In 1967, the philosopher Philippa Foot posed what became known at “The Trolley Problem”. Suppose you are the driver of a runaway tram (or “trolley car”) and you can only steer from one narrow track on to another; five men are working on the track you are on, and there is one man on the other; anyone on the track that the tram enters is bound to be killed. Should you allow the tram to continue on its current track and plough into the five people, or do you deliberately steer the tram onto the other track, so leading to the certain death of the other man?
This gives rise to an interesting philosophical challenge. Somewhere in Mountain View, programmers are grappling with writing the algorithms that will determine the behaviour of these cars. These algorithms will decide what the car will do when the lives of the passengers in the car, pedestrians and other road users are at risk.
That is Owen Barder on how Google is going to have to get a little more philosophically specific than “don’t be evil”.
Will car buyers get to choose their car’s philosophy from a menu? It’s either them, Google, the manufacturer, or the Department of Transportation.
59 Responses
When should your Google car choose to kill you? http://t.co/QSi0DWQjml
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? via @cblatts and @owenbarder http://t.co/qhsbS6r87s
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
Will we have to apply Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics to Google Cars? http://t.co/6zRa89k3jQ via @jetpack
RT @went1955: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? — Chris Blattman — http://t.co/7GP2mqHf5L
RT @went1955: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? — Chris Blattman — http://t.co/7GP2mqHf5L
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? — Chris Blattman — http://t.co/7GP2mqHf5L
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/bengNHygfU via @feedly
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
Intressant dilemma. http://t.co/mInuvL8Nq2
RT @Ermintrude2: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/6ygGPnlB5R via @jetpack
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/6ygGPnlB5R via @jetpack
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/nbC5mFuKht via @feedly
“Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you?” by @cblatts http://t.co/jxIyjdndPm
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/XHMFuoaab8 via @jetpack
RT @wordsnthat: Google needs to get more philosophically specific than “don’t be evil”. The ‘trolley problem’ in 2014 #philosophy http://t.…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you?: In 1967, the philosopher Philippa F… http://t.co/3Q2hpo0JP2
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
“willgoogle’sdriverlesscars tryto minimisedeaths,andtherefore sometimeselecttokilltheirpassengers? http://t.co/z1VcmU0FIc” @SimonPPWhiteley
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
RT @bengoldacre: will google’s driverless cars try to minimise deaths, and therefore sometimes elect to kill their passengers? http://t.co/…
So a fat man, I’m concerned that after pooling data from the car and glass Google would opt to have me jump into the way.
RT @cblatts: Is Google planning to push you in front of a trolley? http://t.co/UPLJ8WWses
RT @10ch: Google engineers work on a algorithm to decide what a driverless car should do in ethical dilemmas. http://t.co/xln24oIa1c
Is Google planning to push you in front of a trolley? http://t.co/UPLJ8WWses
Google engineers work on a algorithm to decide what a driverless car should do in ethical dilemmas. http://t.co/xln24oIa1c
Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/MBeR3v1Enf via @jetpack
@delong @cblatts Whoever might be mastering that Google-driven car: a killing app?
RT @cblatts: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/mChMUNIBHn
@cblatts Surely a simple, predictable rule (e.g. slam the brakes on & stop ASAP) will serve everyone better than countless complex scenarios
RT @cblatts: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/mChMUNIBHn
@delong @cblatts whoever pays Google the most lives
RT @cblatts: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/mChMUNIBHn
u eat in the car RT @cblatts Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/h7jFdp1tkV
@cblatts if their treatment of Google Reader is anything to go by, wholly arbitrarily
.@cblatts when it could save five people by pushing you in front of a runaway trolley?
RT @cblatts: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/mChMUNIBHn
RT @cblatts: Under what circumstances would your Google-driven car choose to kill you? http://t.co/mChMUNIBHn