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Machine Ethics

Machine Ethics

Michael Anderson , University of Hartford, Connecticut
Susan Leigh Anderson , University of Connecticut
July 2011
Available
Hardback
9780521112352

The new field of machine ethics is concerned with giving machines ethical principles, or a procedure for discovering a way to resolve the ethical dilemmas they might encounter, enabling them to function in an ethically responsible manner through their own ethical decision making. Developing ethics for machines, in contrast to developing ethics for human beings who use machines, is by its nature an interdisciplinary endeavor. The essays in this volume represent the first steps by philosophers and artificial intelligence researchers toward explaining why it is necessary to add an ethical dimension to machines that function autonomously, what is required in order to add this dimension, philosophical and practical challenges to the machine ethics project, various approaches that could be considered in attempting to add an ethical dimension to machines, work that has been done to date in implementing these approaches, and visions of the future of machine ethics research.

  • Extensive introductions in each section of the book help the reader to understand the essays included and possible concerns with the perspectives presented
  • Presents a logical progression of the work that has been done in machine ethics

Reviews & endorsements

'… a thought-provoking introduction to the field of machine ethics, and I recommend it to students and researchers outside of the field who are looking to broaden their interests.' Cory Siler, Artificial Intelligence

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Product details

July 2011
Hardback
9780521112352
548 pages
236 × 163 × 30 mm
0.93kg
50 b/w illus.
Available

The new field of machine ethics is concerned with giving machines ethical principles, or a procedure for discovering a way to resolve the ethical dilemmas they might encounter, enabling them to function in an ethically responsible manner through their own ethical decision making. Developing ethics for machines, in contrast to developing ethics for human beings who use machines, is by its nature an interdisciplinary endeavor. The essays in this volume represent the first steps by philosophers and artificial intelligence researchers toward explaining why it is necessary to add an ethical dimension to machines that function autonomously, what is required in order to add this dimension, philosophical and practical challenges to the machine ethics project, various approaches that could be considered in attempting to add an ethical dimension to machines, work that has been done to date in implementing these approaches, and visions of the future of machine ethics research.

'… a thought-provoking introduction to the field of machine ethics, and I recommend it to students and researchers outside of the field who are looking to broaden their interests.' Cory Siler, Artificial Intelligence