Ethics

4 articles
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    The Argument Against Terraforming Mars

    When it comes to the ethics of actions, such as the decision to terraform Mars, we should ask: What sort of person would do that—a virtuous or vicious one?Photograph by Kees Veenenbos / Science Photo Library In Kim Stanley Robinson’s science-fiction Mars Trilogy, human colonists “terraform” Mars, turning the rocky red planet into a lush […]
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    The Moral Importance of Understanding Consciousness

    As we get better and better ideas of what is conscious and what is not, they might change the kinds of experiments we will be able to comfortably and ethically perform.“The Scream” (1893) by Edvard Munch Debating whether other beings are conscious can sometimes feel like an unimportant academic exercise. But it’s not. The conclusion […]
  • trolley problem_HERO

    It’s Time to Retire the “Trolley Problem”

    In the 1960s, the moral philosopher Philippa Foot devised a thought experiment that would revolutionize her field. This ethical puzzle, today known as the “trolley problem,” has become so influential—not just in philosophy but also in neuroscience, behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology, and meme culture—that it’s garnered its own tongue-in-cheek sub-discipline, called “trolleyology.” That body of […]
  • HAL 9000

    Will Humans Be Able to Control Computers That Are Smarter Than Us?

    Let’s consider the fear that once surrounded another powerful technology: recombinant DNA.