Tomi Kokkonen is a philosopher of science working at the University of Helsinki. His research fields include philosophy of biology and philosophy of human sciences, and especially the intersection of the two. His main research topics have been the evolution of human sociality and the evolution of morality. Lately, he has expanded his interest from understanding natural beings into understanding created beings and their potential, especially the possibility of creating artificial moral agents.
Protomoral Machines: Evolution of Morality as a Guideline for Robot Ethics
There are two connected questions about moral agency and robots: How can we ensure that robots behave in accordance to relevant ethical considerations? Is it possible to have genuinely moral machines? I will approach these questions from an evolutionary perspective and argue for the importance of a middle-range perspective to morality of machines: we should not be restricted to the present-day perspective of current ethical concerns nor the far future theoretical issues concerning the possibility of genuine morality neither. Instead, we should reflect on what it would mean to create protomoral machines. Evolution of human morality may help in this.
