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

Mon Apr 23 09:31:36 PDT 2018

Thanks Ian. Hopefully without sidetracking Deborah's original inquiry do
sigcis members have a sense of how a.i. courses (that are consumable by
majors in the humanities) are trending in higher education?  Does anyone
have some full fledged syllabi to share?

Luke
lfernandez.org

On Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 10:17 AM Ian S. King <isking at uw.edu> wrote:

> 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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>
>
>
> --
> 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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