Mind Matters News and Analysis on Natural and Artificial Intelligence

CategoryEthics

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1970s television and speakers
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 7, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Social Factors, Technocracy
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Science Confronts Credibility Issues?

Not to worry, prestigious researchers blame them on social media trolls and bots
Denyse O'Leary
December 7, 2018
Ethics, Social Factors, Technocracy
And another thing: The researchers phoned the Seventies and asked them to please come back. Soon. Seriously, that’s the impression I get from reading a paper in PNAS, stemming from the National Academy of Sciences’ Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium November 2017 Read More ›
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Man with red paint flowing from eyes
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
December 3, 2018
Categorized
Ethics
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AI and the Future of Murder

If I kill you but upload your mind into an android, did I murder you or just modify you?
Jonathan Bartlett
December 3, 2018
Ethics
The sci-fi TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013– ) tackled this question in an episode titled “Self Control”.  Scientist Holden Radcliffe has an android assistant appropriately named Aida (Artificial Intelligence Digital Assistant). Together, they build a virtual world that people could be plugged into and uploaded into, called The Framework. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
November 19, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Facial Recognition Aids Persecution of Chinese Christians, Muslims

Western companies still seek business ties with an increasingly authoritarian regime
Mind Matters
November 19, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
The crackdown on religion is said to stem from Xi Jinping, who became President in 2012. After he got term limits removed in March 2018, some have begun to privately call him “Emperor Xi.” Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
November 9, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Can Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, save it from humanity?

Berners-Lee has launched a global campaign for a Magna Carta to “protect people’s rights online from threats such as fake news, prejudice and hate”
Mind Matters
November 9, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
Not everyone sees Berners-Lee’s project as realistic. For one thing, acquiring and using masses of personal data without consent is the very basis of the business of the big social media companies, who are more powerful than many nation states. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
November 2, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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A chilling snippet from mass surveillance in China

China is helping other countries restrict their citizens’ internet, while shunning the U.S.
Mind Matters
November 2, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
Overall, governments worldwide are restricting the freedom of the internet, especially around election times, and the big social media companies are conspicuous by their silence.   Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 30, 2018
Categorized
Ethics
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Peaceful code of conduct sparks rage in Silicon Valley

Hi tech firm’s code, based on ancient monks’ practice, deemed “just disgusting”
Mind Matters
October 30, 2018
Ethics
Whether or not the Rule of St. Benedict is suited to a high tech workplace, the strategy of frightening or policing people out of bad behavior implies low expectations. One thing it means is, there will be many more news stories about harassment to come. Read More ›
End of the road. Precipice, indicated by signs. 3d render
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post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 29, 2018
Categorized
Ethics
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There is no universal moral machine

The “Moral Machine” project aimed at righteous self-driving cars revealed stark differences in global values
Mind Matters
October 29, 2018
Ethics
Whatever the causes of cultural differences, Brendan Dixon thinks that the Moral Machine presents mere caricatures of moral problems anyway. “The program reduces everything to a question of who gets hurt. There are no shades of gray or degrees of hurt. It is, as is so often with computers, simply black or white, on or off. None of the details that make true moral decisions hard and interesting remain.” Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 1, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Are sex robots a cure for loneliness?

Maybe, in a culture where people see themselves as machines
Mind Matters
October 1, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
Nancy Pearcey, who is the author of Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality, reminds us that the most popular metaphor for the universe today is a vast machine. Read More ›
Woman with digital headset sensor connected to her ear, reading brain impulses
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 29, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Social Factors
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Google is collecting data on schoolkids

Some say it’s okay because the firm supplies a lot of free software and hardware to schools
Mind Matters
September 29, 2018
Ethics, Social Factors
Many parents may not be content to let matters rest there; they might prefer to pay taxes for school equipment and have less surveillance in our lives overall. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 25, 2018
Categorized
Ethics
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Google Powering China’s Snoop Culture

They’ve suppressed the memo but can’t suppress the uproar around it
Mind Matters
September 25, 2018
Ethics
It may at first seem deeply ironic that a Silicon Valley ostensibly committed to liberal values would help to unleash this storm. But a political analyst carefully traces the growth in its enthusiasm for “smart government,” using the tools of information technology for social engineering. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 23, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Digital dictatorship?

China’s “social credit” system coming under scrutiny
Mind Matters
September 23, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
It is not clear that most Chinese people understand the implications yet but many in the industry do. As of September 16, over 1400 Google employees had signed a letter of protest against Google’s involvement in Chinese censorship.   Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 16, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Events, Social Factors
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Coconuts go high tech

Plastics from coconut waste offer economic benefit to poor farmers from crop waste
Mind Matters
September 16, 2018
Ethics, Events, Social Factors
One of Walter Bradley’s longstanding goals as an engineer and materials scientist has been to harness advanced materials technology to help the world’s poor, most of whom are poor farmers. Read More ›
Text Terms and Conditions typed on retro typewriter
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 15, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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The true cost of “free” social media

It’s free but… are we? George Gilder points a way forward.
Denyse O'Leary
September 15, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
He thinks that expected massive increases in computing power will enable blockchain technologies that allow users to safely bypass the global data monopoly that Google and similar firms represent. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 14, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Senior Google scientist quits over Google’s censorship in China

He believes it “contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights”
Mind Matters
September 14, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
Some believe that any censorship system that a human being can develop can somehow be got around by another human being. China may provide a way of testing that.   Read More ›
Personal Bitcoin Wallet with euro coins
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
September 13, 2018
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How Bitcoin Works: The social value of trust

Jonathan Bartlett
September 13, 2018
The idea of employing such a game to guarantee validity in a trustless environment is nothing short of groundbreaking. It is an amazing accomplishment, and I am impressed by it more each time I think about it. However, it does have some drawbacks, which, I think, will ultimately lead to its demise. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 12, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Twitter doesn’t just seem out of control

It actually is.
Mind Matters
September 12, 2018
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
Social media may be changing the world more than we think. And we may need some social leadership in fighting back against Twitter mobs. It probably won’t emerge from within because bullies are usually cowards. Read More ›
Airplane Controls
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 5, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence
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Will killer drones make killing easier?

That, says a bioethicist, depends on who the pilots are
Mind Matters
September 5, 2018
Ethics, Natural Intelligence
Heather Zeiger tells us that traditional aerial combat pilots tend to think the same way when piloting drones from an office but it may be a different story when cell phone addicts, who tend to lack empathy, are recruited. Read More ›