IP: Ethics for Machines

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 17:03:20 -0400
> To: farber () central cis upenn edu (David Farber)
> From: Jean Armour Polly <mom () netmom com>
>
> I found this on http://nanodot.org/  a Slashdot for nanotechnology and its 
> social effects.
>
> Ethics for Machines



> J. Storrs Hall, PhD.



> http://discuss.foresight.org/~josh/ethics.html
> "Suppose, instead, we can build (or become) machines that can not only run 
> faster, jump higher, dive deeper, and come up drier than we can, but have 
> moral senses similarly more capable? Beings that can see right and wrong 
> through the political garbage dump of our legal system; corporations one 
> would like to have as a friend (or would let ones daughter marry); 
> governments less likely to lie than your neighbor is. "
>
> "I could argue at length (but will not, here) that a society including 
> superethical machines would not only be better for people to live in, but 
> stronger and more dynamic than ours is today. What is more, not only 
> ethical evolution but most of the classical ethical theories, if warped to 
> admit the possibility, (and of course the religions!) seem to allow the 
> conclusion that having creatures both wiser *and morally superior* to 
> humans might just be a good idea."