[SIGCIS-Members] Some suggestions on the early history of the ethics of AI

Mon Apr 23 09:17:23 PDT 2018

Luke,

If you want to stretch their minds, I would suggest you screen "Colossus:
The Forbin Project", one of the earliest cinematic examples of the genre.
 -- Ian

On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 9:11 AM, Luke Fernandez <luke.fernandez at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I have also found that students like playing with Eliza.  And actually
> attempting to emulate Turing tests in the classroom can be fun as well.
>
> No social history of the ethics of a.i. would be complete without also
> examining how these ethical anxieties have been treated by Hollywood.
> Students usually already come in with some of their own cultural referents
> (I Robot is popular).  But few are familiar with 2001, the original Blade
> Runner, HER or Ex Machina.  They are all provacative forums for examining
> a.i. ethical anxieties as well as and the larger social forces that shape
> these worries.
>
> Luke
> lfernandez.org
>
> On Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 8:54 AM Yosem Companys <companys at stanford.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> I would add the seminal text by AI and HCI pioneer Terry Winograd and his
>> colleague Fernando Flores:
>>
>> https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Computers-
>> Cognition-Foundation-Design/dp/0201112973
>>
>> And of course the seminal paper below:
>>
>> https://hearingbrain.org/docs/letvin_ieee_1959.pdf
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 7:34 AM, Jamie Cohen-Cole <jcohencole at gwu.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Kevin, Debbie
>>>
>>> I also pair the two Weizenbaum texts.  For the book I use chapters 1,6
>>> (on computer models of the mind), and the last (on dangers of instrumental
>>> reason).  When I have seniors then the chapter on programmers as gambling
>>> addicts has worked well to stimulate discussion especially after they have
>>> read Dreyfus’ Rand paper.
>>>
>>> Which chapters do you use, Kevin?
>>>
>>> Jamie Cohen-Cole
>>> Associate Professor
>>> Department of American Studies
>>> George Washington University
>>> 2108 G Street
>>> Washington, DC 20052
>>> ph: 202-994-7244
>>> fax: 202-994-8651
>>>
>>> On Apr 23, 2018, at 9:05 AM, Kevin Driscoll <kdriscoll at alum.mit.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Debbie,
>>>
>>> I've found that some familiarity with the ELIZA chatbot is helpful for
>>> students learning about the history of AI. ELIZA appears often in later
>>> literature and provides a generative starting point for thinking about the
>>> social and political consequences of AI in society.
>>>
>>> In a media studies course about programming, I ask students to compare
>>> passages from Weizenbaum's 1966 paper and 1976 follow-up book:
>>> - Weizenbaum, J. (1966). ELIZA: A Computer Program for the Study of
>>> Natural Language Communication Between Man and Machine. Commun. ACM, 9(1),
>>> 36–45. https://doi.org/10.1145/365153.365168
>>> - Weizenbaum, J. (1976). Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment
>>> to Calculation (1st edition). San Francisco: W H Freeman & Co.
>>>
>>> There are also lots of ELIZAs living on the web for them to play with,
>>> e.g.:
>>> - http://www.masswerk.at/elizabot/
>>> - https://www.smallsurething.com/implementing-the-famous-
>>> eliza-chatbot-in-python/
>>>
>>> Plus, the racist meltdown of Microsoft's Tay in 2016 offers an extension
>>> into the present:
>>> - https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-
>>> chatbot-racist
>>>
>>> Best of luck to you and your student!
>>>
>>> Kevin Driscoll
>>> University of Virginia
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 3:55 AM, Alberts, Gerard <g.alberts at uva.nl>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear Deborah,
>>>> The crucial book is Hubert L. Dreyfus, *What computers still can't do.
>>>> A critique of artificial reason* (MIT, 1972. 1992). *The original What
>>>> computers can't do*, is basically a philosophical argumentation. The
>>>> revised edition has an ample introduction offering a most readible
>>>> historical view of the debate as it evolved.
>>>> AI from its very inception in the 1950s has been accompanied with
>>>> debates. These debates may have been different in Europe from the US; just
>>>> like the automation debate in the 1950s was predominantly a socio-economic
>>>> debate in the US, and when it landed in Europe it had turned into a
>>>> cultural debate.
>>>> Our colleague Dick van Lente (University of Rotterdam) published on
>>>> these issues.
>>>>
>>>> I do read Dreyfus with graduate students. For undergraduates I find J.
>>>> David Bolter, *Turing's man* (from 1984!) still very readible. To
>>>> students in CS or AI it will always serve as an eye-opener to the
>>>> worldviews implicit in their discipline - which to me is the key element of
>>>> an ethical reflection course.
>>>> Kind regards,
>>>> Gerard Alberts, University of Amsterdam
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> *Van:* Members [members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org] namens Deborah
>>>> Douglas [ddouglas at mit.edu]
>>>> *Verzonden:* maandag 23 april 2018 3:21
>>>> *Aan:* members
>>>> *Onderwerp:* [SIGCIS-Members] Some suggestions on the early history of
>>>> the ethics of AI
>>>>
>>>> I am appealing to the collective for some quick recommendations to help
>>>> one of my undergraduates interested in the early history of ethics and
>>>> artificial intelligence.  What sorts of articles or books have others used
>>>> in their classes with undergraduates to help them understand the key issues
>>>> and concerns?
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Debbie Douglas
>>>>
>>>> *Deborah G. Douglas, PhD* • Director of Collections and Curator of
>>>> Science and Technology, MIT Museum, Room N51-209 • 265 Massachusetts Avenue
>>>> • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • http://web.mit.edu/museum  •
>>>> http://museum.mit.edu/150 • ddouglas at mit.edu •  617-253-1766 phone  •
>>>>  617-253-8994 fax
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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>
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-- 
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens

Principal Investigator, "Reflections on Early Computing and Social Change",
UW IRB #42619

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>

University of Washington

There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
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