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Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Rather than derail the baby Hitler thread (albeit already so) I thought I would start a new one. This deals with a similar ethical situation.
I had mentioned the "trolley problem" there and a couple other places and there seemed to be a complete lack of acknowledgement. Perhaps it was too complex, strayed too far from the OP or just plain ignored on the hypothetical basis it was set in.
So, here is a real life, non-hypothetical "trolley problem" that will affect society immensely. With the advent of driverless cars, how should the cars be programmed?
A car breaks down around a curve on a steep hill. A child runs out in the street or the driver steps out to grab the tire that got away. The driverless car comes around the curve and cannot stop in time. Should the car swerve and end up going over the edge and kill the passengers or should it sacrifice the pedestrian in favor of the passengers?
This is not about "The pedestrian should not be there", that is a moot point, the pedestrian is there, what now?
What? You would not get a driverless car so it does not matter? Except that it was your manual car (or a loved one's) that broke down around the corner as the kid got a wild hair up their ass and ran out into the street (albeit only for a moment).
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 8:23 pm
Driverless cars are the idiocy of the decade. I certainly hope, we don't reach the point of moving all responsibility to computers and software. Not even planes go as far. The pilot can always interfere.
Yes, human error may be responsible for a lot of shit, but computers aren't infallible either.
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 8:25 pm
(This post was last modified: November 16, 2015 at 8:26 pm by Napoléon.)
Whatever the car does it's going to end up with an undesirable result.
The problem with this scenario is it assumes the car has a brain and can 'choose' to do something.
The car will do whatever it's programmed to do. Be that swerving off a cliff or ramming the shit out of a kid in the middle of the road.
This doesn't seem like a moral issue to me. Not for the car anyway.
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 8:26 pm
Quote: Should the car swerve and end up going over the edge and kill the passengers or should it sacrifice the pedestrian in favor of the passengers?
The car should work for the benefit of the person who owns it. Flatten anyone who gets in its way.
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 8:30 pm
(November 16, 2015 at 8:23 pm)abaris Wrote: Driverless cars are the idiocy of the decade.
May perhaps, but that is also a moot point, they are here and they can affect us and our loved ones, regardless of ownership.
I think that the cars should only be under computer control in controlled sections that forbid any pedestrian traffic at all and any pedestrian would then be considered fair game.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 8:37 pm
(This post was last modified: November 16, 2015 at 8:37 pm by IATIA.)
(November 16, 2015 at 8:25 pm)Napoléon Wrote: The problem with this scenario is it assumes the car has a brain and can 'choose' to do something.
It is not the car, but rather the dilemma presented to the programmers. With 'fuzzy logic' and significantly better AI, I think the car will be able to make to make a 'good' choice perhaps in another 20-50 years. As albaris says, "Driverless cars are the idiocy of the decade", but they are here now and the question is how the decision making process (that cannot even spell check properly) will be employed.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 8:54 pm
The car is going to do its best to try not to kill anyone. The same as any responsible driver. I'm not sure how this is an ethical issue, or anything. It will be programmed to avoid pedestrians, while avoiding careening off a clif, and will do what it cn to avoid both. That is what anyone or anything in control of a care should do.
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 9:00 pm
(This post was last modified: November 16, 2015 at 9:01 pm by Napoléon.)
(November 16, 2015 at 8:37 pm)IATIA Wrote: but they are here now and the question is how the decision making process (that cannot even spell check properly) will be employed.
Are they though?
It reminds me of how people thought airships were a great idea until the Hindenburg disaster. It's like the only people who bang on about driverless cars are so utterly blinded by the fantasy of it, instead of seeing the blatant stupidity.
I don't think they'll ever catch on personally, and these moral quandaries are one of the main reasons. That and the fact that it will only take one car to fuck up and run over someone and the whole driverless car pipedream dies just like airships did.
Least that's what I predict. /tangent
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 10:52 pm
The car needs to react in the way that it creates the least liability for the company that put it on the road.
How's that for cynical.
I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem.
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RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
November 16, 2015 at 10:59 pm
I am sure that will be the final answer.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
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