Dr. Derek Leben is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown. He works at the intersection of ethics, cognitive science, and emerging technologies. In his new book, Ethics for Robots, Dr. Leben argues for the use of a particular moral framework for designing autonomous systems based on the Contractarianism of John Rawls. He also demonstrates how this framework can be productively applied to autonomous vehicles, medical technologies, and weapons systems.

In this episode, we focus on the main topics of Dr. Leben’s Ethics for Robots. We first discuss the types of robots that need to have ethical systems programmed into them. Then, we get into the issue of how to establish an objective moral system. Dr. Leben explains Contractarianism ethics. We also go over some specific technologies, like self-driving cars, carebots, police-bots, and others, and we refer to specific issues like discrimination and consent. Finally, we talk about the role of science fiction in providing us with thought experiments about emergent and future technology, and to what extent that has a positive or a negative effect.

Follow Dr. Leben’s work:

Faculty page: https://bit.ly/2WuZds4

Researchgate profile: https://bit.ly/2W92PUr

Ethics for Robots: https://amzn.to/2MPnwBk

Twitter handle: @EthicsForRobots

A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, SCIMED, PER HELGE HAAKSTD LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, RUI BELEZA, MIGUEL ESTRADA, ANTÓNIO CUNHA, CHANTEL GELINAS, JERRY MULLER, FRANCIS FORD, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BRIAN RIVERA, ADRIANO ANDRADE, YEVHEN BODRENKO, SERGIU CODREANU, ADAM BJERRE, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, AIRES ALMEIDA, BERNARDO SEIXAS, HERBERT GINTIS, RUTGER VOS, AND RICARDO VLADIMIRO!

A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, ROSEY, AND JIM FRANK!

Home Top podcasts Popular guests Top books