Bryan, this was a great post to read. Thanks for sharing it!
The part I most enjoyed was your discussion of computer ethics and the way technology can potentially help preserve the time value of money, using efficiencies of time in OnlyFans' publication interface as an example.
In the computer ethics page you linked to, I like the quote that "Computer science cannot be considered a morally neutral discipline." I'm currently in an AI book club, reading books like "I, Robot" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"--books that swim around in the mental space of that sentence, wondering whether computer science can in fact be neutral, or if it's never neutral, then wondering what's the appropriate ethical approach to managing innovation. In "I, Robot," the characters start out by creating three basic moral rules for their computers to follow: (1) respect for human life (2) obedience to commands (3) instinct of self-preservation/ operational continuity of the computer itself. These seem like simple, common sense rules, but it turns out that the practical application of these morals is ambiguous: for example, how much responsibility does the computer have to disobey its operator's instructions, if, using the higher artificial intelligence, it's able to perceive that the instructions would ultimately lead to endangering human life, which violates rule #1. Computer ethics overall seems like a cool thing to look into further.
Looking forward to more posts; it's cool to be able to network with you and others who are doing important thinking in this space of innovation and the future of tech. Hope your experience teaching this semester is going well; hopefully as little stressful as possible despite the pandemic.
Bryan, this was a great post to read. Thanks for sharing it!
The part I most enjoyed was your discussion of computer ethics and the way technology can potentially help preserve the time value of money, using efficiencies of time in OnlyFans' publication interface as an example.
In the computer ethics page you linked to, I like the quote that "Computer science cannot be considered a morally neutral discipline." I'm currently in an AI book club, reading books like "I, Robot" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"--books that swim around in the mental space of that sentence, wondering whether computer science can in fact be neutral, or if it's never neutral, then wondering what's the appropriate ethical approach to managing innovation. In "I, Robot," the characters start out by creating three basic moral rules for their computers to follow: (1) respect for human life (2) obedience to commands (3) instinct of self-preservation/ operational continuity of the computer itself. These seem like simple, common sense rules, but it turns out that the practical application of these morals is ambiguous: for example, how much responsibility does the computer have to disobey its operator's instructions, if, using the higher artificial intelligence, it's able to perceive that the instructions would ultimately lead to endangering human life, which violates rule #1. Computer ethics overall seems like a cool thing to look into further.
Looking forward to more posts; it's cool to be able to network with you and others who are doing important thinking in this space of innovation and the future of tech. Hope your experience teaching this semester is going well; hopefully as little stressful as possible despite the pandemic.
Alasdair