Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. The Lounge
  3. Interesting...

Interesting...

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
htmlcomquestioncareer
75 Posts 29 Posters 0 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • S Stefan_Lang

    Jeremy Falcon wrote:

    And the people living were 6 old people that were murderers and on their way to kill more people?

    In that case lets just program the robotic car of these to fataly crash, removing them from other cars equations ;P Seriously, though: how do you know this is the case? And if you know, why can't the car? Why can't that other people's car? Why can't that other people's car decide and ... oh well, back to my initial statement again ;)

    GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

    S Offline
    S Offline
    SortaCore
    wrote on last edited by
    #34

    This will just bring on more car hacking. Use a car key to send an encoded signal which overflows a correct-key-match buffer and tells the car it really needs to kill all its occupants. National Security and hired assassinations made easy.

    S 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • R R Giskard Reventlov

      Should Robot Cars Be Programmed To Kill You If It Will Save More Lives? [^]

      "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

      R Offline
      R Offline
      Rage
      wrote on last edited by
      #35

      This is really interesting, and was already debated (to some extent) with the Law Zero[^] added to the initial three Laws of Asimov. Practically, there is a huge information difference required to be able to fullfill Law Zero and Law One : You can evaluate easily the facts for one or a bunch of people in a car, but for humanity ? Maybe one of the people that is killed because of the AI decision would have had a big influence on hunanity's destiny (because he was a researcher or a dictator, etc...) So we see that all 4 laws are required for the decision to be the fairest possible, but law 0 cannot be easily implemented. This law would be also the one required to answer properly the question in your post.

      ~RaGE();

      I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus Entropy isn't what it used to.

      R 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • R R Giskard Reventlov

        Should Robot Cars Be Programmed To Kill You If It Will Save More Lives? [^]

        "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

        G Offline
        G Offline
        Gi25
        wrote on last edited by
        #36

        Since we humans can't cope with the thought of letting a computer, in this case a car, decide whether a living creature should survive or not, why should it be able to choose whether a few more lives are more important than a bit less lives? It'll reach the (international) news anyway blaming the computer for its actions. So, let it just gather all the information on the crash, sit back and act like a 3D camera, making sure it is 100% a humans fault someone died. My answer is no.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • J Jeremy Falcon

          mark merrens wrote:

          Should Robot Cars Be Programmed To Kill You If It Will Save More Lives?

          No. No AI bot should ever have the ability to judge the value life. How can it? It has no concept of it. To think people actually have to ask this question.

          Jeremy Falcon

          J Offline
          J Offline
          jeroen1304
          wrote on last edited by
          #37

          Not making a choice is a choice as well. But what if the computer has two options: -Keep driving ahead and kill x pedestrians. ('do nothing') -Steer the car into the nearest tree and kill y passengers. All other possibilities have been evaluated and determined to be physically impossible. (speed too high, braking distance too short, trees on both sides of the road, etc) What should the computer do when there is no 'do nothing'? If the decision of who is killed cannot be made by a computer then it must be escalated to a human. But to which human? -The passengers? -The pedestrians? Both have a personal interest in the decision so neither can be trusted to be fair. Maybe the decision should be deferred to an impartial referee? The computer could warn a government official, present him with all relevant data and then let him make a choice. Or make the decision through a democratic process. Ask a large number of responsible citizens what action hould be taken and then take the most popular course of action. This can be done with modern technology. Just get a notification on your smartphone with a small animation of each option and then tap the one you favor. You could even disguise it as a game.

          K 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • R R Giskard Reventlov

            Should Robot Cars Be Programmed To Kill You If It Will Save More Lives? [^]

            "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

            Y Offline
            Y Offline
            yiangos
            wrote on last edited by
            #38

            I'm surprised that nobody mentioned Asimov so far (at least AFAIK, nobody mentioned him) I believe that the poll is misleading (particularly the part that says "especially if I paid for it". That's just crap to drive people to pick the suicide choice as the "morally correct" one). The two choices set as possible outcomes to the question posed to the robot are: 1. Kill the occupant(s) only. 2. Possibly kill the occupant(s) and occupant(s) of other bot-car(s) as well If the three laws apply, then both of these choices would be rejected immediately as violating the first law (actively killing the occupants, or by doing nothing - i.e. inaction - possibly kill others). The bot-car would probably try to steer away from ALL oncoming traffic, and ALL oncoming traffic would probably try to steer away from the bot-car. In the end all bot-cars would actively try to save their occupants and the occupants of the other bot-cars first, and themselves (i.e. the bots) second.

            Φευ! Εδόμεθα υπό ρηννοσχήμων λύκων! (Alas! We're devoured by lamb-guised wolves!)

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • S SortaCore

              This will just bring on more car hacking. Use a car key to send an encoded signal which overflows a correct-key-match buffer and tells the car it really needs to kill all its occupants. National Security and hired assassinations made easy.

              S Offline
              S Offline
              Stefan_Lang
              wrote on last edited by
              #39

              The premise already is that the robotic car is programmed to kill its occupants under certain conditions (presumably to minimize the overall loss). I merely suggested additional conditions. And, yes, however these conditions are programmed, any software system can and will be hacked and abused. The question is, how much damage will be incurred through abuse, manipulation, or just honest software errors, compared to the damage these systems may avert...

              GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • R R Giskard Reventlov

                Should Robot Cars Be Programmed To Kill You If It Will Save More Lives? [^]

                "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                Mike HankeyM Offline
                Mike HankeyM Offline
                Mike Hankey
                wrote on last edited by
                #40

                Interesting problem, I wonder if the person in the car that's about to slam into the SUV loaded with the family with 4 kids would do if given the choice?

                Along with Antimatter and Dark Matter they've discovered the existence of Doesn't Matter which appears to have no effect on the universe whatsoever! Rich Tennant 5th Wave

                H 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                  Interesting problem, I wonder if the person in the car that's about to slam into the SUV loaded with the family with 4 kids would do if given the choice?

                  Along with Antimatter and Dark Matter they've discovered the existence of Doesn't Matter which appears to have no effect on the universe whatsoever! Rich Tennant 5th Wave

                  H Offline
                  H Offline
                  Herbie Mountjoy
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #41

                  Ok car. Drive over the cliff. Are you sure? Ah, too late... If I I had purchased a 'smart' car that was stupid enough to get into such a situation, I would ask for my money back. That's assuming I survived the crash.

                  I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • J jeroen1304

                    Not making a choice is a choice as well. But what if the computer has two options: -Keep driving ahead and kill x pedestrians. ('do nothing') -Steer the car into the nearest tree and kill y passengers. All other possibilities have been evaluated and determined to be physically impossible. (speed too high, braking distance too short, trees on both sides of the road, etc) What should the computer do when there is no 'do nothing'? If the decision of who is killed cannot be made by a computer then it must be escalated to a human. But to which human? -The passengers? -The pedestrians? Both have a personal interest in the decision so neither can be trusted to be fair. Maybe the decision should be deferred to an impartial referee? The computer could warn a government official, present him with all relevant data and then let him make a choice. Or make the decision through a democratic process. Ask a large number of responsible citizens what action hould be taken and then take the most popular course of action. This can be done with modern technology. Just get a notification on your smartphone with a small animation of each option and then tap the one you favor. You could even disguise it as a game.

                    K Offline
                    K Offline
                    Klaus Werner Konrad
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #42

                    jeroen1304 wrote:

                    But what if the computer has two options:
                    -Keep driving ahead and kill x pedestrians. ('do nothing') -Steer the car into the nearest tree and kill y passengers.

                    Exactly this was the question in the article ...

                    Quote:

                    jeroen1304 wrote:

                    All other possibilities have been evaluated and determined to be physically impossible. (speed too high, braking distance too short, trees on both sides of the road, etc)

                    jeroen1304 wrote:

                    make the decision through a democratic process. Ask a large number of responsible citizens what action hould be taken and then take the most popular course of action.

                    You cannot take this route, 'cause there is no time for it. The decision has to be made in fractions of the next second.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • R R Giskard Reventlov

                      Should Robot Cars Be Programmed To Kill You If It Will Save More Lives? [^]

                      "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                      R Offline
                      R Offline
                      Richard Emerson
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #43

                      I better stop kicking the tires. :-D

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • P PIEBALDconsult

                        I'd rather it spent its cycles slowing the car.

                        You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

                        R Offline
                        R Offline
                        R Giskard Reventlov
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #44

                        I believe the assumption is that it is beyond that - the accident is going to happen.

                        "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • J Jeremy Falcon

                          mark merrens wrote:

                          I don't see why anyone would be upset about this unless they simply reacted without thinking.

                          Well you can be their beta tester. Have fun!

                          Jeremy Falcon

                          R Offline
                          R Offline
                          R Giskard Reventlov
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #45

                          Surely the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the one?

                          "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • K Kyudos

                            I think this is a spurious situation, arising from our innate tendency to anthropomorphise the 'robot'. I don't believe any robot car will ever* be programmed to make this sort of decision in this way. A car will never be able to know who the passengers of another car are, for privacy reasons. They will be (are?) programmed to do everything possible to safely avoid a collision. If the anti-collision routines of both cars cannot avoid colliding, the severity of the crash should be vastly diminished (via braking, evasive action etc. faster than any human could). On some very rare occasions (barring programming errors) a serious crash will be unavoidable, and will occur. A car will never* make any decision about the people riding in it, or in any other vehicle. * at least until a sentient AI is created.

                            R Offline
                            R Offline
                            R Giskard Reventlov
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #46

                            Yeah, think that was pretty much already said.

                            "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • R Rage

                              This is really interesting, and was already debated (to some extent) with the Law Zero[^] added to the initial three Laws of Asimov. Practically, there is a huge information difference required to be able to fullfill Law Zero and Law One : You can evaluate easily the facts for one or a bunch of people in a car, but for humanity ? Maybe one of the people that is killed because of the AI decision would have had a big influence on hunanity's destiny (because he was a researcher or a dictator, etc...) So we see that all 4 laws are required for the decision to be the fairest possible, but law 0 cannot be easily implemented. This law would be also the one required to answer properly the question in your post.

                              ~RaGE();

                              I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus Entropy isn't what it used to.

                              R Offline
                              R Offline
                              R Giskard Reventlov
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #47

                              Indeed though I think everyone is overthinking this. The bots will do everything to prevent an accident and I doubt that they would ever be given the power to decide if the occupants of car a will live and those of car b die. Still, it's fun to discuss the possibilities.

                              "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                              R 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • R R Giskard Reventlov

                                Indeed though I think everyone is overthinking this. The bots will do everything to prevent an accident and I doubt that they would ever be given the power to decide if the occupants of car a will live and those of car b die. Still, it's fun to discuss the possibilities.

                                "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                                R Offline
                                R Offline
                                Rage
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #48

                                I think the car technology will improve safety long before the AI will be able to decide about one's fate, so there are odds that the situation of having to make the choice will never happen.

                                ~RaGE();

                                I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus Entropy isn't what it used to.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • R R Giskard Reventlov

                                  Surely the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the one?

                                  "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                                  J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  Jeremy Falcon
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #49

                                  mark merrens wrote:

                                  Surely the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the one?

                                  Not always, and giving a car the power of God, when a car can't feel compassion or anything for that matter is a bad idea. I'd rather have one person saved that actually did something useful for the world than 5 that were freeloaders. Acting like the issue is so cut and dry is a very primitive way of looking at life.

                                  mark merrens wrote:

                                  "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."

                                  Hey at least we agree on this!

                                  Jeremy Falcon

                                  R 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • R R Giskard Reventlov

                                    Should Robot Cars Be Programmed To Kill You If It Will Save More Lives? [^]

                                    "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                                    P Offline
                                    P Offline
                                    patbob
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #50

                                    "Save the girl!" I doubt we'll ever be able to program all factors that should be considered into that equation of who should die and who is worth preserving. Worse, as soon as that gets programmed into cars, someone somewhere will abuse it by deciding that their life is more valuable than N others and force that to get written into the programming. I don't so much mean individuals, as classes of people -- should we preserve doctors over McDonalds clerks, or political leaders over soldiers? No, cars (or robots in general) should not make these kinds of value-of-human-life decisions. They're better left to us humans, who will make them with incomplete information and totally subjectively, just like we've always done.

                                    We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.

                                    R 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • J Jeremy Falcon

                                      mark merrens wrote:

                                      Surely the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the one?

                                      Not always, and giving a car the power of God, when a car can't feel compassion or anything for that matter is a bad idea. I'd rather have one person saved that actually did something useful for the world than 5 that were freeloaders. Acting like the issue is so cut and dry is a very primitive way of looking at life.

                                      mark merrens wrote:

                                      "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."

                                      Hey at least we agree on this!

                                      Jeremy Falcon

                                      R Offline
                                      R Offline
                                      R Giskard Reventlov
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #51

                                      I think you're being a luddite. I can't see what difference it makes: would you rather leave it to chance?

                                      "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                                      J 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • P patbob

                                        "Save the girl!" I doubt we'll ever be able to program all factors that should be considered into that equation of who should die and who is worth preserving. Worse, as soon as that gets programmed into cars, someone somewhere will abuse it by deciding that their life is more valuable than N others and force that to get written into the programming. I don't so much mean individuals, as classes of people -- should we preserve doctors over McDonalds clerks, or political leaders over soldiers? No, cars (or robots in general) should not make these kinds of value-of-human-life decisions. They're better left to us humans, who will make them with incomplete information and totally subjectively, just like we've always done.

                                        We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.

                                        R Offline
                                        R Offline
                                        R Giskard Reventlov
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #52

                                        patbob wrote:

                                        No, cars (or robots in general) should not make these kinds of value-of-human-life decisions.

                                        Why? what difference does it make. In any case, I believe it will happen as more and more cars become 'intelligent' and especially when they no longer require human interference. You get in and tell it where you want to go, sit back and read a book or watch a movie. The reality is that, except under the most randomly freakish conditions, there are unlikely to be any more vehicular accidents once the bots take charge.

                                        "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                                        P 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • R R Giskard Reventlov

                                          I think you're being a luddite. I can't see what difference it makes: would you rather leave it to chance?

                                          "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                                          J Offline
                                          J Offline
                                          Jeremy Falcon
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #53

                                          mark merrens wrote:

                                          I think you're being a luddite. I can't see what difference it makes: would you rather leave it to chance?

                                          And I know you're being blind and shortsighted. Might want to go experience more life then try again.

                                          Jeremy Falcon

                                          R 1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups