Psycho-Pass is a highly-praised philosophical anime, examining morals and ethics in a "utopian" universe. On the outside, Psycho-Pass's society looks perfect, with a system called Sibyl that catches potential criminals before they ever commit a crime, all done through a team of Inspectors and Enforcers who use Dominators. Visually, the Dominators are probably one of the most awesome-looking weapons in anime, with a sleek and futuristic appearance. Let's take a closer look at what these weapons can do and the complex problems with them.
What is the Dominator?
The Dominator requires very little of the user's ability to operate it, except to point and shoot. It is fully operated by the Sybil System. The Dominator can only be used by Inspectors from the Public Safety Bureau as well as Enforcers who were demoted because they were deemed dangerous due to their high Crime Coefficients. Anyone else who tries to use it will be locked out of usage. This firearm reads the Psycho-Passes of its target and sends that information to Sibyl to read in the span of a mere few seconds. That information is sent back with a Crime Coefficient number and the Dominator automatically reacts to carry out Sibyl's orders.
The most basic mode, Non-Lethal Paralyzer, knocks targets unconscious when their Crime Coefficient is over 100 points. The safety is only released when targeted on a latent criminal. The second mode is Lethal Eliminator, with the Dominator unraveling to transform into a layered firearm that glows. A shot from the Lethal Eliminator turns a target with a Crime Coefficient above 300 points into nothing but blood and guts. For targets that have some kind of armor or protection, the Dominator shifts into Destroy Decomposer mode, wiping out the object entirely and leaving no trace behind.
Psychological Weaponry
The Dominator measures its target's Psycho-Pass, essentially their stress levels via Hues and other biological readings to come up with a Crime Coefficient. If the Hue reads a certain color, the Dominator can measure the potential of that individual committing a crime in the future. However, it doesn't take into account other factors, which is why it judged the girl in Episode 1 to have a high Psycho-Pass even though she was a victim. Her trauma caused her Psycho-Pass to become clouded.
Because the Dominator shifts into modes automatically, the only way for Inspectors to force it to change is to have the target lower their Crime Coefficient by themselves. The Dominator cannot read the Psycho-Passes of those who are criminally asymptomatic like Shogo Makishima, the main antagonist of Season 1, who also has the ability to control his Psycho-Pass so that it never surpasses 100 points.
The Flaws of the Dominator
The Dominator is meant to create a society where crime cannot and will not exist, but it's not used in a just way. One of the most glaring flaws is that while the Inspectors and Enforcers are the ones pulling the trigger, they are not in control of the Dominator. As seemingly objective as it may be, the Dominator is controlled by the Sybil System, which is really a conglomerate of criminally asymptomatic human brains.
Those who are chosen to be in the Sibyl System tend to be sociopaths: dispassionate and detached from remorse. They're the ones who pick and choose who to kill and who to spare. If anyone were to find out that the system isn't impartial, the system would have to get rid of them. This is why the System forced the Dominator to change from Non-Lethal Paralyzer to Lethal Eliminator, resulting in the wrongful death of Kagari.
The Dominators are meant to create a more just society because their operation takes the Inspector's biases out of the equation. However, since the Sibyl System is controlled by other humans, it isn't as infallible as it seems. The Dominators turn Inspectors into mindless accomplices, all for the sake of a "perfect society"... at least in the eyes of Sibyl.
