Posted on 06/25/2016 7:11:06 PM PDT by MtnClimber
A new study explores a moral dilemma facing the creators of self-driving vehicles: In an accident, whose lives should they prioritize?
So you’re driving down a dark road late at night when suddenly a child comes darting out onto the pavement. Instinctively, you swerve, putting your own safety in jeopardy to spare her life. Very noble of you. But would you want your driverless vehicle to do the same?
That question, which can be found idling at the intersection of technology and ethics, is posed in the latest issue of Science. A variation on the famous trolley dilemma, it won’t be theoretical for long: Self-driving vehicles are coming soon, and they will need to be programmed how to respond to emergencies.
A research team led by Iyad Rahwan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology argues that this poses a huge challenge to their creators. In a series of studies, it finds people generally agree with the “utilitarian” argument — the notion that cars should be programmed to spare as many lives as possible.
However, when asked what they would personally purchase, they tended to prefer a vehicle that prioritized the safety of its riders. And a theoretical government regulation that would mandate a spare-the-greatest-number approach significantly dampens their enthusiasm for buying a driverless car.
(Excerpt) Read more at psmag.com ...
I understand your concern but what about people that can’t or shouldn’t drive.It gives a lot of freedom back to those who are homebound. Driverless cars won’t be mandated. At least in our lifetimes. I can see a time in the future where they might though. In a way travel is restricted already. You can’t get on an airplane without the govt. permission.
Now consider if that is not a child, but a raccoon. Would you want your driverless car to swerve and put you and your family at risk?
There was an incident on an interstate a couple miles from my house some years ago. Two young girls tried to run across the freeway lanes. Both were hit multiple times and died. So it does happen. However, even human drivers are often powerless to swerve in time.
Reardon Metal is unsafe and a danger to children.
What you miss is that any travel at all is not a Constitutionally protected right. Our government has established that travel of any kind is a privilege that can be revoked for any number of reasons.
Automated transportation means that the government can and will control all movement. The days of jumping into the family car and driving cross country when you feel like it will be gone.
You, like others may think that self-driving cars will make life easier. They might, for a while. But like the story about boiling frogs, this is a gift we need to fight or freedom as we’ve known it is over.
Like trains or buses? Relax. The govt. is only interested in taxing it , not restricting it. Otherwise the ecobomy is gone.
ecobomy=economy
Clearly you don’t live near any urban areas. Watching the traffic into Washington DC every morning is like watching a giant parking lot. The government tried “High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV)” lanes to coerce people to share rides and they gave up on that so now they’re trying to just make the high-speed lanes for those who pay extra money.
Meanwhile the government is pushing keeping vehicle speeds down to whatever they think is sufficient/wastes the least gas and they’re blaming vehicle emissions for “climate change”. Do really think that government won’t jump on the change to completely control everything now that automated vehicles are coming?
Or are you one of those benighted souls who believe that the government just wants to make it easier for you to drive? If that’s the case then you have no problem with them having lists of all of our firearms..
Holy Cow. Do you think that driverless cars is a something that will not happen. Are you still invested in buggy whips? Should we ban cell phones because the govt knows my location ? Do you own a smart phone?
Unlike you, I am a competent engineer. Also unlike you, who only sees convenience, I can see the future.
Quit living in fear of your government. Distrust your government of course. They want tax revenue and votes. Driverless cars will be a boon for the government coffers.
When you get older you will be begging for a driverless car.
If you don’t fear our government, you’re an imbecile: every communication you make is monitored and recorded. Our new digital world has has backfired and the government - and other country’s governments - track everything. You now live in a world where no one can do anything that will not be detected; anyone even thinking about opposing the powers that be will be destroyed before they make any serious plans.
You may look forward to spending your final years in a self-directed golf cart because you’d be too old to care that your freedom will gone with it.
I’ll never be that old.
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