A Technoethical Approach to Original Sin: Will Robots Sin? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A Technoethical Approach to Original Sin: Will Robots Sin? Timothy Opperman

Uncomfortable Definitions — Behaviorist - Functionalist — Reductionistic — Practical

Uncomfortable Definitions — Autonomous – functioning without direct human input — Moral – operating within the moral/ ethical sphere — Agent – capable of action – for computer science, more like information processing

Uncomfortable Definitions — “behaviorally indistinguishable from genuine moral agents.” - (Wallach & Allen, 58)

Uncomfortable Definitions — Interactivity : Response to stimulus by change of state; that is, the agent and its environment can act on each other - Floridi & Sanders, 349

Uncomfortable Definitions — Autonomy : Ability to change state without stimulus, that is, without direct response to interaction, which results in a certain degree of complexity and decoupledness from the environment - Floridi & Sanders, 349

Uncomfortable Definitions — Adaptability : Ability to change the “transition rules” by which the state is changed; that is, the agent may be viewed as learning its own mode of operation in a way which depends critically on its experience - Floridi & Sanders, 349

Case Study — MedEthEx – medical ethics advisor — prompts interactive feedback — processes data — responds adaptively - Michael and Susan Anderson

Evolution of Morality — Selfishness is morally neutral and ultimately necessary for survival. — It is only with the advent of human conscience, within a system of morality, that selfish behavior becomes sinful.

Evolution of Morality — Sin is a relational term — Fracturing of relationship between us and God

Evolution of Morality — Conscience evolved with consciousness Christopher Boehm Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame, 17

Evolution of Morality — Conscience evolved with consciousness — Biology and culture, nature through nurture, worked together to make us adaptively moral beings Christopher Boehm Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame, 17

Morality for AMAs — TOP-DOWN — religious ideals, moral codes, cultural values, philosophical systems — Ex. The Golden Rule, Ten Commandments, Utilitarianism, Kant’s categorical imperatives, Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics

Morality for AMAs — Case Study – MedEthEx — Top-Down - autonomy - beneficence - non-malfeasance

Morality for AMAs — BOTTOM-UP — “Creating environment where an agent explores courses of action, learns, and is rewarded for behavior that is morally praiseworthy.” - Wallach & Allen, 80

Morality for AMAs — BOTTOM-UP — John Holland - genetic algorithms - Alife (artificial life)

Morality for AMAs Evolutionary Robotics — Genetic algorithms — Success = “fitness” — Programming is “recombined” — Mutations added — Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Morality for AMAs Peter Danielson, UBC Centre for Applied Ethics — Moral ecologies – Artificial Morality: Virtuous Robots for Virtual Games — Functional morality — Analogous – too simplistic

Morality for AMAs — “Moral concepts surely emerge in all social beings, including, when they materialize, social machines.” - Thomas Georges, Digital Souls: Intelligent Machines and Human Values

Conclusion — Will Robots Sin? - Stupid question — They will, if we let them. (Top-Down) — They will, when they learn from us. (Bottom-Up) — It’s up to God