Philosopher Jason Millar claims to have originated the idea of the ethically challenged self-driving car in a 2014 paper on robotics...
In the “The Tunnel Problem,” Millar’s driverless car (let’s call her Porsche again) is fast approaching a narrow tunnel, the entrance of which is blocked by a child who has fallen in the roadway. The car can either kill the kid or hit the wall of the tunnel, killing the driver (who is really just a passenger).
— Daniel Albert | N+1
"Millar insists programmers need to build such scenarios into their code. I imagine them writing something like this:
if (kid_in_tunnel > 16) {
kill kid_in_tunnel;
lp “We are sorry for your loss.”;
}
else {
kill ass_in_Porsche;
lp “Serves you right, schmucko.”;
}"
For more on the fast-approaching world of self-driving automobiles, check out these links:
3 Comments
"The car can either kill the kid or hit the wall of the tunnel, killing the driver (who is really just a passenger)."
I find the Idea that the human Car driver gets demoted to passenger instead of promoted to Captain, or even Admiral, as the most objectionable moral statement in the entire debate about self-driving cars.
In the narrow case provided, any fool who trusts has life to a program they didn't write themselves, and agreed to climb in anyway ought to expect, if not deserve,
if (mammal_in_tunnel)
Then kill ass_in_Porsche;
lp “Serves you right, schmucko.”;
}"
“You know why I’ll never have a robot car?” asked the bloviator, turning his attention to me. “At some point, my car is going to have a choice between hitting a semi and hitting a minivan full of kids. It’s going to run me into the truck. I don’t want to die.”
i literally had this happen to me, and chose the semi. this is speculation, but i don't think the kids in the minivan wanted to die either. the truck driver was upset that i could have damaged a million dollars worth of whatever junk he was carrying though (once he saw that i wasn't hurt).
why assume humans would make a better, and especially more 'moral,' choice compared to a computer or a machine? who decides the difference between right and wrong? i'd give that task to larry and sergi over the catholic church or hillary clinton every time.
All cars are unethical, driverless or otherwise. Public transit is the only ethical choice, because buses and trains never hit anyone.
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