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Technology EthicsShould we, because we can?

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Technology Ethics

Should we, because we can?

Asking whether something should be built, not only whether it can be.

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Humans built the atomic bomb before building the rules to govern it. Every generation faces a version of this question. For your generation, the question is about artificial intelligence. The technology is ahead of the ethics. This has happened before. It will happen again.

  • Ethical questions do not have clean answers. That is what makes them ethical questions instead of engineering problems.
  • When someone builds something new, two questions matter: what can it do, and what should it do?
SourceOppenheimer's reflections on the atomic bomb
Standard technology ethics literature

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