Thursday, March 5, 2015

"Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move."

 2015 Mar 4. [Epub ahead of print]

Robotic Nudges: The Ethics of Engineering a More Socially Just Human Being.

Author information

  • 1Director of Graduate Research Ethics Programs, School of Public Policy and Office of Graduate Studies, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, borenstein@gatech.edu.

Abstract

Robots are becoming an increasingly pervasive feature of our personal lives. As a result, there is growing importance placed on examining what constitutes appropriate behavior when they interact with human beings. In this paper, we discuss whether companion robots should be permitted to "nudge" their human users in the direction of being "more ethical". More specifically, we use Rawlsian principles of justice to illustrate how robots might nurture "socially just" tendencies in their human counterparts. Designing technological artifacts in such a way to influence human behavior is already well-established but merely because the practice is commonplace does not necessarily resolve the ethical issues associated with its implementation.

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