What Moral Philosophy Brings to a Technological Society | Zachary Goldberg

Hello everyone, welcome Did you know that your favorites streaming platform uses an artificially intelligent algorithm? To personalize those little thumbnail images of TV shows and movies based on your past viewing history Did you know that your identity can be verified not only of course by your fingerprint and your face But also your voice your eye The shape of your body the way that you walk The vein pattern on your palms and even the contours of your knuckles did you know that the rights for the first mobile phone towers on the moon have already been granted and That a space hotel. Yes a hotel in outer space is set to open in 2027 I Think it's obvious to everyone that we live in a society surrounded by new technologies in your pockets in your cars in your homes TVs schools and universities and Outer space what's not as obvious to everyone is that these technologies are not? value neutral So for example when we want to use an AI to collect information because it's more efficient. We have valued efficiency When we use new technologies at the border for security because they're more accurate we have valued security and speed Moreover when we pursue one value we often do so at the cost of another So for example in our streaming platform, we might choose or allow the choice of entertainment over privacy or at the border security over inclusivity or in outer space adventure and discovery over sustainability so if technologies are everywhere in society and These technologies always include ethical values and ethical choices Then ethical values are everywhere in society. So thinking about them is extremely important and affects everyone But when we want to think about ethical values we might not know where to begin so for example imagine playing a game and Before we play any game. We have to know the rules, right? So imagine I said, let's go play one of my favorite games American football and you said well Zach, you know, I've seen this a few times on TV and it looks quite complicated Could you explain the rules to me? And I say no, but let's play anyway it wouldn't be very much fun with it and How long would it take for you to lose? Now imagine I said, let's start thinking about the ethics of artificial intelligence Facial recognition New technologies at the border new technologies for for exploring space Without knowing the rules for thinking about these topics It wouldn't be very much fun with it and any one of us would lose So when we start thinking about the ethics of technology, we have questions which values are important which values have priority Where do we begin? What are the rules? Let's notice something actually we've already begun By asking these questions. We are already doing moral philosophy Moral philosophy sets the scope that's the goals but also the limits of our ethical inquiry Now you might ask what is philosophy exactly? Well, I like to think about it like this whereas Scientists tell us what is true Philosophers ask what is truth? Artists show us what is beautiful Philosophers ask what is beauty religious leaders tell people what to believe Philosophers ask what is belief so by asking these questions moral philosophy sets the goals and limits of our inquiry into ethics and ethics of technology And it does this by giving us two rules two main rules for thinking about ethics The first is intellectual humility or knowing the limits of your knowledge The second is thinking for yourself Intellectual humility and thinking for yourself Now, how do we go about following these rules in practice? I want you to remember three words confusion complexity and comprehension Confusion Complexity and comprehension so first confusion Where do our questions about technology and the ethics of technology come from they come from a place of confusion? moral philosophy embraces confusion why Well, the word philosophy comes from two Greek words philo plus Sophia Which means love of wisdom philosophy is the discipline that is the love of wisdom but where does wisdom begin it begins with wonder with confusion So I want to take you back about 25 years It's my first semester at the university and my first philosophy course and I still remember going back to my dorm room Opening the book to read our assignment experiencing the beautiful way of writing subject matters of the utmost Importance the nature of existence the difference between the mind and the brain whether the universe has a beginning The the nature of justice and morality and my reaction. I don't understand any of this. I was confused Now we've all met people who don't want to admit when they are confused And I think it's probably fair to say All of us in this room at one time or another has not wanted to admit that they are confused But I learned from this early experience that confusion can be a good thing as long as we acknowledge it don't hide it Confusion can be a strength not a weakness Why? If I'm confused, I know one thing for certain Now I can learn something new and now I'm on the path to wisdom next complexity Our confusion is often caused by complexity now complexity on its own is not necessarily good or bad But again recognizing complexity can be a strength not a weakness How many of us have seen people? experienced friends colleagues people on the news Who tried to answer very complex questions and issues with a simple and simplistic solution? It's almost as if some people would rather think they are right than admitting that something is difficult but recognizing complexity Shows us not only how to approach an issue, but also what kind of response we ought to expect so for example in the ethics of technology, we often think about how to balance privacy and security or Individual freedom and societal well-being Recognizing complexity doesn't just mean realizing that these are difficult questions or difficult topics Recognizing complexity sometimes means there may not be a final answer to these questions and topics So we prepare ourselves for a certain kind of response We may not be able to answer finally these sorts of issues next comprehension Now really this is a desire for comprehension If I'm confused and I recognize complexity then I can desire to expand my knowledge expand my comprehension and get rid of my confusion and I can do this by asking questions How do I decrease my confusion in the midst of complexity? What information do I need to gather and if we're talking about the ethics of technology? We can ask what are the design objectives of a specific tool? Which people might be affected? What is the context within which this tool is supposed to be used? confusion Complexity comprehension are key elements of moral philosophy they allow us to think about the ethics of technology while staying within the rules of intellectual humility and thinking for yourself Now let's see how this works in practice. Let's take a technology that I think Many of you probably have in your pockets right now, but one that also has raised serious ethical questions facial recognition I've already used it several times today to open my phone And I have to admit when I first purchased a phone with facial recognition as a feature. I was confused about how it works How does the algorithm behind the feature work exactly? Does it work in different kinds of light darkness if I'm wearing my glasses? Corona mask if I make funny faces But I also started thinking about the ethical issues connected to facial recognition Is it really more secure than my thumbprint which I had been using or my pin number which I used before that? Does it work equally well for everyone regardless of what they look like What would somebody from a different culture? Ethnic background sex gender age think about this feature Could the police or a company? Scan my face and identify me without me knowing Who is responsible if something goes wrong? I'll think about the ethical values. We've just identified by asking these questions privacy autonomy equality non-discrimination Responsibility just by asking questions. I started with my confusion I Recognized the complexity of the context and I had a desire to learn more to comprehend more I'm doing moral philosophy Now this method works not only for everyday technologies like facial recognition But also for radically new Technologies that will increasingly become part of our everyday So for example the technologies used for the exploration of space and space tourism We've seen recently in the news So what are the questions that we need to ask? Well does space have any inherent value if We were to encounter life on another planet even plant life or bacterial life Does it have moral value if so, why? Are we ethically permitted to take resources from the moon asteroids other planets and bring them back for use on earth? If we had the capacity to drastically alter the landscape on Mars so that we could live there Ought we do that? How can we clean up the vast amount of space junk in orbit and how can we stop from contributing to that in future missions? These questions are just a beginning, but now we have a beginning Moral philosophy shows us how to think about the ethics of technology not by telling us what to do like a command but by giving us the rules of intellectual humility and thinking for yourself now I Want to encourage everyone today if you feel confusion embrace it Let's recognize the complexity of some of the fascinating issues We're going to hear about and let's desire to increase our comprehension by asking questions Now finally, I'll end on what is a common misunderstanding about moral philosophy It is not moralism That is it does not seek to make us better people It only seeks to make us better thinkers better thinkers about ethics Paradoxically by becoming better thinkers about ethics maybe Just maybe we might also become better people Thank you