Very sad to see this news about Daniel Dennett. His two books Consciousness Explained and Darwin’s Dangerous Idea are probably the main reasons why I have ended up doing what I’m doing
Myself and
@SvenNyholm
have just launched a new podcast series - This is Technology Ethics. It is a broadly accessible introduction to key debates and arguments in technology ethics. Episode one - Introducing technology ethics? is available here
The big day has finally arrived - Now available in the US (Hardcover + Kindle) and in the UK/Irl (Kindle - Hardcover available from the 27th): Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World Without Work - and 1/5
I have one funded PhD scholarship to come work with me on the 'AI and the Technological Disruption of the Law' project. It's a 4-year position (EU fees covered + a stipend of €18,500 per annum). Please share and spread the word! Full details here
To everyone that I owe an email: I apologize. I have given up. I now declare email bankruptcy. A court appointed auditor will deal with my outstanding debts
Do we need a new ethics for each and every new technology (or application of technology)? In a new paper, myself and
@spillteori
argue that there is a danger in ethical proliferation. Features some nifty diagrams and tables (created by Henrik, not me!).
It was around about this time 2 years ago that my sister, Sarah, died. The dedication on my recent book sums up a lot of my feelings about her. I miss her everyday
The first hardcopy of my book 'Automation and Utopia' arrived today. In anticipation of its release on the 24th Sept, I'm going to give away 5 free copies via the mailing list on my blog. If you want to be in with a chance to win one, sign up today!
This is an interesting study showing that people prefer human decision-makers to algorithms because they value the (in my view, perceived rather than real) human freedom to deviate from moral principles at will...
I was one of the authors on this new book The Citizen's Guide to AI (Feb 2021, MIT Press). It's a concise but informative analysis of the political, legal and social implications of AI If you are so inclined, you can preorder below.
If you’re interested in understanding how AI might affect you as a citizen, I can highly recommend this new book from
@JohnZerilli
and co. I’m biased of course since I am one of the co... got my author copies this morning. Available from fine booksellers in Feb
Automation and Utopia now has a cover and you can (if you like) preorder it on Amazon. [BTW - I'm sure they'll discount it when it is actually released (since they always do)] or
I have a new (controversial?) paper. I'm not going to comment on it too much, except to say I hope that people engage with the full thing and the arguments offered therein; I hope that people don't dismiss it on the basis of what they think it says
That’s a pity (to say the least) - All the great technical universities in the Netherlands do so. They are now one of the world’s leading hubs for philosophy and ethics of technology
Axiological Futurism is the systematic inquiry into the future of human values, covering how they are likely to change and what the moral significance of this is. With
@HopsterJeroen
and
@spillteori
, I've published a tetraology of papers on this topic. Open Access links to all...
New episode - interview with
@Miles_Brundage
(head of policy research
@OpenAI
) on the speed of AI development and the risks and opportunities of GPT/Generative AI. Interesting insights from someone at the coalface of AI development.
Here is a new paper from myself and
@spillteori
- Technology and Moral Change: The Transformation of Truth and Trust. The paper considers how technology is and might in the future transform the values of truth and trust. Available open access below:
The Art of Academia (Series Index) - Just updated to include new posts on how to give talks, how to cope with academic metrics and how to handle ambition. If you are an academic or are interested in working in academia, you might find it useful
I have been doing a series of Philosophical Disquisitions podcasts on the ethical issues raised by the COVID 19 pandemic. Here are all the episodes so far.../n
Fascinating new paper from
@SvenNyholm
on the effects of gamification on agency and responsibility. While many people have discussed the ethics of gamification, Sven addresses a neglected aspect of it
The final version of my paper - Axiological Futurism: The Systematic Study of the Future of Values - has now been published in Futures. It's open access so everyone can enjoy for free
Another new article - Generative AI entails a credit-blame asymmetry. Just out in Nature Machine Intelligence. Co-authored with
@briandavidearp
,
@SvenNyholm
and many others whose twitter handles I do not know or do not exist. Shareable link here
New paper! My attempt to provide an ameliorative definition of Techno-optimism and a moderate defence of an 'agency-based' version of it. I'll post the published version (hopefully fully open access) when it is available
Episode 4 of This is Technology Ethics with
@SvenNyholm
is now available. In this episode, we discuss the role technology plays in controlling and changing our behaviour. Do we control it or does it control us?
Here's a free official version of my new paper 'Welcoming Robots into the Moral Circle: A Defence of Ethical Behaviourism'. My thanks to
@matthijsMmaas
@SvenNyholm
and
@David_Gunkel
for helping me to clarify elements of it. I'm to blame for its contents ~
In my 2019 book, Automation and Utopia, I argued (admittedly using a simplification) that humanity faced a choice between two futures. Sometimes these things age badly, but if anything I think the analysis is even more salient in the wake of GPT-4
Here's a new paper - Axiological Futurism: The Systematic Study of the Future of Values - this one has taken a long time to see the light of day but I think it is one of the more interesting and important things I have written. Let me know what you think...
I rarely acknowledge or celebrate milestones. Today is no exception but, nevertheless, I thought it might be worth noting that my blog - Philosophical Disquisitions - recently crossed the 6 million pageviews threshold
I am an inconsistent and unreliable podcaster. Nevertheless, I have somehow managed to record and release 95 episodes over the past few years. You can access them all here, including the original episode on 'The Ethics of Big Data' with Tal Zarsky
I was part of the group that prepared these 20 new recommendations for a safe and ethical transition towards driverless mobility - Check them out (as always I encourage people to read the detail not just the summaries!) via
@EU_Commission
New post - The Moral Problem of Grading: An Extended Analysis - Do academics do more harm than good when they grade students? Is there a moral duty to grade? I try to examine these topics, and more.
Episode 7 of This is Technology Ethics is now available!
@SvenNyholm
and I discuss whether machines can ever acquire moral status and what the ethical significance of this would be. Lots of ground covered in this one. Check it out at the link
I'm a little bit late to the party, but I want to do a series of podcasts on the philosophy and ethics of GPT (and other similar generative AI). Who should I interview? What topics/questions should I cover? Suggestions welcome.
Is an academic career an ethical choice? What is the value of research? What should we teach and how should it be taught? How can I be a good academic 'citizen'? The Ethics of Academia podcast explores these questions with a range of guests...
Is it possible to live a meaningful life in virtual reality? In this paper I argue that it is. This is forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Meaning in Life. The paper is my best effort at summarising my thoughts on virtual reality and meaning
New article - Artificial (General) Intelligence and the Problem of Cognitive Inflation - in which I propose that the switch from human embodied intelligence to AGI is akin to the switch from the gold standard to fiat money. Might be of interest to some
Should you want to be a member of the Borg? This new paper from myself and Steve Petersen answers "maybe" - In Defence of the Hivemind Society, available here:
I don’t understand Wittgenstein. Everything I’ve read by him or about him suggests to me that his influence is due to the strange cult of personality/perceived genius that sprung up around him (I blame Betrand Russell, in part, for this). Am I wrong? Why?
New Episode of This is Technology Ethics - 8 - Machines as Colleagues, Friends and Lovers - in which
@SvenNyholm
and I discuss the philosophical possibility and ethical status of different types of relationships with machines.
Book giveaway time. I’ve got two copies of Automation and Utopia and two copies of A Citizen’s Guide to AI to giveaway. Email me if you are interested - first come, first served
It's a good lesson: if you like something someone has written you should consider reaching out to them and letting them know. Usually it's only the people who really hate what they have written that make the effort...
A post like this really makes my day....
I never know whether any of these texts connect with anyone anywhere. So a brief but insightful comment like this is really priceless.
New episode of This is Technology Ethics! - 6 - Moral Agency in Machines - in which
@SvenNyholm
and I discuss the concept of moral agency, whether it is possible for machines to be moral agents, and whether this is desirable. Check it out
New article by
@spillteori
and myself that examines the debate between long-term, x-riskers and their critics. Is it possible to reconcile the warring camps from AI ethics with established risk management practices? We argue that it should be
My TEDx talk is still 995,485 views off the original target of 1 million views. You know what you have to do - Symbols and their Consequences in the Sex Robot Debate
New Episode! - Are you being tracked and traced every minute of the day? In the latest podcast I talk to
@carissaveliz
about her excellent new book Privacy is Power
New episode! - I chat to
@briandavidearp
about the ethics of love drugs. We talk about the nature of love, its biological underpinnings, the reality and/or hype of love drugs, using MDMA to improve your relationship and much more. Check it out here -
Good paper taxonomising the risks associated with LLMs (from
@IasonGabriel
and others
@DeepMind
). I do, however, wish the table summarising the taxonomy was in the main part of the paper (screenshot below).
New podcast - Episode
#47
with
@PopTechWorks
talking about her book Automating Inequality, looking at how automated decision-making tools are constructing a new digital poorhouse and reinforcing systemic biases in society
I'm curious, after the initial hype has died down, does anyone here actually use ChatGPT for some productive/work related purpose? My general take is: it's fun to play with and undoubtedly generates plausible-sounding responses to queries but...1/5
I haven't done enough to advertise this yet, but I have funding, again, for one PhD in AI and the Technological Disruption of the Law. Full scholarship plus stipend for 4 years. Open to all nationalities (subject to visa where applicable) Details here
Amazing stuff! - Automation and Utopia isn't even out yet and it is already
#99
in 'Managers' Guide to Computing' on Amazon. That was exactly the demographic I was aiming for when writing it. Dreams really can come true.
I’m just 990,600 views shy of 1 million on this TEDx talk from 2017. Getting excited now - Symbols and their Consequences in the Sex Robot Debate...
#metrics
#lifegoals
I'm very pleased today to be launching a new mini podcast series called The Ethics of Academia. The podcast will deal with the ethical dilemmas and challenges faced by academics in their working lives. My first guest is my colleague and friend
@SvenNyholm
In light of the recent furore around techno-optimism (sparked by
@pmarca
's manifesto), it might be worth noting this article I wrote explaining (a) what techno-optimism is; (b) why it is hard to defend; and (c) why it might be possible to defend a modest form of it (h/t
New post - How Can Algorithms Be Biased? - This one discusses moralised and neutral senses of 'bias' and the different possible causes of algorithmic bias.
Possible Worlds and Possible Lives - "Here’s a simple thought, but one that I think is quite profound: one’s happiness in life depends, to a large extent, on how one thinks about and navigates the space of possible lives one could have lived."
How much of academia is marketing? Case in point: my 2016 paper 'The Threat of Algocracy' has been cited nearly 300 times. Very few of those citations show any knowledge of its contents. If I were to guess, most just seemed to like the title and thought it was catchy...
Episode 3 of This is Technology Ethics is now available! -
@SvenNyholm
and I discuss the problems of value alignment and control in technology risk and design. Check it out at the link
What are the six ways that technology can change our moral beliefs and practices?
@spillteori
and I cover this in our recent paper. Here is a quick summary with some examples. As always, there is a lot more in the full paper (available here: )
An algorithm is just a set of rules for processing data or completing a task. Algorithms have many uses, though it's hard to design good ones. If you design a dumb set of rules, you'll end up with dumb results. And if you design a biased set of rules, you'll get biased results.
A bit of a clickbaity headline, and I don't think I ever make the claim that human judgment is 'notoriously fallible' (and it's not part of the argument made here) but nevertheless here's a new article by me in Wired - via
@wired
New Episode! - I chat to
@Jessifer
about the ethics of ungrading. Yes, you read that right. Are traditional grading practices unethical, competitive and coercive? If so, what, if anything, should we replace them with?
Does the value of scholarship rest in how many people read it? What's the point of writing the 5000th interpretation of a Platonic dialogue? Is learning a private or communitarian good? All these questions are addressed in my conversation with
@zenahitz
Automation and Utopia is coming out in September. You can pre-order now (if that's your thing). Here's a very small teaser from chapter 1. Thanks to
@xuenay
for allowing me to use his poem as the epigraph!
The Ethics of Academia - a short podcast series (12 episodes) exploring the ethical dilemmas and challenges facing academic researchers and teachers. Here are the descriptions and links to all episodes
I don't know if anyone cares about this, but in case they they do, here are the links to all the interviews and podcasts I have done about Automation and Utopia thus far
I have been doing a series of podcasts on LLMs and their social, economic, educational, legal and ethical impact. Check it out at the link below. Episodes so far include...
The idea that humans should abandon their individuality and use technology to bind themselves together into hivemind societies seems both farfetched and frightening but in this article with Steve Petersen we argue that it might be better than you think
I'm very humbled to share my IMDB profile. I have an 5 credits to my name now. I specialise in immersive method acting, focusing primarily on playing myself over and over again.... Not sure who this "professor of law" character is though
New paper with
@spillteori
- Mechanisms of Techno-Moral Change: A Taxonomy and Overview.
We argue that there are six primary mechanisms through which technology can change our moral beliefs and practices and that these fall within three main categories: (i) decisional; (ii)