When

technology and
humanity cross
Lecture 8

Prepared by:
LEIRAZEL ALFECHE-PASCUA
Lecturer
At the end of this topic, you should be able
to:

1 2 3
1. Identify scientific 2. Identify human 3. Explain how
and technological values affected by scientific and
advancements that scientific and technological
have moral issues. technological advancements affect
advancements. human values.
The ethical dilemmas
of robotics
by Dylan Evans
Experts in South Korea said they
were drawing up an ethical code to
prevent humans abusing robots,
and vice versa. And a group of
leading roboticists called the
European Robotics Network (Euron)
has even started lobbying
governments for legislation.
Decisions

Software robots (Bot)- basically, just

complicated computer programmes -
already make important financial decisions.

Whose fault is it if they make a bad

investment?
Isaac Asimov was
already thinking
about these problems
back in the 1940s,
when he developed
his famous "three
laws of robotics."
Three laws:

• A robot may not injure a human being, or, through

inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
• A robot must obey the orders given it by human
beings except where such orders would conflict with
the First Law
• A robot must protect its own existence as long as
such protection does not conflict with the First or
Second Law
These three laws might seem like a
good way to keep robots from harming
people. But to a roboticist they pose
more problems than they solve. In fact,
programming a real robot to follow the
three laws would itself be very difficult.

For a start, the robot would

need to be able to tell
humans apart from similar-
looking things such as
chimpanzees, statues and
humanoid robots.
Robot 'rights'
Similar problems arise with rule two.
Asimov's three laws only address the
problem of making robots safe, so
even if we could find a way to program
robots to follow them, other problems
could arise if robots became sentient.
If robots can feel pain, should
they be granted certain rights?

If robots develop emotions, as

some experts think they will,
should they be allowed to
marry humans?

Should they be allowed to own

property?
Emotional robotics

This is the attempt to endow

robots with the ability to
recognize human expressions of
emotion, and to engage in
behavior that humans readily
perceive as emotional.
Humanoid heads with
expressive features have
become alarmingly lifelike.
 • an American scientist who once worked for
Disney
• Founder and CEO of Hanson Robotics
• has developed a novel form of artificial skin
that bunches and wrinkles just like human
skin, and the robot heads he covers in this
can smile, frown, and grimace in very
human-like ways.
• creates humanlike robots with intelligence,
Dr. David Hanson feelings, and expressions, yielding many of
the most startling robots in recent years
including…
Source: David Hanson【Sophia IA Robot Creator】Thinking Heads
 Sophia Albert HUBO Philip K Dick
-social humanoid -ambassador of -Researcher robot
robot "DYNAMIC KOREA"

Source: David Hanson【Sophia IA Robot Creator】Thinking Heads

 These robots are specifically designed to
encourage human beings to form emotional
attachments to them. From a commercial point
of view, this is a perfectly legitimate way of
increasing sales. But the ethics of robot-human
interaction are more murky.
 •an internet pioneer, has
warned of the dangers
such technology poses to
our sense of our own
humanity.
•Lanier talks of the
Jaron Lanier
dangers of "widening the
moral circle" too much.
The US military plans to have a fifth
of its combat units fully automated
by the year 2020.
Asimov's laws don't apply to
machines which are designed to
harm people.
When an army can strike at an
enemy with no risk to lives on its
own side, it may be less scrupulous
in using force.
About the Author
Dylan Evans is an independent
scientist and writer.
Have you
seen a robot
in real life?
The ethical dilemmas of robotics
• it talked about how people,
especially in first world countries,
those with the most advanced
technologies like robots, came to
a point where they are already
emotionally attached with their
robots.
• They insist that robots should be
given human rights too and be
treated with moral and ethical
values like humans. How did this
come to be?
 Mechatronics and
Robotics Society of the
Philippines (MRSP)
• a local organization founded
in 2006 which commit itself
to the advancement of
robotics technology in our
country. But still, as of the
moment, robots have not yet
become popular in our local
homes.
But what if a “sentient” robot, a robot
capable of showing emotions: it can
cry, laugh, or say sweet things we’d
love to hear – had been developed
and made affordable in the
Philippines, will we Filipinos eagerly
get one for ourselves? Will you get
one?
From an infographic made by comScore, Inc. shown in Hunt’s article (2017)
Can we have the same fate when
robots also become affordable?
 That brings us to the question of
Lanier, “if we see machines as
increasingly humanlike, will we come
to see ourselves as more machine-
like?”
 synthesis
The ethical dilemmas of
robotics involve issues on
safety, emotional attachment,
and morality, to name a few.
The advancement of science
and technology may have
brought improvement and
convenience to our lives, but it
also challenged our human and
social values.
Science and technology are advancing
every single day as there are discoveries,
inventions, and development made each
day. Some are considered breakthroughs
which had significantly impacted human
life, being able to solve human problems or
changing the way people live. But if these
solutions and changes that S&T bring to
human life are continuous and
spontaneous, does it unintentionally push
the human society in an evolution towards
a new concept of humanity?
Many scholars outside the S&T field predict it that
way. They express concern that we may be losing
our sense of humanity to S&T advancements. The
idea that a robot or a gadget becoming “smart”
(such as a smart phone) is an indication of a
nearing equality of humans with machines. At
present, there is an increasing reliance of humans
to machines; the life of machines still depends on
humans. But in the future, it may be humans who
will rely completely on machines. When that
happens, we may have to redefine what being
“human” means.
Our country, the Philippines, may not be as
technologically advanced as first world countries, as our
capacity to advance depends largely on our economic
capability. But as more and more S&T advancements
are being made affordable, in no time will we also go
with the flow with first world countries.
Finally, technology is a human activity and humanity
is a human concept. Should we come to the point
where they cross, we will always be reminded that
both are manmade. Therefore, no other being in the
world (or in the universe, rather) would be able to
reconcile the two except for man himself. Let us
then put our hope in the rationality and positivity of
humankind.
enrichment
The article you read, “The ethical dilemmas of robotics,” is
actually one of the two readings included in the CHED-
prescribed STS syllabus. The other one, “Is Google making us
stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, is a longer article.

You can Google search and read the article by Nicholas Carr.
Reflect on how Internet has changed a lot of our world, from
communication, to business, to culture, and how it seriously
affected people’s way of thinking as discussed in the article.
Thank you for listening!
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Individual
recitation/quiz
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