Promotion of Human Values (161)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 5 min
- Big Think
This video, narrated by science fiction author Ken MacLeod, explains how the cultural critiques presented in science fiction can be helpful in guiding inventors through how they might invent ethically, and what the primary societal concerns of a certain invention would be. Uses the example of robots as representative of labor issues to make the case that while science fiction plays a role in inspiring inventors and engineers, it should also lead them to question how technologies can be deployed ethically in different societal contexts.
- Big Think
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- 5 min
- Big Think
How sci-fi helps humanity avoid species-level mistakes
This video, narrated by science fiction author Ken MacLeod, explains how the cultural critiques presented in science fiction can be helpful in guiding inventors through how they might invent ethically, and what the primary societal concerns of a certain invention would be. Uses the example of robots as representative of labor issues to make the case that while science fiction plays a role in inspiring inventors and engineers, it should also lead them to question how technologies can be deployed ethically in different societal contexts.
What steps need to be taken for science fiction to be taken more seriously as a predictor of technologies or a propædeutic to ethics? What narratives from this “age of singularity” could you point to as particularly prescient or useful for discussing ethical concerns?
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- 10 min
- Engadget
- 2021
This article provides an excerpt from a book detailing the “Brooksian Revolution,” a movement in the 1980s pressing the idea that the “intelligence” of AI should start from a foundation of acute awareness of its environment, rather than “typical” indicators of intelligence such as pure logic or problem solving. By principle, a reasoning machine-learning loop that operates off of a one-time perception of its environment is inherently disconnected from its environment.
- Engadget
- 2021
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- 10 min
- Engadget
- 2021
Hitting the Books: The Brooksian revolution that led to rational robots
This article provides an excerpt from a book detailing the “Brooksian Revolution,” a movement in the 1980s pressing the idea that the “intelligence” of AI should start from a foundation of acute awareness of its environment, rather than “typical” indicators of intelligence such as pure logic or problem solving. By principle, a reasoning machine-learning loop that operates off of a one-time perception of its environment is inherently disconnected from its environment.
Why is an environment important to cognition, both that of humans and machines? Will robots ever be able to abstract the world, or model it, in the same way that the human brain can? Are there dangers to robots being strictly “rational” and decoupled from their environments? Are there dangers to robots being too connected to their environments?
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- The Robot Report
- 2021
The article explains the working definition of Brain Computer Interface technologies (BCI), the current startup BCI tech companies in this sector which mostly focus on BCI applications for assistive prosthetics.
- The Robot Report
- 2021
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- The Robot Report
- 2021
Brain-computer interface startups augmenting human body
The article explains the working definition of Brain Computer Interface technologies (BCI), the current startup BCI tech companies in this sector which mostly focus on BCI applications for assistive prosthetics.
How do BCI technologies make the world “safer”, “more productive”, and “more accessible”? How are these terms defined in the article and by whom? In what ways does the article discuss co-design methods used with prosthetics users? How well do you beleive these potential BCI users understand the short and long term risks of this emerging medical technology? How well does the article discuss the potential harms?