Daily Archives: April 17, 2007

2 posts

Ethics for Kill-Bots

John S Canning, an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre, proposes (PDF) that “machines target other machines and men target men” be incorporated into the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC). Some wags at Slashdot are likening this suggestion to Asimov’s three laws of robotics. My take? Like all conventions, it is only as good as its being implementable, and expedience usually chases out good intent, and law. There are serious incentives to defect from such a treaty, due to the potential killing capacity of autonomous and guided machinery. Such rules of engagement for robots is, nonetheless, something we need […]

Defending Philosophy of Science, Conclusion

Here is the messy conclusion to the thread on the applicability of Philosophy of Science: Johnny, I hate to join in this debate, as I’m not very interested in Philosophy of Science, but could you please read these questions again and answer them properly: >Lolawalser:Next, is your contention that biochemistry and applied sciences have laboured all this time employing methods without the backing of “sound theory”? If it is, can you show it is true? Let me simplify: do you think that all the achievements of biochemistry etc. have been serendipitous, discovered by methodologically blind people groping around? You replied […]