An approachable introduction to the philosophical study of ethical dilemmas in technology

In the Technology Age, innovations in medical, communications, and weapons technologies have given rise to many new ethical questions: Are technologies always value-neutral tools? Are human values and human prejudices sometimes embedded in technologies? Should we merge with the technologies we use? Is it ethical to use autonomous weapons systems in warfare? What should a self-driving car do if it detects an unavoidable crash? Can robots have morally relevant properties?

This is Technology Ethics: An Introduction provides an accessible overview of the sub-field of philosophy that focuses on the ethical implications of new technologies. Requiring no previous background in the subject, this reader-friendly volume explores ethical questions concerning artificial intelligence, robots, self-driving cars, brain implants, social media and communication technologies, and more. Throughout the book, clear and engaging chapters describe and discuss key discussions, issues, and themes while inviting readers to develop their own perspectives on a wide range of moral and ethical questions.

• Discusses how various technologies influence and shape individuals and society both positively and negatively
• Illustrates how emerging technologies affect traditional ideas about ethics and human self-understanding
• Addresses the ethical complications of creating technologies that may lead to morally problematic consequences
• Considers if the benefits of new technologies outweigh potential drawbacks, such as how people interact online through social media
• Explores how established moral and ethical theories relate to new questions concerning advanced technologies

Part of the popular This is Philosophy series published by Wiley-Blackwell, This is Technology Ethics: An Introduction is a must-read for undergraduate students taking a Technology Ethics course, researchers in the field, engineers, technology professionals, and general readers looking to learn more about the topic.

Sven Nyholm is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Utrecht University, a member of the Ethics Advisory Board of the Human Brain Project, and an Associate Editor of Science and Engineering Ethics. He writes about ethical theory, human self-understanding, and emerging technologies, and is the author of Humans and Robots: Ethics, Agency, and Anthropomorphism and Revisiting Kant’s Universal Law and Humanity Formulas.

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1: What Is Technology (from an Ethical Point of View)?

                1: A Hut in the Black Forest

2: The Question Concerning Technology: The Instrumental Theory of Technology from Martin Heidegger to Joanna Bryson

3: “Post-phenomenology” and the Mediation Theory of Technology

4: Technologies Conceived of as Being More Than Mere Means or Instruments?

5: Technologies Regarded as Moral Agents

6: Technologies Regarded as Moral Patients

7: Some of the Key Types of Technologies That Will Be Discussed at Greater Length in Later Chapters of the Book

Chapter 2: What Is Ethics? (And, in Particular, What Is Technology Ethics?)

                1: Two Campaigns

                2: The Ethics of Virtue and Human Flourishing in Ancient Greece

                3: Ancient Chinese Confucianism and Traditional Southern African Ubuntu Ethics

                4: Kantian Ethics

                5: Utilitarianism and Consequentialist Ethical Theories

6: If Ethics More Generally Can Be All the Things Discussed in the Previous Sections, Then What Does This Mean for Technology Ethics in Particular?

7: How Technology Ethics Can Challenge and Create a Need for Extensions of More General Ethical Theory

Chapter 3: Methods of Technology Ethics: The Ethics of Self-Driving Cars as a Case Study

                1: Methodologies of Ethics?

                2: The Ethics of Self-Driving Cars

                3: Ethics by Committee

                4: Ethics by Analogy: The Trolley Problem Comparison

                5: Empirical Ethics

                6: Applying Traditional Ethical Theories

                7: Which Method(s) Should We Use in Technology Ethics? Only One or Many?

Chapter 4: Artificial Intelligence, Value Alignment, and the Control Problem

                1: Averting a Nuclear Attack?

                2: What Is Artificial Intelligence and What Is the Value Alignment Problem?

3: The Good and the Bad, and Instrumental and Non-instrumental Values and Principles

4: Instrumentally Positive Value-Alignment of Technologies

5: Instrumentally Negative Mis-alignment of Technologies

6: Positive Non-instrumental Value Alignment of Technologies

7: Negative Non-instrumental Value Mis-alignment of Technologies

8: The Control Problem

9: Control as a Value: Instrumental or Non-instrumental? And Are There Some Technologies It Might Be Wrong to Try to Control?

Chapter 5: Behavior Change Technologies, Personal Autonomy, and the Value of Control

                1: A Better You?

                2: Behavior Change Technologies

                3: Control: Three Basic Observations

                4: Key Dimensions of Control

                5: Behavior Change Technologies and the “Subjects” and “Objects” of Control

                6: The Value and Ethical Importance of Control

                7: Concluding This Chapter

Chapter 6: Responsibility and Technology: Mind the Gap(s)?

                1: Two Events

2: What Is Responsibility? Different Ways in Which People Can Be Held Responsible and Different Things for Which People Can Be Held Responsible

3: Responsibility Gaps: General Background

4: Responsibility Gaps Created by Technologies

5: Filling Responsibility Gaps by Having People Voluntarily Take Responsibility

6: Should We Perhaps Welcome Responsibility Gaps?

7: Responsible Machines?

8: Human-Machine Teams and Responsibility

9: Concluding This Chapter

Chapter 7: Can a Machine Be a Moral Agent? Should Machines Be Moral Agents?

                1: Machine Ethics

                2: Arguments in Favor of Machine Ethics and Types of Artificial Moral Agents

                3: Objections to the Machine Ethics Project

                                3.1: First Objection: Morality Cannot Be Fully Codified

3.2: Second Objection: It Is Unethical to Create Machines That We Allow to Make Life-and-Death Decisions About Human Beings

3.3: Third Objection: Moral Agents Need to Have Moral Emotions and Machines Do Not/Cannot Have Emotions

3.4: Fourth Objection: Machines Are Not Able to Act for Reasons

3.5: Brief Reminder of the Objections to Machine Ethics Considered Above

                4: Possible Ways of Responding to the Critiques of the Machine Ethics Project

4:1: First Response: Bottom-Up Learning Rather Than Top-Down Rules-Following

4:2: Second Response: Resisting the Idea That Machines/Technologies Should Ever Be Full Moral Agents

4:3: Third Response: Switching to Thinking in Terms of Human-Machine Teams Rather Than in Terms of Independent Artificial Moral Agents

                5: Concluding This Chapter

Chapter 8: Can Robots Be Moral Patients, with Moral Status?

                1: The Tesla Bot and Erica the Robot

                2: What Is a Humanoid Robot? And Why Would Anybody Want to Create a            Humanoid Robot?

                3: Can People Act Rightly or Wrongly Towards Robots?

                4: Can Robots Have Morally Relevant Properties/Abilities?

                5: Can Robots Imitate or Simulate Morally Relevant Properties or Abilities?

6: Can Robots Represent or Symbolize Morally Relevant Properties or Abilities?

7: Should We be Discussing – or Perhaps Better Be Avoiding – the Question of Whether Robots Can Be Moral Patients, with Moral Status?

Chapter 9: Technological Friends, Lovers, and Colleagues

                1: Replikas, Chuck and Harmony, and Boomer

2: Two Examples of Ethical Issues That Arise in This Context Independently of Whether Technologies Can Be Our Friends, Lovers, or Colleagues

                3: Technological Friends

                4: Technological Lovers and Romantic Partners

                5: Robotic Colleagues

                6: Are these All-or-Nothing Matters? Respect for Different Points of View

                7: The Technological Future of Relationships

Chapter 10: Merging with the Machine: The Future of Human-Technology Relations

                1: The Experience Machine

                2: Different Ways of Merging with – or Merging with the Help of – Technology

3: Transhumanism, Posthumanism, and Whether We Should Become – or Perhaps Already Are – Cyborgs

4: Some Critical Reflections on the Proposals to Merge with Technologies and the Arguments and Outlooks Used in Favor of Such Proposals

5: Concluding Reflections: Revisiting the Hut in the Black Forest

Acknowledgments