Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mgobbi@cs.ubc.ca (Mike Gobbi) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Who will teach morals to computers? Message-ID: Date: 22 Oct 90 06:29:38 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Lines: 28 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu No matter how sophisticated programs and computers get, they will never be conscious as we understand the term (I am a computer science student and have studied this question in on of my courses, so I am pretty confident in my statement). The programs will no more have "morality" than does an animal trap. Some PEOPLE will write programs that come to "immoral" conclusions, and others will write software that comes to "moral" conclusions. Nobody teaches the computer what is right or wrong -- that is built in by the designer and the users. I suspect that the decisions these computers make will be EXACTLY the same decisions that humans in the same situation would make (only faster). Thus, if you want to enforce morality, you have to ensure that the laws are moral. Coincidentally enough, this is already being done. The abortion issue and euthenasia issue are two medical problems that spring to mind. How can we complain that a computer has issues an immoral judgement when we allow a person to issue the same judgement now? On the legal side there are many questions relating to homeless, jobless, and opressed situations. Just as in the medical profession, there is no consensus here on what is correct. I think worrying about what computers MIGHT do is far less important than worrying about what society IS doing right now. -- __ /..\ In quest of knowledge.... --mm--mm-- Mike Gobbi