[ExI] Self-Driving Cars Must Make Ethical Decisions

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2015 11:10 PM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] Self-Driving Cars Must Make Ethical Decisions

 

On Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 9:00 AM, Tara Maya <tara at taramayastales.com> wrote:

>>…My prediction is that the biggest danger of self-driving cars will be if they are susceptible to being hacked by malicious humans. Harm will be done on purpose, by trolls or terrorists, far exceeding what will happen by unavoidable accidents.

 

>…I suspect this will far more likely be correct if there are government-mandated ways for "authorized law enforcement officials" to remotely control said cars.  While this would be done with good intentions, recent history demonstrates that the majority of controllers in practice would be...

>…* at first, law enforcement officials without legally valid authorization (blank, unsigned, or non-existent warrants), * …

 

Excellent points.  Law enforcement will want some way to stop a robo-car externally, but consumers might want a robo-car which will go where instructed even with an inert passenger.  Law enforcement is now empowered (in many jurisdictions) to seize cash if they find you with a pile of it, and their drug-sniffing dogs are really looking for cash (because the cops don’t really get to keep the dope they seize but they get to keep the cash.)

 

If they see someone dozing behind the wheel or humping in the back seat or whatever, they are going to want to pull over that robo-car and look for cash, to fund some cool new cruisers and automatic weapons and things that cops like to play with.

 

There are some perfectly legitimate reasons to pull over robo-cars: an oil spill on the road for instance, or an Amber Alert, but if cops have that, it gives them the means to do wrong (and a few of them will.)  It also empowers the full-time bad guys.

 

Oy.

 

spike

 

 

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