Ethical Dilemmas - Discussion

[Lupine]

^I know. The paranoid side of me is thinking the same thing!

[RJDiogenes]

It's healthy to be paranoid when dealing with people like that.

[scottydog]

The ethical use of military robots is being debated. It would be nice to see the use of military anything being debated, but I guess this is better than nothing -- here's the link -- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/techn ... p=cur&_r=0

[Lupine]

While I think the threat of a robot up-rising is overblown, there are ethical problems with autonomous robots doing our killing for us (but I do think such a system is decades away).

[RJDiogenes]

Klaatu barada nikto.

[scottydog]

E Plebneesta.

[RJDiogenes]

Unfortunately, autonomous robots are inevitable, both because they will have a multitude of uses and because they will be cheap. Hostile nations and groups will develop them no matter what we or anyone else decides. We're better off being ahead of the curve so that our robots will be better and we'll be able to develop effective countermeasures.

[scottydog]

So eventually robots will fight our wars, to spare us from human casualties? This is sounding more and more like that Star Trek episode.

[Jim Gamma]

Specifically the Voyager one with the Automated Personnel Units... I forget the name.

[scottydog]

Specifically the Voyager one with the Automated Personnel Units... I forget the name.

I was thinking of TOS episode where the war games are played electronically and the planet's citizens are forced into 'casualty chambers'.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ It probably won't come to that. There's usually low turnout for that kind of thing, anyway.

Specifically the Voyager one with the Automated Personnel Units... I forget the name.

"Prototype."

[scottydog]

How's this for an ethical dilemma..... should your self-driving smart car kill you rather than kill others?

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/sh ... d-scenario

.

[Lupine]

Heady concept, though I'm not sure it's really a realistic one. The simplest solution to the first problem mentioned would simply be for the car not to drive that fast in that condition.

[RJDiogenes]

That's an easy one. My self-driving car should never kill me.

It's an interesting question, though. One has to wonder why the people are in the street. If it's a self-driving car, presumably there is no fault attributable to the vehicle, no negligence, no lack of attention. Therefore it's either the fault of the people in the street or a natural blind where the vehicle could have no knowledge of people in the street-- in which case the correct response would be to brake as quickly as possible and hope for the best.

[scottydog]

It's interesting how we're placing more and more control of our lives into the hands of computers. And that means they could be making more of our ethical decisions, for better or for worse.