I have been given the opportunity to give expert testimony on the philosophical issues that pertain to Dennett in the short story, “Where Am I?”. Dennett believes that he is being controlled by two people, and that he deserves a new body to separate the two distinct entities. NASA denies Dennett’s claim, and is not willing to succumb to Dennett’s demand for a new body. With this issue brought to court, I am here to offer advice to the court on this matter and offer my thoughts on what they should be considering. The current sub issue is whether or not Hubert (the computer algorithm mind controlling Dennett) is morally responsible. I will detail what is needed for Hubert to be considered morally responsible, and then I will try to show why I believe that Hubert can indeed be morally responsible. For Hubert to be morally responsible, …show more content…
This is very difficult to prove or disprove, due to the limited information that has been given to us. We first find out that Dennett has two distinct entities at the end of “Where Am I?” and even though we do not know which mind is Hubert and which mind is Yorick, we are able to see notice that the behavior of each mind was consistent with rational beings. One mind, let 's call him mind A, was highly concerned about his personal identity, and the prospect of two Dennett’s staking a claim to one body. The other mind, mind B was thrilled to have been let out of “purgatory” and was adamant about a new end, finding a new body for them to be separated. Mind B was also concerned about the well being of mind A, and the means of which will be taken to determine whether minds A or mind B is going to be the one to keep Dennett’s body. This indicates that both mind A and B are both rational beings that are capable of moral
The reading “Stranger Than True” by Barry Winston is not familiar to me, yet an intriguing and fascinating story. The principal point of the writer, who specializes in criminal law tried to convey was that everything isn't so black and white. Everybody is honest until demonstrated blameworthy despite all proof points against them.
I am used to living a very busy life style, so I never paid close attention to where my food was originating from. Usually when I look at my food it is more to find out its nutritional value rather than its origins. After reading Kelsey Timmerman’s “Where Am I Eating?”, it has opened my eyes to some of the horrors of the food industry. Regardless of what I have learned, changing my eating habits would be very challenging, and I do not believe it is entirely necessary. Yes, there are many negatives in the global food economy, but it is not totally corrupt as Timmerman suggests. I believe it would be very difficult to change because of the many misleading food labels, the United States has become unfamiliar with how to produce for the entirety
The title of this essay “Silence and the Notion of the Commons” gives the same idea of people as programmable and unprogrammable similar to the idea seen in the Matrix. Whereas programmable people, who are the commons, are the people inside the matrix they are also known as the sheep, the people that believe in everything they are told. The unprogrammable people, who are the silence, are the people outside of the matrix. Ursula Franklin uses a variety of techniques in order for the audience to fully understand her message, and to inform them of the topics discussed in her essay, as is particularly apparent in paragraph 5 of her essay “Silence and the Notion of the Commons.”
In this paper, I will explore ethical issues to the artificial intelligence. In Wallach and Allen coauthored “Moral machines: teaching robots right from wrong”, they explore on many theories and practical issues for AMAs. I will use this book to interpret Wallach and Allen’s ideas of ethical design.
We will discuss on the article of Intentional System Theory by a philosopher Daniel Dennett. The argument that we are going to use from this theory is about the intentional theory where Daniel Dennett thinks that both human and objects have beliefs and desires and from that the behaviors can be interpreted. From the article itself, Intentional System Theory is defined as an analysis of the meanings where people use the terms such as ‘believe’, ‘desire’, ‘expect’, ‘decide’, and ‘intend’ or in the terms of ‘folk psychology’ that we use to interpret, explain, and predict the behavior of other human beings including ourselves, animals and some artifacts such as robots and computers (Daniel, 2009).
Warrick, Patricia S. "Science Fiction Images of Computers and Robots." The Cybernetic Imagination. N.p.: The MIT, 1980. 53-79. Rpt. in Contemporary Lieterary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 53-56. Print.
Computers are well known for their ability to perform computations and follow a list of instructions, but can a computer be a mind? There are varying philosophical theories on what constitutes a mind. Some believe that the mind must be a physical object, and others believe in dualism, or the idea that the mind is separate from the brain. I am a firm believer in dualism, and this is part of the argument that I will use in the favor of Dennett. The materialist view however, would likely not consider Hubert to be a mind. That viewpoint believes that all objects are physical objects, so the mind is a physical part of a human brain, and thus this viewpoint doesn’t consider the mind and body as two separate things, but instead they are both parts of one object. The materialist would likely reject Hubert as a mind, even though circuit boards are a physical object, although even a materialist would likely agree that Yorick being separated from Dennett does not disqualify Yorick as a mind. If one adopts a dualism view and accept the idea that the mind does not have to be connected to a physical object, then one can make sense of Hubert being able to act as the mind of Dennett. The story told to us by Dennett, is that when the switch is flipped on his little box attached to his body, the entity that controls Dennett, changes to the other entity. Since the switches are not labeled, it is never known which entity is
This sentence is a great transition from the previous paragraph into the topic of this paragraph, which is the ethical analysis of an artificial intelligence choosing between two bad situations. Artificial intelligence raises two main problems. The first is a classic ethical dilemma; what is morally correct when choosing between two bad situations? The second question is unique to the discussion about artificial intelligence; how do we precisely and accurately define the morally correct choice? In an attempt to answer these questions, we consider the classic trolley problem.
Donna Haraway’s 1984 “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an enduring essay unceasingly analyzed, critiqued, and adored by scholars and students. The piece, in which Haraway uses the cyborg as a metaphor to scrutinize hegemonic problems and refuse the binary, claims that “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion.” In other words, like the cyborg who cannot distinguish whether it is a machine or an organism, in society there is no difference between male and female; rich and poor; black and white. There is only gray, and there are countless shades of it. “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an influential essay that has been relevant to the past and is still relevant to the present. Hence, it is no surprise that it has inspired
Saletan, William. "Tinkering With Humans." New York Times Book Review. 08 Jul. 2007: 7. eLibrary. Web. 18 May. 2014.
Millar P. H. “On the point of the Imitation Game.” Mind, New Series, Vol. 82,
A person cannot be considered human if their thoughts are controlled by someone else. In Brave New World, children are conditioned to believe what the world state wants them to believe. A technological advancement, known as hypnopedia, can be used for moral teaching. During a child’s sleep, an incessant voice tells the child to follow behaviors that are beneficial to society. The hypnopedia, for example, can tell the world state motto, “Community, Identity, Stability” (Huxley 1). In Brave New World, a person no longer has free will because they are implanted with ideas on how to live. In Do androids Dream of Electri...
Links999. Ethical and moral issues regarding artificial intelligence. Links999.org, 24 Apr. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. .
In this paper, I will argue that we have free will for our actions and our moral responsibilities. Free will is a big part in life. We have free will, but there are times where there is no free will. In the world we live in today, we really don’t always have free will.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a Steven Spielberg science fiction drama film, which tells the story of a younger generation robot, David, who yearns for his human mother’s love. David’s character stimulates the mind-body question. What is the connection between our “minds” and our bodies? It is apparent that we are personified entities, but also, that we embrace “more” than just our bodies. “Human persons are physical, embodied beings and an important feature of God’s intended design for human life” (Cortez, 70).