The Black Widow Case

[Philosophy Now]

Dave Hangman on a crucial lawsuit taking place the day after tomorrow.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/163/The_Black_Widow_Case

[Gary Childress]

Questions For Consideration
1. Even today, software makes many decisions that influence our beliefs and behaviors and change our lives – related to engine flow regulators, air conditioning temperatures, which news and advertising we see, and so on. If those programs act within their instruction set in a way that causes harm, should it be deemed an accident, or a programmed choice?

The "information age" raises some scarry questions. If it is the case that AI can change our own thoughts and behaviors just by streaming information to us, in what sense are we programming ourselves? And what happens if there is a mistake that causes enormous consequences one way or another.

The world and all of us with it may be becoming a giant computer. On the upside, it might be the only thing that will survive a global climate catastrophe. On the downside, what if we humans are just a footnote in the history of intelligence on Earth.

[Gary Childress]

If it should be the case that we are in the process of creating an AI world that will essentially eliminate free will, turning us all into Pavlovian subjects acting on information that is basically fed to us through algorithms, how different is that from any other time in history when we've more or less acted on impartial or imperfect information?

It seems to me that the only sensible approach to the world is to treat EVERYTHING with skepticism, treat everything with the possibility that we may be misinformed or being misled by information. Let our instincts be our guide instead of being led along like drones being fed instructions.

Thoughts?

[Dubious]

It seems to me that the only sensible approach to the world is to treat EVERYTHING with skepticism, treat everything with the possibility that we may be misinformed or being misled by information. Let our instincts be our guide instead of being led along like drones being fed instructions.

Thoughts?

Truth amounts to nothing more than having its certainty validated within a probability index. Instinct itself is only an approximation and only required when we have nothing else to go on.

[Gary Childress]

It seems to me that the only sensible approach to the world is to treat EVERYTHING with skepticism, treat everything with the possibility that we may be misinformed or being misled by information. Let our instincts be our guide instead of being led along like drones being fed instructions.

Thoughts?

Truth amounts to nothing more than having its certainty validated within a probability index. Instinct itself is only an approximation and only required when we have nothing else to go on.

Well, with all the misinformation floating around, it seems like we are pretty much doomed to use our instinctive "approximations".

[Dubious]

It seems to me that the only sensible approach to the world is to treat EVERYTHING with skepticism, treat everything with the possibility that we may be misinformed or being misled by information. Let our instincts be our guide instead of being led along like drones being fed instructions.

Thoughts?

Truth amounts to nothing more than having its certainty validated within a probability index. Instinct itself is only an approximation and only required when we have nothing else to go on.

Well, with all the misinformation floating around, it seems like we are pretty much doomed to use our instinctive "approximations".

Use whatever you like; with all the unbelievable crap going on in the U.S., it won't be long before American will become synonymous with morbidly stupid.

[Gary Childress]

Truth amounts to nothing more than having its certainty validated within a probability index. Instinct itself is only an approximation and only required when we have nothing else to go on.

Well, with all the misinformation floating around, it seems like we are pretty much doomed to use our instinctive "approximations".

Use whatever you like; with all the unbelievable crap going on in the U.S., it won't be long before American will become synonymous with morbidly stupid.

It already is.