Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian
From: sc1u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Stephen Chan)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Who will teach morals to computers?
Message-ID: <Oct.29.00.40.12.1990.11179@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 90 05:40:15 GMT
Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

>Excerpts from netnews.soc.religion.christian: 22-Oct-90 Re: Who will
teach morals t.. Mike Gobbi@cs.ubc.ca (1436)
>
> >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.

	Having studied Epistemology, Computer Science, and Cognitive Psychology
(not that any of that means anything), I would have to say that the 
general question of consciousness or intentionality in machines is still
very much up in the air. If your professor lead you to believe that the
question is settled, then he has provided a biased assessment of the
problem.
	
	Original question is a little far fetched. Unless AI paradigms take a
quantum leap, any AI application will only be clever, single purpose
machines. None of the current AI paradigms is even close to creating an
autonomous intelligence, capable of free will and moral choice. If you
do not have free will, then you cannot be a moral agent. In which case
the developers of the system will be culpable for any activity of the
system. 
	Who will teach morals to laser satellites?

		Stephen Chan