It turns out that something has been watching the Earth in minute detail since before the solar system was formed, down to a sub molecular level. It can give you the answers to any historical questions, but not things like what someone was thinking or feeling.
All the world’s problems have been solved, and the information is only used with the strictest privacy, e.g. you can only get information on living people with their permission, or if you’re a member of law enforcement solving a crime.
The question is, if you have a hobby, job, or other reason to research the past, like being a geologist or genealogist, would you take the answers, or would you prefer to do the research yourself?
I would take the answer, but I also wouldn’t be comfortable with it telling anything about me or others to law enforcement based on its own personal opinion of what is corrupt or not, which is unlikely to line up with mine, and might well lead to things like right wing places arresting people for being LGBT+, or criticising the government, or women trying to leave the Taliban.
Ah, sorry, I didn’t think of that side of things. I was thinking more along the lines of it could solve things that everyone agrees is a crime, like murder.
My line of thought was more just would you want the easy answers, or would you prefer to have to work for them.
Definitely would want the easy answers. And even the definition of murder is divisive amongst people (is it ok in self defense? Is it ok if they make mocking cartoons of your god?), so do you need like 98% of people to agree it’s a crime?