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Can Machines Learn Morality? By Randy Rieland 2013

Last updated over 2 years ago

4 questions

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Question 1

1.

PART A: Which of the following identifies the central idea of the text?

Morality is a solely human trait that robots may never be able to fully understand or use to make decisions.

Equipping robots with a sense of morality would allow them to be more useful in combat, however, this would also allow them more independence than some people approve of.

Equipping robots with a sense of right and wrong is an unwise decision, as  humans have yet to master a knowledge of morality themselves.

Equipping robots with morality is the best way to ensure that no matter  how autonomous they become, they will never act unwisely.

Question 2

2.

PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

"true to its title, called on governments to ban all autonomous weapons because they would 'increase the risk of death or injury to civilians during armed conflict.'" (Paragraph 10)

"It's all in the interest, says Arkin, of developing machines that won't be a threat to humans, but rather an asset, particularly in the ugly chaos of war." (Paragraph 16)

"'I believe that there is a potential for non-combatant casualties to be lessened by these intelligent robots, but we do have to be very careful about how they're used and not just release them into the battlefield  without appropriate concern.'" (Paragraph 17)

"We still confront situations for which we don't have well-developed codes  (e.g., in the case of assisted suicide) and need not look far into the past to  find cases where our own codes were dubious, or worse (e.g., laws that  permitted slavery and segregation)." (Paragraph 19)

Question 3

3.

PART A: What is the effect of the author's reference to The Terminator movies in paragraph 13?

It emphasizes the potential intelligence that robots are capable of.

It makes fun of the idea that robots could ever successfully be equipped with morality.

It shows how equipping robots with intelligence is a task that is doomed to fail.

It reinforces the idea that some robotic advances are only possible in  fiction.

Question 4

4.

PART B: Which quote from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

"When it opens later this year, it will push for serious scientific research into what could happen if and when machines get smarter than us."  (Paragraph 11)

"one day we could be dealing with 'machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us'." (Paragraph 12)

"Maybe this will always be the stuff of science fiction." (Paragraph 13)

"He and colleagues have been studying how animals deceive one another, with the goal of teaching robots the art of deception." (Paragraph 14)