[VOX] Self-driving cars: The 21st-century trolley problem

[Richard V.]

Right? We aim to achieve the same ends - safer driving and reduced death rates by autos.

As SteveJobs was wont to say “there’s a paradigm shift between todays technology and the desired philosophical goal of human consciousness in robotics”

Disruption only occurs if 10X or greater is the change for better. At this moment, change exceeds 100X to burden robotics with human consciousness.

SteveJobs asked a simple philosophical question “can people love a computer?” This at a moment when everybody hated PC’s and their frustration working with the computer. Steve wanted to not add or contribute further bad karma into the world. Of course, NeXT Computer failed but his baby Apple gave him his second chance. iPod required a stripped down OS. SteveJobs saw the form factor takeoff in popularity and chose to fix what he hated about his cellphone.

People who have iPhones love them, pay premium to own and keep them longer as a result of liking them. So much so, that much done on desktop can be done on cellphone. SteveJobs question has come full circle to prove what can be achieved if people love a computer.

We have only asked the question “can people’s lives be saved by taking away their driving with computer?” The computer industry has decades of technological breakthroughs and disruptions including a paradigm shift or two before the answer emerges to the question.

Its early days, much needs to yet happen for AI and robotics to integrate with autos before anything resembling philosophical human moral equivalency emerges.

The philosophical premise is a decade or two ahead of the technology when the auto industry itself is in the throes of a complete paradigm shift. Google WAYMO and Tesla are over-reaching hoping to crack the problem and be first to market. Its named uncanny valley. Its exactly where PC’s were at when IBM laughed at the PC doing real work only mainframes were capable with 300k memory!

So yeah, lets revisit in 2031.

As I am now 61, I was there in the early PCs days. Being in the RCAF (communications officer) for 22 years I learned to program computers with switches, etc. I also had a Commodore Vic 20, a Vic 64 and many others. I also spent 19 years at CSE (i.e., an NSA partner). Enclosed is a link to my presentation about AI and ethics. I hope it will help move the post forward. I believe, people need to think about these issues now to build ethics into the AI systems' architecture early. It is like IT security, you need to build it early into the system. Not as an after thought. I hope my presentation will help us think about the AI ethical issues and possible solutions for it. Why did I do a Masters' Degree at my age? It's because I needed to explore the issue of science and technology affecting human lives and see the ethical impacts.

I plan to be there in 2031 for the ongoing ethics debate, but in the mean time I am looking at some of the issues right now and contributing my best thoughts. Here is the link to my latest presentation on this subject:

FSN Seminar – March 9 at 1 pm EST – Foresight Synergy Network (FSN) (fsncanada.com)
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers!

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[John K]

The answer to the philosophical question is proactive planning to avoid the situation.

 

[Richard V.]

The answer to the philosophical question is proactive planning to avoid the situation.

Hi John, is it possible? I fully agree with being PROACTIVE...

 

[John K]

Hi John, is it possible? I fully agree with being PROACTIVE...

Yes, never operate a trolly. Also, I have successfully avoided this situation my whole life. ?

In the hypothetical, pre-inspection before operation. Fail safe break designs And backup breaks. Sunset outdated trolly designs. Camera systems that could identify the problem well ahead of time allowing corrective decisions to be made. Restrict pedestrian access to the tracks. Monitor systems in pedestrian access areas. Drink Red Bull, gives you WINGS! Track sensors identifying if blockage on tracks.

Nothing is perfect, rational proactive planning can reduce edge cases. Assigning probability scores to fail scenarios are Pareto‘d and addressed based on possible In reality and ignore fantasy.

Example, aliens could land a spaceship, exit and lay on the tracks at the last moment. Decision in this case, power slide, take them all out and claim UFO as salvage.

 

[Richard V.]

Yes, never operate a trolly. Also, I have successfully avoided this situation my whole life. ?

In the hypothetical, pre-inspection before operation. Fail safe break designs And backup breaks. Sunset outdated trolly designs. Camera systems that could identify the problem well ahead of time allowing corrective decisions to be made. Restrict pedestrian access to the tracks. Monitor systems in pedestrian access areas. Drink Red Bull, gives you WINGS! Track sensors identifying if blockage on tracks.

Nothing is perfect, rational proactive planning can reduce edge cases. Assigning probability scores to fail scenarios are Pareto‘d and addressed based on possible In reality and ignore fantasy.

Example, aliens could land a spaceship, exit and lay on the tracks at the last moment. Decision in this case, power slide, take them all out and claim UFO as salvage.

Hi John, were you working on US rail systems?
The following link is interesting to listen to. I just do not like the reference to "cocaine" on the DJ's shirt. I do not think it is safe and healthy. However, paying attention to driving your TESLA vehicle should be that engaging...

Boris Brejcha at Grand Palais in Paris, France for Cercle - YouTube

This Boris show reminds me of the Cybertruck reveal in November 2019.

 

[John K]

Hi John, were you working on US rail systems?
The following link is interesting to listen to. I just do not like the reference to "cocaine" on the DJ's shirt. I do not think it is safe and healthy. However, paying attention to driving your TESLA vehicle should be that engaging...

Boris Brejcha at Grand Palais in Paris, France for Cercle - YouTube

This Boris show reminds me of the Cybertruck reveal in November 2019.

No to working on rail systems. I have humbled experience in Lean/Six Sigma in a manufacturing environment and expertise in the print field. A bit boring but exciting to me.

the link is generally not my cup of tea but will give it a go later. I will most likely listen and ignore visual. Will I miss anything important if I do?

 

[Richard V.]

No to working on rail systems. I have humbled experience in Lean/Six Sigma in a manufacturing environment and expertise in the print field. A bit boring but exciting to me.

the link is generally not my cup of tea but will give it a go later. I will most likely listen and ignore visual. Will I miss anything important if I do?

Hi John, it is also interesting visually because of the site architecture the DJ and the visual effects. It also goes from daylight to evening with more light show effects after dark in the building.

Cheers

 

[rr6013]

<snip>
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers!

This is what the slide deck presents throughout…it might better communicate in text format

 

[Richard V.]

This is what the slide deck presents throughout…it might better communicate in text format

Easier to look here:

Here is the link to my latest presentation on this subject:

FSN Seminar – March 9 at 1 pm EST – Foresight Synergy Network (FSN) (fsncanada.com)
Any feedback would be appreciated. I also have the original text format paper with all the details.

Cheers!

 

[John K]

Trolly variant.

Trolly is heading towards a single person, you are at a switch and direct the run away trolly to a track with 4 strangers Instead. The single person is your son.

Do you switch the tracks.

I would have a hard time with this scenarios and most likely would switch the tracks.

 

[Ogre]

Example, aliens could land a spaceship, exit and lay on the tracks at the last moment. Decision in this case, power slide, take them all out and claim UFO as salvage.

Trolley problem only applies to humans duh.

 

[Richard V.]

Trolley problem only applies to humans duh.

This reminds me of Lt Cmdr. Data interacting with humans. Here is a great quotes from Data:
Star Trek Data Quotes, Best of Commander Data - AllGreatQuotes

 

[Ogre]

Trolly variant.

Trolly is heading towards a single person, you are at a switch and direct the run away trolly to a track with 4 strangers Instead. The single person is your son.

Do you switch the tracks.

I would have a hard time with this scenarios and most likely would switch the tracks.

Just make the person who maintains the trolley brakes ride the trolley to work every day.

 

[rr6013]

Umm sure? I was thinking more like this:

When you play "Grand Theft Auto", the computer-driven cars don't suffer from phantom braking, or slam into obvious obstacles, because they can interpret the environment with 100% accuracy.

@CyberGus was onto how AI is going to make driving simplified ala GTA-style afterall.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/technology/automated-flight-helicopter-skyryse.html

GTA UI is impossibly behind in real time inference processing always in post process space behind reality. Inference time is a measure of latency, frame rate and AI complier runtime for perception problem, solution planning in the computational margin of 1 sec. extra safety. Human GTA inputs would act as a drag on the margin of safety.

Edit: GTA latency

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