HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Of course not.

And, it just occurred to me...

does the human designer/programmer of an AI even have the right to disconnect it simply because it didn't turn out the way he wanted it? Does Bowman have a right to kill HAL, even in self-defense?

These are weighty moral issues with no easy answers. Our sociey is right now having a debate on whether it is morally right to terminate a pregnancy, even though the foetus has no language, no memory, no self-awareness, and only the most limited and primitive perception and abilities to interact with its environment. An AI would have all these things.

Don't get me wrong. I believe we should pursue research in artificial intelligence, no branch of knowledge or inquiry should ever be abandoned for purely "philosophical" reasons. But we should also have some kind of moral and ethical oversight into how we conduct this research. There is no guarantee we will make (or even identify!) the right decisions, but we should at least make the effort.

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