Live from Cubberley Auditorium at Stanford University, Ken and Laura Maguire, Philosophy Talk director of research, discuss a familiar topic: bad drivers. Between drinking, texting, and standard human error, driving is one of the most dangerous responsibilities that humans are entrusted with every day. But could the dawn of driverless cars controlled by computer algorithms change everything? Sure, computers may be safer drivers than humans on average, but can they care about human life the same way that people can?

Harvard psychology professor Joshua Greene joins Ken and Laura to discuss the moral dilemmas that come with the advent of driverless cars. Josh admits that it is difficult for people to accept handing their capacity for decision-making over to a computer but explains that computerized driving will ultimately lead to a much safer world. Still, there is justified caution about “mechanized morality” – can we trust computers to make morally fraught decisions? Josh explains that from the perspective of neuroscience, moral decisions are just like any others, meaning that they can be programmed into computer algorithms as easily as commanding the computer to turn left or right.

在最后一个环节，肯，劳拉和乔什回答了观众关于道德机械化的问题。一位律师指出，从保险到产品设计等各个领域的道德问题每天都必须被量化。一名学生指出，自动驾驶汽车可能会偏向自己的乘客，导致不同社会经济阶层的乘客之间不一致。其他听众关注的是自动驾驶汽车的特定问题，但Josh强调，除了挑剔的例外，任何一种无人驾驶技术都需要某种量化的、程序化的道德系统。现在的挑战只是决定该如何建立这个系统。