ETHICS AND ROBOTICS

1. ETHICS AND ROBOTICS Rafael Capurro Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart Università di Pisa, 17-18 Maggio 2007 „L‘uomo e la macchina. Passato e Presente“

2. Content A. Meta-theoretical Questions B. Techno-ethical Issues • General Background • Epistemological, ontological, and psychoanalytic implications • Ethical aspects of man-machine relations Conclusion Bibliography Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

3. A. Meta-theoretical Questions • From which standpoint do we - as ethicists - speak? • And for whom? • What are the consequences and what is the (potential) field of application of an ethics of human interaction with communication, bionic and robotic systems (in the following „techo-ethics“)? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

4. A. Meta-theoretical Questions An important part of it should be an ethics of technology design and production. Techno-ethics should support strong, contestatory democratic practice and citizen activity that is involved in the creation of techno-scientific artifacts. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

5. A. Meta-theoretical Questions • The leading question is how to design an interdisciplinary process that also involves engineers and technology designers in the ongoing discussion. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

6. A. Meta-theoretical Questions • A second question is, whether or how is it possible (and desirable) to develop a general ethics for any kind of robots and agents. • In which case(s) do we need a differentiation of fields of application and types of robots / agents with regard to ethical concerns? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

7. A. Meta-theoretical Questions • A third question should also be “cui bono?” For whom and by whom are robots developed? • Who fits the standards that robots and robotic devices like AIBO, Pino, Paro, Kismet etc. embody? • Do they contribute to deeper equality, keener appreciation of heterogeneous multiplicity, and stronger accountability for livable worlds? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

8. A. Meta-theoretical Questions Besides that a reflection on the socio-cultural context of the debate on robots and agents is needed. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

9. A. Meta-theoretical Questions What kind of societal conflicts and power relations are intertwined in the production and usage of agents and robots? How does the fusion of science, technology, industry and politics come into play? What about the military interest in robotics and agents? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

10. A. Meta-theoretical Questions • Last but not least a central task for techno-ethics is to learn the lessons from the discussion on bioethics. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

11. A. Meta-theoretical Questions For example: We should avoid abstract discussions of the agency or intentionality of agents and robots and reflect whether they are helpful to work out the contest on the future development and use of agents and robots. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

12. B.Techno-ethical Issues 1. General Background The massive use of robots will change society probably in a similar way as cars and airplanes (and in former times: ships etc.) did and it already changed society – think of industrial robots in the workplace who are an important factor with regard to the growing unemployment in Europe. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

13. B. Techno-ethical Issues: General… This broad view of societal changes and consequently of the view(s) of ourselves, including our (moral) values, is fundamental There may be a re-definition of what it means to be human For instance the EU Charter of Human Rights is human centered. The massive use of robots may challenge this anthropocentric perspective. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

14. B.Techno-ethical Issues: General… Why do we want to live with robots? What do we live with robots for? There are different levels of reflection when answering these questions, starting with the trivial one that robots can be very useful and indeed indispensable for instance in today’s industrial production or when dealing with situations in which the dangers for humans are big. But before reflection in this direction let us take the perspective of what René Girard calls ”mimetic desire”. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

15. B.Techno-ethical Issues 2. Epistemological, ontological, and psychoanalytic implications The relation between humans and robots can be conceived as an envy relation in which humans either envy robots for what they are or they envy other humans for having robots that they do not have. In the first case, envy can be positive in case the robot is considered either as a model to be imitated or negative in case the relationship degenerates into rivalry. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

16. B.Techno-ethical Issues2. Epistemological… This last possibility is exemplified in many science fiction movies and novels in which robots and humans are supposed to compete. Robots are then often represented as emotion-free androids, lacking moral sense and therefore less worth than humans. Counter examples are for instance 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick 1968) or Stanislaw Lem’s novel “Golem XIV” (Lem 1981). Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

17. B.Techno-ethical Issues 2. Epistemological… The “mimetic conflict” (René Girard) arises not only by the fact of imitating what a robot can do but more basically of imitating what ‘it’ is supposed to desire. But a robot’s desires are paradoxically our own since we are the creators. The positive and negative views of robots shine back into human self-understanding leading to the idea of enhancing human capabilities for instance by implanting artificial devices in the human body. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

18. B.Techno-ethical Issues 2. Epistemological… When robots are used by humans for different tasks, this creates a situation in which the “mimetic desire” is articulated either as a question of justice (a future robot divide) or as new kind of envy. This time the object of envy is not the robot itself but the other human using/having it. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

19. B.Techno-ethical Issues 2. Epistemological… The foundational ethical dilemma with regard to robots is thus not just the question of their good or bad use but the question of our relation to our own desire with all its creative and destructive mimetic dynamism that includes not only strategies such as envy, rivalry and model but also their trivial use as a tool that eventually turns to be a question of social justice. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

20. B.Techno-ethical Issues 2. Epistemological… Robots can be seen as masks of human desire. Our “mimetic desire” might influence (but how far?) the exchange value they get in the market place. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

21. B.Techno-ethical Issues 2. Epistemological… Our love affair with them opens a double bind relationship that includes the whole range of human passions, from indifference through idealization until rivalry and violence although this might not be the case with regard to the contemporary state of the art in robotics as they lack still much to much intelligence and unpredictable behaviour. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

22. B.Techno-ethical Issues 2. Epistemological… It is the task of ethical reflection to go beyond the economic dimension, i.e., to discover the mechanism that makes possible the invention, production, and use of robots of all kinds. This mechanism is nothing else than human mimetic passion(s) on an individual as well as on a societal and global scale. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

23. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… In a mythical sense robots are experienced by our secularized and technological society as scapegoat for what is conceived the humanness of humanity whose most high and global expression is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From this mythical perspective, robots are the bad and the good conscience of ourselves. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

24. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… In other words, an ethical reflection on robots must take care of these pitfalls particularly when considering the dangers of the mimetic desire with regard to human dignity, autonomy or data protection. It must reflect the double bind relationship between humans and robots. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

25. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… If robots mirror our mimetic desire we should develop individual and social strategies in order to unmask the unattainable object we strive for that turns into a danger when it looks like a fulfilment in view of which everything including ourselves should be regarded as mean to an end. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

26. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… The concept of human dignity is a hallmark above and beyond our own desire. It is a hallmark of self transcendence independently of technological and/or religious promises. It allows us to avoid ideological or fundamentalist blockades by regulating at the same time the dynamic of mimetic desire. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

27. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… The concept of robot is ambiguous. According to Karel Čapek who first coined the term, a robot is a human like artificial device, an android, that is able to perform autonomously, i.e., without permanent human guidance, different kind of tasks particularly in the field of industrial production. Anthropomorphic robots but also artificial devices imitating different kinds of living beings have a long tradition. Today’s industrial robots are often not human like. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

28. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… There is a tension between technoid and naturoid artificial products [Negrotti 1995, 1999, 2002]. The concept of artificiality itself is related to something produced by nature and imitated by man. Creating something similar but not identical to a natural product points to the fact that anything to be qualified as artificial should make a difference with regard to the natural or the “original” (Negrotti). Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

29. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… Robots are mostly conceived as physical agents. With the rise of information technology softbots or software agents have been developed that have also impact in the physical world so that it is difficult to draw a clear border. This is also the case with regard to the hybridization between humans and robots (cyborgs). In fact, not only individuals but society as a whole is concerned with a process of cyborgization. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

30. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… What are robots? They are products of human dreams (Brun 1992, Capurro 1995). Every robotic idea entails the hidden object of our desire. Robots are thus like the images of the gods (Greek: agalma) inside the mask of a satyr. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

31. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… According to Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic interpretation (Lacan 1991), following the Platonic narrative of the love encounter between Socrates and Alcibiades in the “Symposium” (Symp. 222), such “small objects” are the unattainable and impossible goal of human desire. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

32. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… Plato describes in the “Timaeus” the work of the demiurge shaping the world as a resemblance (agalma) of the divine as a work of joy and therefore as an incentive to make the copy more similar to the original (parádeigma) (Tim. 37c). Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

33. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… In sum, our values or the goal of our desire are embedded into all our technological devices and particularly in the kind of products that mimicry our human identity. Therefore, the question is not only which values are we trying to realize through them but why are we doing this? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

34. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… Robots are a mirror of shared cultural values that show to us and to others who we want to be. We redefine ourselves in comparison with robots in a similar way as we redefine ourselves in comparison with animals or with gods. Theses redefinitions have far-reaching economic and cultural implications. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

35. B. Techno-ethical issues 2. Epistemological… • But, who is the “we” of this kind of psychoanalytic discourse? • What about an engineering culture which is mostly involved in the development & design of robots? • In gender approaches “we” have the claim of a masculine culture of technology production. Do all people have the same kind of double-bind relationship to robots? • And what about cultural differences? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

36. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects of man-machine relations • How do we live in a technological environment? • What is the impact of robots on society? • How do we (as users) handle robots? • What methods and means are used today to model the interface between man and machine? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

37. B. Techno-ethical issues3. Ethical aspects… • What to think about the mimicry of emotions and stereotypes of social norms? • What kind of language / rhetoric is used in describing the problem of agent and bots – and which one do we want to use? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

38. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… In AI and robotics we can often find a sloppy usage of language which supports anthropomorphising agents. This language often implies the intentionality and autonomy of agents – for example when researcher speak of learning, experience, emotion, decision making (and so on) of agents. • How are we in science and in our social practices going to handle this problem? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

39. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… Robots are not ready-made products of engineers and computer scientists but devices and emerging technologies in the making. • What are the consequences of the fact that today ICT devices are developed by computer scientists and engineers only? • What is the meaning of the relation master-slave with regard to robots? • What is the meaning of robot as a partner in different settings? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

40. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… Recent research on social robots is focussing on the creation of interactive systems that are able to recognise others, interpret gestures and verbal expressions, which recognize and express emotions and that are capable of social learning. • A central question concerning social robotics is how "building such technologies shapes our self-understanding, and how these technologies impact society" (Breazeal 2002, 5). Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

41. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… To understand the implications of these developments it is important to analyse central concepts of social robotics like the social, sociality, human nature and human-style interactions. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

42. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… Main questions are: • What concepts of sociality are translated into action by social robotics? • How is social behaviour conceptualised, shaped, or instantiated in software implementation processes? • And what kind of social behaviours do we want to shape and implement into artefacts? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

43. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… There is a tendency to develop robots modeling some aspects of human behavior instead of developing an android (Arnall 2003). Relative autonomy is a goal for physical robots as well as for softbots. • What is the meaning of the concept of autonomy in robotics? • What are the affinities and differences between the robotic discourse and the philosophical discourse? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

44. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… Obviously, we can experience a strong bidirectional travel of the concept of autonomy (as well as that of sociality, emotion and intelligence) between very diverse discourses and disciplines. • How does the concept transfer between the disciplines and especially the strong impact of robotics change the traditional meanings of concepts like autonomy, sociality, emotion and intelligence? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

45. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… Having regard to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, particularly Art. 1 Human dignity Art. 3 Right to the integrity of the person Art. 6 Right to liberty and security Art. 8 Protection of personal data Art. 25 The rights of the elderly Art. 26 Integration of persons with disabilities Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

46. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… The questions are: (a) Who is responsible for undesired results of actions carried out by human-robot hybrid teams? (b) How is the monitoring and processing of personal data by AI agents to be regulated? (c) Can bionic implants be used to enhance, rather than restore, physical and intellectual capabilities? Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

47. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… An answer might be that all three questions address possibilities that have an immediate impact on single human beings, since • responsibility is traditionally attributed to single actors (which includes individuals), • the human right to privacy protects the ability to live autonomously, and • enhancements are for the benefit of a singular person. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

48. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… The importance of robot-human-integration goes beyond the level of the single individual and address the question about how society or community could and should look like in which bots are integrated. Probably only certain members of a society or community will interact with certain kind of bots, for instance entertainment bots for rich people, service bots for elderly or ill people etc. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

49. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… This kind of interaction with bots may also build new forms of communities. Close attention should be paid to what groups of individuals are likely to interact with certain kind of bots in a certain context while at the same time keeping the perspective on the impact of the specific interactions on the communities and societies in which this specific forms of interactions take place. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics

50. B. Techno-ethical issues 3. Ethical aspects… All three forms of human-bot integration may include aspects of violation as well as fostering of human rights and dignity. It may not even ruled out that one and the same technology may do have both positive and negative effects. Surveillance infrastructures may be considered harmful with regard to privacy, but they may also enable us to create new kinds of communities. Rafael Capurro: Ethics and Robotics