Pedagogical Anthropology as Existential Risk Prevention: A Critical Take on the Techno-Progressive Discourses of Artificial General Intelligence and Moral Enhancement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/SPI.2017.1.004Keywords
existential risk, Artificial General Intelligence, moral enhancement, technology, pedagogical anthropology, techno-progressive discourseAbstract
The article undertakes the problem of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) research with reference to Nick Bostrom’s concept of existential risk and Ingmar Persson’s/Julian Savulescu’s proposal of biomedical moral enhancement from a pedagogical-anthropological perspective. A major focus will be put on the absence of pedagogical paradigms within the techno-progressive discourse, which results in a very reduced idea of education and human development. In order to prevent future existential risks, the techno-progressive discourse should at least to some extent refer to the qualitative approaches of humanities. Especially pedagogical anthropology reflects the presupposed and therefore frequently unarticulated images of man within the various scientific disciplines and should hence be recognized as a challenge to the solely quantitative perspective of AGI researches and transhumanism. I will argue that instead of forcing man to adapt physically to artificial devices, as the techno-progressive discourses suggest, the most efficient way of avoiding future existential risks concerning the relationship between mankind and highly advanced technology would be—as John Gray Cox proposes—making AGIs adopt crucial human values, which would integrate their activity into the social interactions of the lifeworld (Lebenswelt).
References
Ahrens, J., “Technik”, in: Handbuch Pädagogische Anthropologie, eds. C. Wulf, J. Zirfas, Springer, Wiesbaden 2014, pp. 633–641.
Becker P. von, Der neue Glaube an die Unsterblichkeit. Transhumanismus, Bioethik und digitaler Kapitalismus, Passagen Verlag, Wien 2015.
Bostrom N., “Existential Risk Preventing as Global Priority”, Global Policy 2013, vol. 4(1), pp. 15–31.
Bostrom N., Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, Oxford University Press, Oxford – New York 2016.
Cox J.G., “Reframing Ethical Theory, Pedagogy, and Legislation to Bias Open Source AGI Towards Friendliness and Wisdom”, Journal of Evolution and Technology 2015, vol. 25(2), pp. 39–54.
Goertzel B., Pennachin C., “The Novamate Artificial Intelligence Engine”, in: Artificial General Intelligence, eds. B. Goertzel, C. Pennachin, Springer, Heidelberg 2006, pp. 63–129.
Goertzel B., “Superintelligence: Fears, Promises and Potentials”, Journal of Evolution and Technology 2015, vol. 24(2), pp. 55–87.
Gray J., “Delusions of Peace”, Prospect. The Leading Magazine of Ideas, October Issue 2011.
Harris J., “Moral Enhancement and Freedom”, Bioethics 2011, vol. 25(2), pp. 102–111.
Horkheimer M., Adorno T.W., Dialectic of Enlightenment. Philosophical Fragments, transl. E. Jephcott, Stanford University Press, Stanford (CA) 2002.
Klincewicz M., “Autonomous Weapons Systems, the Frame Problem and Computer Security”, Journal of Military Ethics 2015, vol. 14(2), pp. 162–176.
Morioka M., Why is It Hard for Us to Accept Moral Bioenhancement: Comment on Savulescu’s Argument, Ethics for the Future of Life: Proceedings of the 2012 Uehiro-Carnegie-Oxford Ethics Conference, 2013.
Nietzsche F., On the Genealogy of Morality, transl. C. Diethe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge – New York 2006.
Nowak M., “Między wiedzą naukową a mądrością w pedagogice – w obszarze filozofii wychowania”, Studia Paedagogica Ignatiana 2016, vol. 19(1), pp. 19–38.
Okojie M. CPO, Olinzock A.A., Okojie-Boulder T.C., “The Pedagogy of Technology Integration”, The Journal of Technology Studies 2006, vol. 32(2). Available at: <http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/v32/v32n2/okojie.html>.
Pennachin C., Goertzel B., “Contemporary Approaches to Artificial Intelligence”, in: Artificial General Intelligence, eds. B. Goertzel, C. Pennachin, Springer, Heidelberg 2006, pp. 1–30.
Persson I., Savulescu J., “Getting Moral Enhancement Right: The Desirability of Moral Bioenhancement”, Bioethics 2013, vol. 27(3), pp. 124–131.
Persson I., Savulescu J., “Moral Transhumanism”, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 2010, vol. 35(6), pp. 1–14.
Persson I., Savulescu J., Unfit for the Future: The Need for Moral Enhancement, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012.
Pinker S., The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, Penguin Books, New York 2011.
Schumann K., Menschenbilder in Erziehungswissenschaft, Neurowissenschaft und Genetik. Eine vergleichende Analyse, Beltz Juventa, Weinheim – Basel 2015.
Simmel G., Der Begriff und die Tragödie der Kultur, in: G. Simmel, Gesamtausgabe, vol. 14, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 385–416.
Sorgner S.L., “The Future of Education: Genetic Enhancement and Metahumanities”, Journal of Evolution and Technology 2015, vol. 25(1), pp. 31–48.
Sorgner S.L., “The Stoic Sage 3.0 – A Realistic Goal of Moral (Bio)Enhancement Supporters?”, Journal of Evolution and Technology 2016, vol. 26(1), pp. 83–93.
Wulf C., Zirfas J., “‘Homo educandus’. Eine Einleitung in die Pädagogische Anthropologie”, in: Handbuch Pädagogische Anthropologie, eds. C. Wulf, J. Zirfas, Springer, Wiesbaden 2014, pp. 9–26.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
By submitting an article, the author declares that:
they are the author of the article (hereinafter referred to as the Work) and:
- is entitled to exclusive and unlimited copyright to the Work,
- is entitled to dispose of the copyrights to the Work.
The Author grants the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow a free, non-exclusive, territorially unlimited license to use the Work in the following fields of exploitation:
- publishing the Work in paper, digital or magnetic form;
- multiplying the work by any method, without limiting the number of editions or copies;
- distribution of the work and its copies in any form, including marketing, sales, lending, and lease;
- placing the work in a computer memory;
- distribution of the work in information networks, including the Internet;
- public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and re-broadcasting, as well as making the Work available to the public in such a manner that everyone could have access to it at a time and place chosen by themselves;
- within the scope of dependent rights to the Work, covering, in particular, the right to make necessary changes to the Work, resulting from editorial and methodical preparation, as well as to make translations of the Work into other languages.
The license right shall be transferred the moment of transfer of the Work to the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow. The Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow is entitled to grant sub-licenses to the Work in terms of the right granted. The license shall be limited in time for a period of 15 years from the date it is granted.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 506
Number of citations: 0
