Philosophical Disquisitions

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

TITE 9 - Human-Technology Futures

What does the future hold for humanity's relationship with technology? Will we become ever more integrated with and dependent on technology? What are the normative and axiological consequences of this? In this episode, Sven and John discuss these questions and reflect, more generally, on technology, ethics and the value of speculation about the future.

You can download the episode here or listen below. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon and a range of other podcasting services.

Recommended Reading

Mark Coeckelbergh The Political Philosophy of AI
David Chalmers Reality+

TITE 8 - Machines as Colleagues, Friends and Lovers

In this episode, Sven and John talk about relationships with machines. Can you collaborate with a machine? Can robots be friends, colleagues or, perhaps, even lovers? These are common tropes in science fiction and popular culture, but is there any credibility to them? What would the ethical status of such relationships be? Should they be welcomed or avoided? These are just some of the questions addressed in this episode.

You can download the episode here or listen below. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon and a range of other podcasting services.

Recommended Reading

Evans, Robbins and Bryson - 'Do we collaborate with what we design?'
Helen Ryland - 'It's Friendship Jim But Not as We Know It: A Degrees-of-Friendship View of Human–Robot Friendships'

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

TITE 7 - Can Machines be Moral Patients?

In this episode Sven and John discuss the moral status of machines, particularly humanoid robots. Could machines ever be more than mere things? Some people see this debate as a distraction from the important ethical questions pertaining to technology; others take it more seriously. Sven and John share their thoughts on this topic and give some guidance as to how to think about the nature of moral status and its significance.

You can download the episode here or listen below. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon and a range of other podcasting services.

Recommended Reading

David Gunkel, Person, Thing, Robot
Butlin, Long et al 'Consciousness in AI: Insights from the Science of Consciousness'
Summary of the above paper from Daily Nous.

TITE 6 - Moral Agency in Machines

In this episode, Sven and John discuss the controversy arising from the idea moral agency in machines. What is an agent? What is a moral agent? Is it possible to create a machine with a sense of moral agency? Is this desirable or to be avoided at all costs? These are just some of the questions up for debate.

You can download the episode here or listen below. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon and a range of other podcasting services.

Recommended Reading

Amanda Sharkey, 'Can we program or train robots to be good?'
Paul Formosa and Malcolm Ryan, 'Making Moral Machines: Why we need artificial moral agents?'
Michael Anderson and Susan Leigh Anderson, 'Machine ethics: creating an ethical intelligent agent'
Carissa Véliz, 'Moral zombies: why algorithms are not moral agents'

TITE 5 - Technology and Responsibility Gaps

In this episode Sven and John discuss the thorny topic of responsibility gaps and technology. Over the past two decades, a small cottage industry of legal and philosophical research has arisen in relation to the idea that increasingly autonomous machines create gaps in responsibility. But what does this mean? Is it a serious ethical/legal problem? How can it be resolved? All this and more is explored in this episode.

You can download the episode here or listen below. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon and a range of other podcasting services.

Recommended Reading

Robert Sparrow 'Killer Robots'
Alexander Hevelke and Julian Nida-Rümelin, "Responsibility for Crashes of Autonomous Vehicles"
Andreas Matthias 'The Responsibility Gap: Ascribing Responsibility for the Actions Learning Automata'
Jack Stilgoe 'Who's Driving Innovation', Chapter 1

Discount

To get a discounted copy of Sven’s book, click here and use the code ‘TEC20’ to get 20% off the regular price.

TITE 4 - Behaviour Change and Control

In this episode, John and Sven talk about the role that technology can play in changing our behaviour. In doing so, they note the long and troubled history of philosophy and self-help. They also ponder whether we can use technology to control our lives or whether technology controls us.

You can download the episode here or listen below. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon and a range of other podcasting services.

Recommendations

Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger, Reengineering Humanity.

Carissa Véliz, Privacy is Power.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

TITE 3 - Value Alignment and the Control Problem

In this episode, John and Sven discuss risk and technology ethics. They focus, in particular, on the perennially popular and widely discussed problems of value alignment (how to get technology to align with our values) and control (making sure technology doesn't do something terrible). They start the conversation with the famous case study of Stanislov Petrov and the prevention of nuclear war.

You can listen below or download the episode here. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon and a range of other podcasting services.