scholarly journals Should Violence Against Robots be Banned?

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamil Mamak
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
Positive Answer ◽  
Drinking Alcohol ◽  
Public Morality ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Made In

AbstractThis paper addresses the following question: “Should violence against robots be banned?” Such a question is usually associated with a query concerning the moral status of robots. If an entity has moral status, then concomitant responsibilities toward it arise. Despite the possibility of a positive answer to the title question on the grounds of the moral status of robots, legal changes are unlikely to occur in the short term. However, if the matter regards public violence rather than mere violence, the issue of the moral status of robots may be avoided, and legal changes could be made in the short term. Prohibition of public violence against robots focuses on public morality rather than on the moral status of robots. The wrongness of such acts is not connected with the intrinsic characteristics of robots but with their performance in public. This form of prohibition would be coherent with the existing legal system, which eliminates certain behaviors in public places through prohibitions against acts such as swearing, going naked, and drinking alcohol.

COMMENTARY ON JUDGMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL OF 10 DECEMBER 2014, K 52/13

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (XXI) ◽  
pp. 295-306
Author(s):  
Klaudia Buratowska
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Moral Problem ◽  
Public Morality ◽  
Reference Number ◽  
Constitutional Tribunal ◽  
Legislative Changes ◽  
Made In

This gloss is critical and raises issues related to limiting the protection of animal rights to their humane treatment, caring for their welfare, by completely allowing the ritual slaughter of animals, without their prior stunning, as is the case in Judaic or Muslim religious rites. Over the course of almost 20 years, as many as five legislative changes have been made in Poland in this regard, therefore the issue of the ritual of killing animals without first depriving them of consciousness is a very important ethical and moral problem. The long-awaited judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal on the admissibility of slaughtering animals for religious purposes was to put an end to this. In the voted judgment, the Constitutional Tribunal stated that the constitutional freedom to manifest religion - that is, the admissibility of ritual slaughter of animals - is superior to the protection of animal rights and does not pose a threat to public morality. Beginning with the scope of the applicant’s legitimacy, i.e. its legitimacy and exceeding the limits of the demands, the assessment of the weighing of competing constitutional values, the failure to develop a coherent and uniform position in the case in question, the adoption of erroneous assumptions, inaccuracies, it can be clearly stated that the judgment and (reference number K 52/13) does not solve the problem of ritual slaughter of animals in Poland, and introduces even greater chaos and disorder to the current legal system.

scholarly journals China's Responsiveness to Internet Opinion: A Double-Edged Sword

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Hassid
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Mass Opinion ◽  
Official Corruption ◽  
Made In

Despite its authoritarian bent, the Chinese government quickly and actively moves to respond to public pressure over misdeeds revealed and discussed on the internet. Netizens have reacted with dismay to news about natural and man-made disasters, official corruption, abuse of the legal system and other prominent issues. Yet in spite of the sensitivity of such topics and the persistence of China's censorship apparatus, Beijing usually acts to quickly address these problems rather than sweeping them under the rug. This paper discusses the implications of China's responsiveness to online opinion. While the advantages of a responsive government are clear, there are also potential dangers lurking in Beijing's quickness to be swayed by online mass opinion. First, online opinion makers are demographically skewed toward the relative “winners” in China's economic reforms, a process that creates short-term stability but potentially ensures that in the long run the concerns of less fortunate citizens are ignored. And, second, the increasing power of internet commentary risks warping the slow, fitful – but genuine – progress that China has made in recent years toward reforming its political and legal systems.

Validation of On-line Respiration Meter and its Applications by Computer Simulation

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1355-1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
C-W. Kim ◽  
H. Spanjers ◽  
A. Klapwijk
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Respiration Rate ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Mass Balances ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Respiration Rates ◽  
On Line ◽  
Made In

An on-line respiration meter is presented to monitor three types of respiration rates of activated sludge and to calculate effluent and influent short term biochemical oxygen demand (BODst) in the continuous activated sludge process. This work is to verify if the calculated BODst is reliable and the assumptions made in the course of developing the proposed procedure were acceptable. A mathematical model and a dynamic simulation program are written for an activated sludge model plant along with the respiration meter based on mass balances of BODst and DO. The simulation results show that the three types of respiration rate reach steady state within 15 minutes under reasonable operating conditions. As long as the respiration rate reaches steady state the proposed procedure calculates the respiration rate that is equal to the simulated. Under constant and dynamic BODst loading, the proposed procedure is capable of calculating the effluent and influent BODst with reasonable accuracy.

Literalism and Moral Status

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Figdor
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Moral Standing ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Moral Boundaries ◽  
Psychological Capacities

Chapter 9 presents the idea that Literalism undermines current social and moral boundaries for moral status. Possession of psychological capacities, moral standing, and respectful treatment are a standard package deal. So either many more beings enjoy moral status than we now think, or the relative superiority of human moral status over other beings is diminished. It introduces the role of psychological ascriptions in drawing social and moral boundaries by examining dehumanization and anthropomorphism. It argues that in the short term Literalism does not motivate us to do more than make minor adjustments to current moral boundaries. We can distinguish the kinds of psychological capacities that matter for moral status from the kinds that best divide nature at its joints. In the long run, however, Literalism prompts us to reconsider the anthropocentric standards that govern current moral boundaries.

Zur Mehrsprachigkeit in der Schweiz und im schweizerischen Rechtssystem

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Bielawski
Keyword(s):  
French Text ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Swiss Confederation ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
Made In

AbstractThe article analyses how the Swiss Confederation regulates its multilingualism and the role the official languages play in the legislative and judicial processes of this country. It is proved here that the legislation in Switzerland is not made in all four official languages, hence it depends on translation. Considering that only German and French text versions of Swiss laws are aligned to each other, the article further examines whether the differences existing between the language versions of these legal texts lead to pragmatic divergences. Against this backdrop, the article considers whether the legal system of the multilingual Switzerland can be called multilingual.

The "Right to Die": A Case Study in American Lawmaking*

1996 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-74
Author(s):  
Alan Meisel
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Judicial Process ◽  
Clinical Issue ◽  
The Press ◽  
American Law ◽  
American Legal System ◽  
The Right ◽  
Made In

AbstractIn the 20 years that have passed since the Karen Quinlan case exposed a simmering clinical issue to the light of day — more precisely, to the press and to judicial process — a consensus has developed in American law about how end-of-life decisionmaking should occur. To be sure, there are dissenting voices from this consensus, but they are often (though not always) about minor issues. By illustrating how this consensus has evolved, this paper explores how law is made in the American legal system and the roles that different legal and extra-legal institutions play in lawmaking.

scholarly journals Visions of Human Futures in Space and SETI

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason T. Wright ◽  
Michael P. Oman-Reagan
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Dark Matter Particle ◽  
Short Term ◽  
National Science ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Far Future ◽  
Made In

We discuss how visions for the futures of humanity in space and SETI are intertwined, and are shaped by prior work in the fields and by science fiction. This appears in the language used in the fields, and in the sometimes implicit assumptions made in discussions of them. We give examples from articulations of the so-called Fermi Paradox, discussions of the settlement of the Solar System (in the near future) and the Galaxy (in the far future), and METI. We argue that science fiction, especially the campy variety, is a significant contributor to the ‘giggle factor’ that hinders serious discussion and funding for SETI and Solar System settlement projects. We argue that humanity's long-term future in space will be shaped by our short-term visions for who goes there and how. Because of the way they entered the fields, we recommend avoiding the term ‘colony’ and its cognates when discussing the settlement of space, as well as other terms with similar pedigrees. We offer examples of science fiction and other writing that broaden and challenge our visions of human futures in space and SETI. In an appendix, we use an analogy with the well-funded and relatively uncontroversial searches for the dark matter particle to argue that SETI's lack of funding in the national science portfolio is primarily a problem of perception, not inherent merit.Also on arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.05318Please cite this version:Wright, Jason T., and Michael P. Oman-Reagan. “Visions of Human Futures in Space and SETI.” International Journal of Astrobiology, 2017, 1–12. doi:10.1017/S1473550417000222.

scholarly journals Progress in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-122
Author(s):  
Jodi M. Smith ◽  
Vikas R. Dharnidharka
Keyword(s):  
Kidney Transplantation ◽  
Graft Survival ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Allocation Policy ◽  
Pediatric Kidney Transplantation ◽  
Timely Access ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Made In

Significant progress has been made in pediatric kidney transplantation. Advances in immunosuppression have dramatically decreased rates of acute rejection leading to improved short term graft survival but similar improvements in long term graft survival remain elusive. Changes in allocation policy provide the pediatric population with timely access to transplant but there remains concern about the impact of less HLA matching and a decrease in living donors. This report presents data from North America on these successes and the ongoing challenges that face the pediatric transplant community.

The 1981 Elections and the Changing Fortunes of the Israeli Labour Party

1981 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 432-446
Author(s):  
Yael Azmon
Keyword(s):  
Time Perspective ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Made In

ONE OF THE INNOVATIONS OF THE 1981 ELECTIONS IN ISRAEL which caught the eye, was the frequent use of ‘this time’ in campaign slogans. ‘This time only the Labour Alignment!’ ‘This time the Likud!’ shouted the slogans from all the billboards. This is an appeal to political support based on a short-term time perspective. This appeal differs greatly from that which characterized the Israeli ideological, mass-membership parties in previous periods.The change in party slogans is a response to changes in the electorate. These changes in the electorate are most clearly reflected in the magnitude of the ‘undecided‘ vote and of its oscillation between different parties. The ‘undecided’ vote which used to be very low, amounted to about 40 per cent according to polls made in 1977 in the preelection period, and to about 30 per cent in the period preceding the 1981 elections. Moreover, the polls pointed to a particularly great oscillation of the electorate in the pre-1981 election period: the political forecast in December 1980 was around 60 Labour seats and around 28 Likud seats. In the beginnin of June 1981, the pendulum swung. The forecast for Labour fell to 30-33 seats while of Likud rose to 47 or even 49 seats. In the elections the race between Likud and Labour was very close. The results were 47 to Labour and 48 to Likud (as against 32 Labour and 43 Likud in 1977).

scholarly journals Do You Have to Reply to This Paper?

Philosophia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saul Smilansky
Keyword(s):  
Positive Answer ◽  
Special Obligations ◽  
Made In

AbstractI explore the question of whether one has to reply to a paper such as this, and consider what a positive answer (in any respect) would teach us. I argue for a qualified Yes. By “reply” I refer to an attempt to write a paper responding to the original one, which addresses (some of) the major claims made in it. I first ask what philosophical papers are for, and note the important role played by replies to them. I consider special obligations to reply to philosophical papers; and the weaker pro tanto obligations that might exist for most professional philosophers. Finally, I consider objections to my claims; and the broader implications if my case is plausible.

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