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Welcome to Techsurvivors => Tech => Topic started by: gunug on May 17, 2014, 10:02:15 AM

Title: U.S. Navy wants to develop robots with morals and ethics.
Post by: gunug on May 17, 2014, 10:02:15 AM

QUOTE

The Office of Naval Research will award $7.5 million in grant money over five years to university researchers from Tufts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Brown, Yale and Georgetown to explore how to build a sense of right and wrong and moral consequence into autonomous robotic systems.

“Even though today’s unmanned systems are ‘dumb’ in comparison to a human counterpart, strides are being made quickly to incorporate more automation at a faster pace than we’ve seen before,” Paul Bello, director of the cognitive science program at the Office of Naval Research told Defense One. “For example, Google’s self-driving cars are legal and in-use in several states at this point. As researchers, we are playing catch-up trying to figure out the ethical and legal implications. We do not want to be caught similarly flat-footed in any kind of military domain where lives are at stake.”

http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/...e-morals/84325/

I'm not sure $7.5 million is going to do it!

Title: U.S. Navy wants to develop robots with morals and ethics.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on May 17, 2014, 03:14:22 PM

The question is: Whose "morals and ethics"? I don't have any faith in the 'researchers' nor much of the Navy, Air Force, Army, civilians, etc., etc. Those are all human and we know how badly they have done!

Title: U.S. Navy wants to develop robots with morals and ethics.
Post by: Paddy on May 18, 2014, 08:04:05 AM

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ May 17 2014, 04:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That was my question exactly. Politicians? Nope. Business leaders? Nope. Academics? Difficult imagining getting them to agree...

And then there is this:
http://www.philosophersbeard.org/2010/10/m...-vs-ethics.html

Of course they could start with the concept of not causing harm to a human being, but considering this is the military, is this really what they're after?

Looks to me like a waste of 7.5M...

Title: U.S. Navy wants to develop robots with morals and ethics.
Post by: gunug on May 21, 2014, 08:35:50 AM

In a conversation I had with an old friend he brought up that they've already "handled" this problem to some extent in the programming of autonomous vehicles. The basic decision has to be made in the programming what they should hit when all other possibilities fail. Say they have a choice of hitting a big car or a little car when there is no other thing they can do to avoid an accident. Makes me not wish to go to California or wherever these are being tested!

Title: U.S. Navy wants to develop robots with morals and ethics.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on May 21, 2014, 08:47:34 AM

Relax, gunug, everything is under the control of the computer.
Nothing can go wrong...

Nothing can go wrong...

Title: U.S. Navy wants to develop robots with morals and ethics.
Post by: Paddy on May 21, 2014, 11:48:43 AM

Frank: Listen, Hal. There's never been any instance at all of a computer error occurring in the 9000 series, has there?
Hal: None whatsoever, Frank. The 9000 series has a perfect operational record.
Frank: Well, of course, I know all the wonderful achievements of the 9000 series, but - er - huh - are you certain there's never been any case of even the most insignificant computer error?
Hal: None whatsoever, Frank. Quite honestly, I wouldn't worry myself about that.

Title: U.S. Navy wants to develop robots with morals and ethics.
Post by: gunug on May 21, 2014, 01:13:55 PM

The thing is programmers have bad days and miss things and the hardware could be faulty as well! I'm mature enough to drive pretty well at this point and not so old I should give it up and I still have adventures in driving involving other people on probably a bi-weekly basis, not even fender-benders just adventures!