Re: Ethics as Science

From: Robin Hanson (rhanson@gmu.edu)
Date: Sat Mar 25 2000 - 10:50:51 MST


Dan Fabulich wrote:
>Now suppose the ethical computer tells you that you will choose to allow
>the trolley car to strike the strangers. (Or whatever.)
>Will this give you any less consternation when the situation comes up?
>Will you be able to sleep better at night knowing that you did what the
>process told me you'd do?

Yes. More precisely, if the computer were good at predicting what ethics
I would come to believe in if I thought about it a whole lot, then
I could not have waste as much resources actually thinking about it,
and rely more on what the computer said.

Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323



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