Ethical robots?

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The last issue of the Economist contains a special report (their usual Technological Quarterly, "Trust me, I'm a robot", June 8th 2006) mainly dedicated to ethical issues in robotics. It is a very interesting reading, and I suggest you don't miss it.

However, going through the pages, a sense of disappointment slowly sinks in. There is no ethics in the sense in which a philosopher would use this word. Or rather, all the ethics that is discussed is largely related to safety issues, legal responsibilities and sex (there is a bit about sex dolls and whether robosex machines looking like children should be allowed; but the whole problem of whether synthetic pornography is immoral anymore - no real people but the users are involved - is entirely missed). Which is not to say that these issues aren't relevant or significant. Indeed, it is probably one of the best ways to make sure that people understand the (increasingly) pressing nature of some of the moral questions raised by computing at large. But it seems a bit of a missed opportunity when you think about how rich the contemporary debate is.
Still, it's good to be able to point out now to an issue of the Economist when your skeptical colleagues will inevitably ask "what is it you're doing with that stuff about computer ethics?".

Comments

  1. AnonymousWed Jul 26, 12:20:00 pm

    Robots give just one more opportunity for philosopheres to talk and consider different opinions of ethics.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSat Aug 12, 03:16:00 pm

    No matter what people talk and say, robots are and will be the part of our life in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousWed Sept 06, 01:01:00 pm

    Its true that Robots will definitely be a part of our daily life in the future but still there are lots of ethical issues and researches left before the actual implementation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Term PapersMon Jan 04, 12:30:00 pm

    According to an article in the Army Times, the so-called 'ethical robots' would follow international laws. Ronald Arkin, from the Mobile Robot Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote a book to discuss the future of robotics.

    Term papers

    ReplyDelete

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