Ethical Decision Making in Autonomous Vehicles: The AV Ethics Project

Science and Engineering Ethics - The ethics of autonomous vehicles (AV) has received a great amount of attention in recent years, specifically in regard to their decisional policies in accident...     

Earwitness Testimony: Never Mind the Variety,Hear the Length

Three aspects of voice recognition were investigated in the study reported here: memory for familiar voices, memory for the words spoken, and the relative effects of length and variation in a voice extract on long- and short-term memory. In Experiment 1, recognition memory for the briefly heard voice of a stranger was superior with longer extracts (p<0.01), but increasing vowel variety did not improve performance. This pattern was repeated for short-term memory (p<0.01) in Experiment 2. Scores for the above task correlated significantly (p<0.05) with scores for recognizing well-known voices. In a further test of well-known voice memory in Experiment 3, a weak and non-significant positive correlation (r=0.29) was found between memory for well-known voices and memory for a once-heard voice. Memory for the words spoken did not correlate significantly with memory for the unknown voice itself. The possibilities of a memory-for-voices general ability, and forensic applications of the findings are discussed. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Firm Survival Situations on Managerial Ethics

The purpose of this study is to examine whether certain strategic situations (profit vs. survival situations) cause managers to act more ethically or less ethically. Results from multivariate repeated measures tests suggest that managers will vary their level of ethical response when faced with a situation in which the organization's survival is at stake.     

Some Things Ought Never Be Done: Moral Absolutes in Clinical Ethics

Moral absolutes have little or no moral standing in our morally diverse modern society. Moral relativism is far more palatable for most ethicists and to the public at large. Yet, when pressed, every moral relativist will finally admit that there are some things which ought never be done. It is the rarest of moral relativists that will take rape, murder, theft, child sacrifice as morally neutral choices. In general ethics, the list of those things that must never be done will vary from person to person. In clinical ethics, however, the nature of the physician–patient relationship is such that certain moral absolutes are essential to the attainment of the good of the patient – the end of the relationship itself. These are all derivatives of the first moral absolute of all morality: Do good and avoid evil. In the clinical encounter, this absolute entails several subsidiary absolutes – act for the good of the patient, do not kill, keep promises, protect the dignity of the patient, do not lie, avoid complicity with evil. Each absolute is intrinsic to the healing and helping ends of the clinical encounter.     

Animal Mind: Science,Philosophy, and Ethics

Although 20^th-century empiricists were agnostic about animal mind and consciousness, this was not the case for their historical ancestors – John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and, of course, Charles Darwin and George John Romanes. Given the dominance of the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary continuity, one would not expect belief in animal mind to disappear. That it did demonstrates that standard accounts of how scientific hypotheses are overturned – i.e., by empirical disconfirmation or by exposure of logical flaws – is inadequate. In fact, it can be demonstrated that belief in animal mind disappeared as a result of a change of values, a mechanism also apparent in the Scientific Revolution. The “valuational revolution” responsible for denying animal mind is examined in terms of the rise of Behaviorism and its flawed account of the historical inevitability of denying animal mentation. The effects of the denial of animal consciousness included profound moral implications for the major uses of animals in agriculture and scientific research. The latter is particularly notable for the denial of felt pain in animals. The rise of societal moral concern for animals, however, has driven the “reappropriation of common sense” about animal thought and feeling.     

Crash Algorithms for Autonomous Cars: How the Trolley Problem Can Move Us Beyond Harm Minimisation

The prospective introduction of autonomous cars into public traffic raises the question of how such systems should behave when an accident is inevitable. Due to concerns with self-interest and liberal legitimacy that have become paramount in the emerging debate, a contractarian framework seems to provide a particularly attractive means of approaching this problem. We examine one such attempt, which derives a harm minimisation rule from the assumptions of rational self-interest and ignorance of one’s position in a future accident. We contend, however, that both contractarian approaches and harm minimisation standards are flawed, due to a failure to account for the fundamental difference between those ‘involved’ and ‘uninvolved’ in an impending crash. Drawing from classical works on the trolley problem, we show how this notion can be substantiated by reference to either the distinction between negative and positive rights, or to differences in people’s claims. By supplementing harm minimisation with corresponding constraints, we can develop crash algorithms for autonomous cars which are both ethically adequate and promise to overcome certain significant practical barriers to implementation.     

The Ethics of Automated Vehicles: Why Self-driving Cars Should not Swerve in Dilemma Cases

Res Publica - In this paper, I will argue that automated vehicles should not swerve to avoid a person or vehicle in its path, unless they can do so without imposing risks onto others. I will argue...     

Toward Implementing the ADC Model of Moral Judgment in Autonomous Vehicles

Science and Engineering Ethics - Autonomous vehicles (AVs)—and accidents they are involved in—attest to the urgent need to consider the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI). The...     

Killing by Autonomous Vehicles and the Legal Doctrine of Necessity

How should autonomous vehicles (aka self-driving cars) be programmed to behave in the event of an unavoidable accident in which the only choice open is one between causing different damages or losses to different objects or persons? This paper addresses this ethical question starting from the normative principles elaborated in the law to regulate difficult choices in other emergency scenarios. In particular, the paper offers a rational reconstruction of some major principles and norms embedded in the Anglo-American jurisprudence and case law on the “doctrine of necessity”; and assesses which, if any, of these principles and norms can be utilized to find reasonable guidelines for solving the ethical issue of the regulation of the programming of autonomous vehicles in emergency situations. The paper covers the following topics: the distinction between “justification” and “excuse”, the legal prohibition of intentional killing outside self-defence, the incommensurability of goods, and the legal constrains to the use of lethal force set by normative positions: obligations, responsibility, rights, and authority. For each of these principles and constrains the possible application to the programming of autonomous vehicles is discussed. Based on the analysis, some practical suggestions are offered.     

将病人利益置于首位的原则不能变——医学伦理学30年的回顾与思考之一

将病人利益置于首位的原则,是整个医学伦理学的根基.在当今更需要强调这个根基.要澄清将病人利益置于首位的各种误解,同时认清四原则之不足;只有将病人利益置于首位的原则与四原则结合起来,方能形成医学伦理学较为完整的观点.     

When the Arrow Came before the Trolley: Jewish Aspects of the Trolley Problem

In 2014 Bruers and Breckman addressed a series of subsidiary questions arising from the trolley problem and their answers. In this article I describe ancient and precedent treatments of some of these issues over thousands of years as found in Jewish literature and the original solutions that have been proposed throughout history by Jewish philosophers and legal scholars. I address questions that have been posed to Jewish halakhic authorities when two obligations clash — whether one may save the lives of many at the cost of killing an individual — and discuss whether this is permitted in order to save lives or forbidden owing to the prohibition of murder. I also present new problems that have been introduced into the halakhic and philosophical discussions around the trolley problem in Jewish literature.     

Advance Car-Crash Planning: Shared Decision Making between Humans and Autonomous Vehicles

Science and Engineering Ethics - Over the past few years, there has been a proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) strategies, released by governments around the world, that seek to maximise...     

中国人间佛教思想的先驱

智旭在《周易禅解》一书中以《易》理对应佛教教理;以乾健坤顺,对应佛教修证;提出《易》佛同一论——佛性即乾道。本文并论证了智旭“佛性即乾道”价值观的重大意义。智旭将佛性定义为“乾道”,将佛教的价值观,对应本土文化价值观,结果,其与中国佛教传统的价值立场,已经相去甚远。主要的差异点在于,将佛教的本来是以出世为标榜的价值立场,转移到了以易道为代表的中国文化入世的价值立场上。智旭是开创近代佛教思想最先之学者,其“佛性即乾道”说即是近代中国“人间佛教”漫长历史进程的思想源头。     

五论以用户为中心的设计:从自动化到智能时代的自主化以及自动驾驶车

综述人因学在人-自动化交互、人-自主化(autonomy)交互以及人机组队(human-machine teaming)方面的研究,梳理了自动化与自主化的人因学特征和问题,通过建立一个自主化、自动化与人工干预三者之间关系的概念模型来表征自主化人因学的问题空间。总结了智能自主化技术所带来的新型人机合作关系,促使采用新的人因学研究和应用范式,重新评估现有的人因学理论、方法以及今后的研究。针对自主化技术的应用,分析当前自动驾驶车设计中的人因学问题。呼吁在自动驾驶车研发中要重视人因学问题,人因学要提供学科支持和完整的人因学解决方案。     

Fraud and Understanding the Moral Mind: Need for Implementation of Organizational Characteristics into Behavioral Ethics

Science and Engineering Ethics - The development of behavioral ethics has brought forth a detailed understanding of the processes of moral perception, decision-making and behavior within and beyond...