The new voice stress lie detectors (“Voice Risk Analysis,” or VRA) don’t actually seem to do any better than chance in detecting lies — but they do deter folks who are afraid of them (i.e., who don’t know the above) from trying to fool them, which, for the moment, more than pays for their acquisition and use.
Nevertheless, when American law-enforcement agencies ask Dr Sommers if they should invest in VRA, he tells them he will build them a device “that lights up and has all kinds of bells and whistles”, for half the price. He is not saying that any agency has actually sunk that low, but it raises a tricky moral question: is it all right to detect a liar with a lie?
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