If we try bearing in mind artificial intelligence, to create an algorithm of
Ethics a couple of interesting thoughts show up. First (1) is that any
Ethics/morals seemingly can be programmed as a set of if-then rules of
Action and feedback. Implementing this set does not require any scientific
Base, so for this task we would feel quite comfortable with ethics as an art
However what one notices these rules will never be complete and there will
Always be situations when they fail and new rules are needed. Now if we
Direct our sight from machines to humans, we can see these same rules in
Action and their failure nearly every day. Systems of laws that people have
Created to sustain various societies and nations are exactly such type of
Rules. Inefficiency of this approach is "on the eye" looking at bulky
Judicial systems and mechanisms created to enforce the laws. The situation
Is becoming even more controversial as the system created to ensure ethical
Behavior and morality of members of societies becomes more and more a
Money-making machine for manipulating and overcoming these same laws.
Ironically (3000 years passed by and not really much has changed since ;-) )
This has been described already in 600 BC:
When the Way is forgotten
Duty and justice appear;
Then knowledge and wisdom are born
Along with hypocrisy.
When harmonious relationships dissolve
Then respect and devotion arise;
When a nation falls to chaos
Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
-Lao Tze (TaoDeJing).
In our part of the World similar arguments were used by Plato in his
Republic" discussing the necessity of formal system of ethical rules
Enforced as laws.
Nevertheless there exists an algorithm as a single rule (2) which however
Can not be implemented in AI (yet) as it is based on self-reference
(recursion) of consciousness by reflecting himself to the external world. As
Machines (AI) do not yet posses conscious notion of "I" and "I feel", the
Algorithm works in real living beings only ;-). The rule is really well
Known: (do not) treat others like you want (not) yourself to be treated.
This was and still is the base of the Christianity and the Western
Civilization (before it become a political system with many new rules to be
Obeyed and broken...) as well as of a few great thought systems, before they
Became systems of rules and rituals, in the world. For example Lao Tze put
It this way:
The sage does not distinguish between himself and the world;
The needs of other people are as his own.
He is good to those who are good;
He is also good to those who are not good,
Thereby he is good.
He trusts those who are trustworthy;
He also trusts those who are not trustworthy,
Thereby he is trustworthy.
The sage lives in harmony with the world,
And his mind is the world's mind.
So he nurtures the worlds of others
As a mother does her children.
So indeed as the science is still not able to explain what the consciousness
Is, how it functions and demonstrate it in an experiment (which might be
Very unethical...), it is not able to grasp nor explain ethics holistically.
Thus ethics is quite an independent domain of human knowing/experience. Is
It closer to art, or maybe to religion, or anything else ?..
Best wishes
Viktoras
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Received on Fri May 12 14:57:43 2006
