Monday, November 09, 2009
Community of Scholars Lecture: Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong
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Contact for more information:
Wendy Knipe Bredhold Media Relations Specialist, News & Information Services 812/461-5259 Computers are already approving financial transactions, controlling electrical supplies, and driving trains. Soon, service robots will be taking care of the elderly in their homes, and military robots will have their own targeting and firing protocols. In his talk, Allen argues that as robots and software bots are becoming increasingly autonomous, they will need to be programmed to make moral decisions. Allen is a faculty member in Indiana University, Bloomington's Cognitive Science Program and a member of the core faculty in IU's Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from University College London. His research interests are in philosophy of biology and cognitive science, and he is best known for his work on animal behavior and cognition. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Allen is co-author of Species of Mind (MIT Press, 1997) and co-editor of The Evolution of Mind (Oxford University Press, 1998), Nature's Purposes (MIT Press, 1998), The Cognitive Animal (MIT Press, 2002), and Philosophy Across the Life Sciences (MIT Press). He also is co-editor of a special issue of the journal Biology and Philosophy (Dec. 2004) on animal cognition, in which he has a paper titled "Is Anyone a Cognitive Ethologist?" and a forthcoming special issue of the journal Synthese on "Representing Philosophy" covering the applications of digital technologies to philosophy. He is associate editor of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, associate editor of Noesis: Philosophical Research Online, co-author of a logic textbook, Logic Primer, published by MIT Press, and co-developer of two online logic instructional sites at http://logic.tamu.edu and http://www.poweroflogic.com. For more information, call Dr. Rocco J. Gennaro, chair of the Department of Philosophy, at 812/464-1744. |
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