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Napoli,April 30th 2008
End of Ethicbots Project
The Ethicbots Project was completed.
Goals and motivations |
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To promote and coordinate a multidisciplinary group of researchers into
artificial intelligence, robotics, anthropology, moral philosophy,
philosophy of science, psychology, and cognitive science, with the
common purpose of identifying and analyzing techno-ethical issues
concerned with the integration of human beings and artificial
(software/hardware) entities.
Specific objectives: To identify techno-ethical case-studies on the basis of a
state-of-the-art survey in emerging technologies for the integration of human and artificial entities.
Roadmap:The “Roadmap for Future Techno-Ethical Research” on the integration of human beings and artificial (hardware/software) entities will take the form of a comprehensive document that will be based on the charting of extant scientific and technological work in robotics, bionics, and Artificial Intelligence for information and communication systems, on projections about near future developments, on the triage of techno-ethical issues in view of European society objectives, needs, and problems .Added value:Each of the actors of this project is involved into inquiries concerning specific techno-ethical issues, albeit from the different perspectives that are inherent to their professional profiles as engineers, computer scientists, anthropologists, philosophers, etc.The added value envisaged by the present proposal will flow from the exchange of information and proper combination of these different forms of expertise. These will prove crucial to improve the timely identification and systematic understanding of the relevant ethical issues involved. Comprehensible communication directed to communities that are heterogeneous in the way of academic, professional, and cultural backgrounds is another chief benefit expected from the implementation of this proposal. Motivation:In the near future, robotic and intelligent information systems are expected to interact ever more closely with human beings, especially in our aging societies.Both information and robotic systems are expected to enhance human mental, physical, and social capabilities in significant ways. Reflections on the ethical import of these various scenarios lag far behind the fast scientific and technological developments characterizing these domains of investigation. It is high time for a dynamic interchange about ethical issues related to Robotics, Information and Communication Technology, Artificial Intelligence, in order to guide and support responsible theoretical research and applications. A variety of meetings and workshops on particular facets of the techno-ethics of human interactions with communication, bionic, and robotic systems took place over the last few years. A non-exhaustive list of significant recent events includes: Crucial ethical issues include the preservation of human identity and integrity, domain-specific applications of precautionary principles, artificial system autonomy and accountability, responsibilities for (possibly unintended) warfare applications, nature and impact of human-machine cognitive and affective bonds on individuals and society. These issues are to be addressed in view of both present concerns (understanding, monitoring, opinion forming, warnings about the ethical and social impact of available technologies) and long-term issues (ethically motivated discussion and discrimination between foreseeable scenarios emerging from technological developments). Investigations into converging technologies for autonomous robotic and AI systems or the enhancement of human physical and mental capabilities are inherently multidisciplinary enterprises. For this reason, a sustained exchange effort between different kinds of expertise is needed to develop a common language first, and then to discern and unfold ethical issues arising at meeting points of different forms of scientific, technological, and philosophical inquiry. Accordingly, the proposed coordination action will involve a wide variety of actors across several European countries, including scientists, engineers, philosophers. The proposed Coordination Action aims at fostering dynamic interchange between actors operating in different scientific, technological, and philosophical communities, but sharing a distinctive interest in the following forms of integration between human beings and artificial entities: - Human-softbot integration: AI technologies for information and communication. o distributed computing for human assistance o intelligent agents for information and communication management o edutainment AI - Human-robot, non-invasive integration: Autonomous robotics. o personal and assistance robotics o edutainment robotics o warfare application of robotics - Physical, invasive integration: Bionics. o prosthesis o enhancement of human sensorimotor capabilities o ICT implants The collaborative effort to share knowledge and to promote techno-ethical awareness and understanding on the above forms of integration between human beings and artificial entities hinges on the development of a network of people working at the crossroad of different disciplines and research fields: Occasionally, work on these issues has been narrowly confined to developing and enforcing ethical regulations of EU funded projects. But the increasing social impact of new robotics and AI technologies suggests the opportunity of conducting broader, multidisciplinary explorations of and actions about techno-ethical issues. In particular, the potential social benefits of these technologies suggests that the emphasis of ethical work in these domains should be shifted from limitation to encouragement, guidance, and promotion of responsible scientific and technological research. This broader perspective on techno-ethics requires the tighter interaction between actors operating in science, technology, and the humanities. |