scholarly journals Moral Psychology and Artificial Agents (Part Two)

Author(s):  
Michael Laakasuo ◽  
Jukka R. I. Sundvall ◽  
Anton Berg ◽  
Marianna Drosinou ◽  
Volo Herzon ◽  
...  

Part 1 concluded by introducing the concept of the new ontological category – explaining how our cognitive machinery does not have natural and intuitive understanding of robots and AIs, unlike we have for animals, tools, and plants. Here the authors review findings in the moral psychology of robotics and transhumanism. They show that many peculiarities arise from the interaction of human cognition with robots, AIs, and human enhancement technologies. Robots are treated similarly, but not completely, like humans. Some such peculiarities are explained by mind perception mechanisms. On the other hand, it seems that transhumanistic technologies like brain implants and mind uploading are condemned, and the condemnation is motivated by our innate sexual disgust sensitivity mechanisms.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Laakasuo ◽  
Anton Berg ◽  
Jukka Sundvall ◽  
Marianna Drosinou ◽  
Volo Herzon ◽  
...  

In this chapter, we will provide theoretical background of discussion on issues related to AIs. Some of the main topics, theories and frameworks are mind perception and moral cognition, moral psychology, evolutionary psychology, trans-humanism and ontological categories shaped by evolution.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Karinen ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur ◽  
Reinout E. de Vries

A broad literature indicates that pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity relate to, among other things, political attitudes, moral condemnation, and symptoms of psychopathology. As such, instruments measuring disgust sensitivity have been widely used across subfields of psychology. Yet, surprisingly little work has examined whether self-reports in disgust sensitivity reflect systematic trait variation. Here, we present the first study to examine self-other agreement in pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity. Romantic partners (n1 = 290), friends (n2 = 212) and acquaintances (n3 = 140) rated each other on these three domains of disgust sensitivity and on the HEXACO personality dimensions. Correlations between dyad partners’ self- and other-ratings were calculated to estimate the magnitude of self-other agreement. We found self-other agreement in all domains of disgust sensitivity (r’s of .36, .46, and .66 for moral, pathogen, and sexual disgust sensitivity, respectively), with this agreement only slightly inferred from personality perceptions (percentages mediated by HEXACO were 15%, 7%, and 33% for pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity, respectively). These results suggest that pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity reflect systematic trait variation that is detectable by others and distinct from broader personality traits.


2018 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 313-328
Author(s):  
Sylvia Terbeck ◽  
Kathryn B. Francis

AbstractIn this chapter we will review experimental evidence related to pharmacological moral enhancement. Firstly, we will present our recent study in which we found that a drug called propranolol could change moral judgements. Further research, which also investigated this, found similar results. Secondly, we will discuss the limitations of such approaches, when it comes to the idea of general “human enhancement”. Whilst promising effects on certain moral concepts might be beneficial to the development of theoretical moral psychology, enhancement of human moral behaviour in general – to our current understanding – has more side-effects than intended effects, making it potentially harmful. We give an overview of misconceptions when taking experimental findings beyond the laboratory and discuss the problems and solutions associated with the psychological assessment of moral behaviour. Indeed, how is morality “measured” in psychology, and are those measures reliable?


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianyong Meng ◽  
Xuesong Zhang ◽  
Mingxiang Yang ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Ji Chen ◽  
...  

The temporal and spatial differentiation of the underlying surface in East Asia is complex. Due to a lack of meteorological observation data, human cognition and understanding of the surface processes (runoff, snowmelt, soil moisture, water production, etc.) in the area have been greatly limited. With the Heihe River Basin, a poorly gauged region in the cold region of Western China, selected as the study area, three meteorological datasets are evaluated for their suitability to drive the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): China Meteorological Assimilation Driving Datasets for the SWAT model (CMADS), Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), and Traditional Weather Station (TWS). Resultingly, (1) the runoff output of CMADS + SWAT mode is generally better than that of the other two modes (CFSR + SWAT and TWS + SWAT) and the monthly and daily Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency ranges of the CMADS + SWAT mode are 0.75–0.95 and 0.58–0.77, respectively; (2) the CMADS + SWAT and TWS + SWAT results were fairly similar to the actual data (especially for precipitation and evaporation), with the results produced by CMADS + SWAT lower than those produced by TWS + SWAT; (3) the CMADS + SWAT mode has a greater ability to reproduce water balance than the other two modes. Overestimation of CFSR precipitation results in greater error impact on the uncertainty output of the model, whereas the performances of CMADS and TWS are more similar. This study addresses the gap in the study of surface processes by CMADS users in Western China and provides an important scientific basis for analyzing poorly gauged regions in East Asia.


2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 80-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietmar H. Heidemann

In the Encyclopaedia Logic, Hegel states that ‘philosophy … contains the sceptical as a moment within itself — specifically as the dialectical moment’ (§81, Addition 2), and that ‘scepticism’ as ‘the dialectical moment itself is an essential one in the affirmative Science’ (§78). On the one hand, the connection between scepticism and dialectic is obvious. Hegel claims that scepticism is a problem that cannot be just removed from the philosophical agenda by knock-down anti-sceptical arguments. Scepticism intrinsically belongs to philosophical thinking; that is to say, it plays a constructive role in philosophical thinking. On the other hand, scepticism has to be construed as the view according to which we cannot know whether our beliefs are true, i.e., scepticism plays a destructive role in philosophy no matter what. It is particularly this role that clashes with Hegel's claim of having established a philosophical system of true cognition of the entirety of reality. In the following I argue that for Hegel the constructive and the destructive role of scepticism are reconcilable. I specifically argue that it is dialectic that makes both consistent since scepticism is a constitutive element of dialectic.In order to show in what sense scepticism is an intrinsic feature of dialectic I begin by sketching Hegel's early view of scepticism specifically with respect to logic and metaphysics. The young Hegel construes logic as a philosophical method of human cognition that inevitably results in ‘sceptical’ consequences in that it illustrates the finiteness of human understanding. By doing so, logic not only nullifies finite understanding but also introduces to metaphysics, i.e., the true philosophical science of the absolute.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
Milos Bogdanovic

In this paper we will try to confront Quine?s and Davidson?s holistic position through Davidson?s thesis of mental as a non-ontological category. In this regard, since Davidson came to this position through the thesis of mental as a decidedly conceptual category, we will try to show how this approach does not, nevertheless, rule out the possibility of its interpretation in ontological terms. However, in what follows we will draw attention to the fact that mental can be interpreted so that it proves to be immune to ontologization in Quine?s sense. This would be the evidence of different ways, which are not necessarily compatible, to argue for Davidson?s central thesis - the thesis about holistic character of mental - as well as, which is closely related, a certain difference that exists between Davidson?s view of mental as a conceptual category on the one hand, and a holistic category on the other hand.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-98
Author(s):  
Zafar Ullah ◽  
Muhammad Uzair ◽  
Arshad Mehmood

Word clouds manifest interactive visuals along with their statistical data. Thus knowledge discovery and aesthetic data visualization interlink to produce interactive word cloud which is an interesting, textual, statistical and visual data. This study aims to generate interactive word cloud—Cirrus—on the basis of statistical data to preview text of the novel for readers. So cirrus tool is selected from Voyant open access tools to produce interactive statistical word cloud. Then the generated word cloud and statistical data are analyzed with mixed method and its analysis draws insight from Rakesh Aggrawal’s Knowledge Discovery Theory which seeks innovative and interesting knowledge patterns. This thematic word cloud verifies already known themes and discovers innovative interesting themes. Current study reveals that all mentioned key themes can be easily extracted from a voluminous novel with the help of Cirrus tool. Key motifs have been presented in the word cloud for the readers. On the other hand, unwritten themes can’t be extracted through machine learning tools, rather it is the task of human cognition. Primarily, this novel based study reveals names of chief characters, for instance “Tommy (496),” “Ruth (455)” and “I (Kathy) (355).” Furthermore, motifs of nostalgic memories with word “remember (143),” “thought (126)” about “Hailsham (203),” “carer (74),” “sex (80),” sex “lectures (8)” have been discovered as a preview. Previewing technique prepares reader’s mind and gives an epigrammatic digital view of the text. The visual themes as knowledgeable word cloud leave an indelible mark on the slate of memory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 103-107
Author(s):  
NATALYA S. RESHETNIKOVA ◽  
◽  
EKATERINA V. GORLOVA ◽  

The article discusses the main approaches to understanding the designated terms in scientific thought in the second half of the XX - early XXI centuries. Within the framework of modern sociocultural research, on the one hand, national traditions are developing in defining the concepts of "culture" and "civilization", on the other, new connotations are being created. According to the authors of the article, the considered approaches to determining the meanings of the phenomena of culture and civilization are the most significant, revealing the essence of modern society. Culture appears as: an anthropological category, reflecting the creative activity of a person, as an ontological category, suggesting that outside of culture there is no meaningful and meaningful human being; as an axiological category representing a system for storing and transmitting spiritual experience, values and ideals. Civilization acts as a praxeological category that characterizes the level of social and technological development of society, which is characterized by alienation from natural life, the priority of social values over environmental ones, and the transformative-deforming nature of activity.


Author(s):  
José M. Galván ◽  
Rocci Luppicini

What are the boundaries of humanity and the human body within our evolving technological society? Within the field of technoethics, inquiry into the origins of the species is both a biological and ethical question as scholars attempt to grapple with conflicting views of what it means to be human and what attributes are core to human beings within the era of human enhancement technologies. Based on a historical and conceptual analysis, this chapter uses a technoethical lens to discuss defining characteristics of the human species as homo technicus. Under this framework, both symbolic capacity and technical ability are assumed to be grounded within the free and ethical nature of human beings. Ideas derived from Modernity and Postmodernity are drawn upon to provide a more encompassing view of humans that accommodates both its technical and ethical dimensions as homo technicus.


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