Some aspects of ethics and research into the silicon brain

摘要

The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the issues related to ethics in the context of establishing objectives for information systems research in general and artificial intelligence or silicon brain research in particular. Examples are taken from physics and genetic engineering to illustrate the kind of ethical problems that arise when the ethical implications of research are not understood or acknowledged. The aspect of ethics considered here relates to the care with which a research topic should be chosen if one wishes to avoid dilemmas concerning the use to which the knowledge so created will eventually be put. In addition a possible framework for thinking about ethics and research objectives is suggested.