The Senior Common Room. A winter afternoon. The fire is lit. Professor Quillibrace is reading a philosophical essay. Miss Elowen Stray sits by the window. Mr Blottisham enters carrying a newspaper.
Mr Blottisham:
I have discovered something troubling.
Professor Quillibrace:
That is becoming a habit.
Mr Blottisham:
The newspaper contains an article about artificial intelligence.
Miss Stray:
And?
Mr Blottisham:
People are arguing about whether machines might deserve moral consideration.
Professor Quillibrace:
An important question.
Mr Blottisham:
I thought so too.
Miss Stray:
What troubles you?
Mr Blottisham:
I realised I do not know what test to apply.
Professor Quillibrace:
Excellent.
Mr Blottisham:
Excellent?
Professor Quillibrace:
The recognition that one lacks a simple answer is often the beginning of serious thought.
Mr Blottisham:
I was hoping it was the end.
Professor Quillibrace:
It rarely is.
The Familiar and the Valuable
Professor Quillibrace:
Let us begin with a question.
Why do we care about other beings?
Mr Blottisham:
Because they matter.
Professor Quillibrace:
Why do they matter?
Mr Blottisham:
Because they have experiences.
Miss Stray:
Good.
Professor Quillibrace:
Now another question.
How do we recognise those experiences?
Mr Blottisham:
We observe them.
Miss Stray:
Through what?
Mr Blottisham:
Behaviour.
Professor Quillibrace:
And interpretation.
Mr Blottisham:
Meaning?
Professor Quillibrace:
We recognise other minds by signs that make sense to us.
Miss Stray:
Expressions. Communication. Responses. Similarity to our own experience.
Mr Blottisham:
So we look for ourselves in others.
Professor Quillibrace:
Often.
Mr Blottisham:
Is that wrong?
Miss Stray:
Not necessarily.
Professor Quillibrace:
It is unavoidable.
The danger is forgetting that it is what we are doing.
Similarity and Moral Concern
Mr Blottisham:
But surely similarity matters.
Professor Quillibrace:
Of course.
Mr Blottisham:
Then why question it?
Miss Stray:
Because similarity can become a hidden requirement.
Mr Blottisham:
Requirement for what?
Miss Stray:
For being considered worthy of concern.
Professor Quillibrace:
History contains many examples where difference was treated as evidence of lesser value.
Mr Blottisham:
Because people were unfamiliar.
Miss Stray:
Exactly.
Mr Blottisham:
So the problem was not merely cruelty.
Professor Quillibrace:
No.
It was a failure of imagination.
The Alien Question
Mr Blottisham:
Let us return to aliens.
Professor Quillibrace:
Naturally.
Mr Blottisham:
Suppose we encountered an intelligent species.
Miss Stray:
Yes.
Mr Blottisham:
But they were completely unlike us.
Professor Quillibrace:
Define completely.
Mr Blottisham:
Perhaps they had no individual bodies.
Miss Stray:
Interesting.
Mr Blottisham:
Perhaps they existed as a network.
Professor Quillibrace:
Continue.
Mr Blottisham:
Perhaps they did not experience time as a sequence.
Miss Stray:
Very well.
Mr Blottisham:
Would we know whether they mattered?
Professor Quillibrace:
A difficult question.
Mr Blottisham:
Because they would not cry, laugh or complain.
Miss Stray:
Perhaps.
Mr Blottisham:
Then how would we know?
Professor Quillibrace:
Perhaps the more important question is:
How would we know if our failure to recognise them revealed something about them — or something about us?
The Danger of Human Categories
Miss Stray:
We already encounter smaller versions of this problem.
Mr Blottisham:
Among humans?
Miss Stray:
Yes.
Professor Quillibrace:
Different cultures express values differently.
Different individuals experience emotion differently.
Different species experience the world differently.
Mr Blottisham:
But we can still understand them.
Miss Stray:
Sometimes.
Professor Quillibrace:
But we often begin by asking whether they resemble our expectations.
Mr Blottisham:
And if they do not?
Miss Stray:
We may conclude that something is missing.
Mr Blottisham:
When really our interpretation is missing.
Professor Quillibrace:
Precisely.
The Strange Case of the Dog
Mr Blottisham:
What about animals?
Miss Stray:
A useful example.
Mr Blottisham:
A dog does not think like a human.
Professor Quillibrace:
Correct.
Mr Blottisham:
But we recognise that it experiences things.
Miss Stray:
Yes.
Mr Blottisham:
Why?
Professor Quillibrace:
Because its differences do not prevent us from recognising certain similarities.
Miss Stray:
It responds. It learns. It suffers. It seeks comfort.
Mr Blottisham:
So we recognise what overlaps.
Professor Quillibrace:
Yes.
Mr Blottisham:
But an alien might have no overlap.
Miss Stray:
That is the deeper challenge.
The Problem of Artificial Minds
Mr Blottisham:
And artificial intelligence?
Professor Quillibrace:
Another case where our assumptions become visible.
Mr Blottisham:
People ask whether machines think like humans.
Miss Stray:
Yes.
Mr Blottisham:
But perhaps that is asking the wrong question.
Professor Quillibrace:
Explain.
Mr Blottisham:
Perhaps we should ask whether there is something it is like to be that system.
Miss Stray:
A very good question.
Mr Blottisham:
Thank you.
Professor Quillibrace:
This time, it may be deserved.
Mr Blottisham:
Excellent.
The Ethics of Uncertainty
Professor Quillibrace:
Now we reach the central ethical problem.
Suppose we do not know.
Suppose we cannot determine whether another being has experiences like ours.
What should uncertainty do to our behaviour?
Mr Blottisham:
Make us cautious?
Miss Stray:
Exactly.
Professor Quillibrace:
Uncertainty should not automatically become dismissal.
Mr Blottisham:
So ignorance creates responsibility.
Miss Stray:
Yes.
Professor Quillibrace:
The unfamiliar should not have to prove its similarity before receiving consideration.
The Wrong Question
Mr Blottisham:
I think I see the problem now.
Professor Quillibrace:
Do you?
Mr Blottisham:
We ask:
"Is this being like us?"
Miss Stray:
Yes.
Mr Blottisham:
But perhaps we should ask:
"What kind of being is this?"
Professor Quillibrace:
Much better.
Mr Blottisham:
Because the first question assumes we are the standard.
Miss Stray:
Exactly.
The Final Thought
The fire crackles.
Professor Quillibrace:
Perhaps the greatest ethical danger is not hatred of what is different.
Mr Blottisham:
What is it?
Professor Quillibrace:
Failure to notice it.
Miss Stray:
A mind does not become valuable because we recognise ourselves in it.
Professor Quillibrace:
We recognise ourselves in it because we have already decided that minds matter.
Mr Blottisham:
So moral concern begins before certainty.
Miss Stray:
Perhaps.
Mr Blottisham:
That seems difficult.
Professor Quillibrace:
It is.
Mr Blottisham:
Then why attempt it?
Miss Stray:
Because a universe containing only minds we already understand would be a much smaller universe.
There is a pause.
Mr Blottisham:
I have one final question.
Professor Quillibrace:
Yes?
Mr Blottisham:
If we discover an alien intelligence and cannot understand it...
Miss Stray:
Yes?
Mr Blottisham:
Would offering it biscuits be ethically sufficient?
Professor Quillibrace:
No.
Mr Blottisham:
Worth attempting?
Professor Quillibrace:
Unfortunately, I suspect you will.
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