Re:Engineering Kindness: Building A Machine With Compassiona...
by saxonklaxon on Saturday March 04, 2017 @05:57PM
(#13793363)
Option (a) create a 'motherly' machine which is guaranteed compassionate towards children and small furry mammals,
Option (b) create a Buddha-like machine which is guaranteed benevolent towards everyone and everything in the Universe.
Neither of these work! Wrt (a) the flip side of maternal empathy is a ferocious attitude towards potential predators who threaten her cubs. How does the programmer guarantee no human will be placed in this category, mistakenly or otherwise? Besides, before one attains motherhood one must pass the 'terrible twos' which many psychologists regard as the peak stage of physical violence.
Wrt (b) an AI with no desires has no incentive to interact with the world. So its mind will not develop.
Option (b) create a Buddha-like machine which is guaranteed benevolent towards everyone and everything in the Universe.
Neither of these work! Wrt (a) the flip side of maternal empathy is a ferocious attitude towards potential predators who threaten her cubs. How does the programmer guarantee no human will be placed in this category, mistakenly or otherwise? Besides, before one attains motherhood one must pass the 'terrible twos' which many psychologists regard as the peak stage of physical violence.
Wrt (b) an AI with no desires has no incentive to interact with the world. So its mind will not develop.
Is there a third option?