind of crime because it could be done in less crowded areas. And criminals could more readily select for expensive vehicles, young women or whatever else they're wanting.

[1] https://www.crimeonline.com/2024/04/12/video-florida-woman-a... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usuo0jOcHJA

But the comparison we are making is different - do people create a fake traffic light, because that is really easy; and I have never heard of it happening.

Ofcourse there are places where vehicles have to stop naturally, you can’t avoid that.

A convincing set of fake traffic lights requires a meaningful amount of time and equipment, as well as a plausible set of crossroads or roadworks.

To steel man your position though, a fake police costume would probably be just as effective at stopping vehicles arbitrarily. And despite being cheap it's a relatively rare occurrence.

I'd imagine that a fake police uniform is a bit harder to explain than an encrypted laptop and a SDR dongle?

In the US it is a crime to impersonate police that most police zealously prosecute

Construction cones and stop signs are easy to move. *hint hint*

> Is there a name for this, when people come up with a plausible sounding scenario for crime driven disaster, but it does not actually have basis in real world?

It reminds me of Scott Alexander's "The Buying Things from a Store FAQ": https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/the-buying-things-from-a-st...

Also I agree with ChatGPT that it's midway between these two things:

> Urban legend: This is a widely circulated but false story or belief that often serves as a cautionary tale. The "razor blades in candy" story is a classic example, as it's a narrative that spreads fear but lacks evidence.

> Moral panic: This term refers to a situation where public fears and anxieties about a perceived threat (often related to crime or social issues) are exaggerated by the media or other influential sources, even though the threat may be minimal or non-existent. This can lead to widespread but unfounded concerns, like the Halloween candy scare.

> Is there a name for this, when people come up with a plausible sounding scenario for crime driven disaster, but it does not actually have basis in real world?

Movie plot threats:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/09/movie-plot_th...

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