HitchBOT Killed in Philly.

For those who haven't followed, A "robot" was hitching a ride across the US and met its demise in Philly. The stated purpose of the experiment was to see if robots could trust humans. I would say that it was actually a social experiment on high and low trust societies.

The HitchBOT made its way clear across Canada without incident. Hitchbot went through parts of Europe unmolested. Hitchbot was stuck in Boston for weeks and somehow made it to Philly where it was dismembered. A glance at city data for Philly says a lot. In 2013 thefts represented 53 percent of all crime meaning that HitchBOT had a roughly 50-50 chance of making it through that city. If you added robberies and burglaries to the theft as representing taking stuff that doesn't belong to you, then the odds of HitchBOT meeting an untimely end in Philly skyrockets to 79%.

Perhaps the real lesson is that you don't leave valuable items in relatively high theft incident cities.