Readings

The readings for this week are:

Self-Driving Cars

  1. All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware

  2. Uber's First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month

  3. Inside the Self-Driving Tesla Fatal Accident

  4. Self-Driving Cars Gain Powerful Ally: The Government

  5. The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles

Automation

  1. A World without Work

  2. Drones could replace $127 billion worth of human labour

  3. Episode 621: When Luddites Attack

  4. Technology isn't working

  5. The Robot Revolution in Caregiving

  6. The CEO of United Technologies just let slip an unintended consequence of the Trump-Carrier jobs deal

  7. As Our Jobs Are Automated, Some Say We'll Need A Guaranteed Basic Income

Questions

Please write a response to one of the following questions:

  1. After reading some of the articles above, address the following questions:

    • What is the motivation for developing and building self-driving cars? What are the arguments for and against self-driving cars? Would they make our roads safer?

    • How should programmers address the "social dilemma of autonomous vehicles"? How should an artificial intelligence approach life-and-death situations? Who is liable for when an accident happens?

    • What do you believe will be the social, economic, and political impact of self-driving cars? What role should the government play in regulating self-driving cars?

    • Would you want a self-driving car? Explain why or why not.

  2. From the readings, how is automation impacting employment? What are the social, political, and economic implications of replacing human labor with automation on a massive scale?

    • Were the Luddites right about technology and jobs? Should we halt development of automation technology or at least temper it to ensure employment of human laborers, or does automation free humans for other endeavors?

    • Are you comfortable with artificial intelligence taking over work normally performed by humans? How about artificial intelligence performing typically "human" activities such as caregiving, creating artist works, or making life-or-death decisions?

    • Is a Universal Basic Income a viable means of addressing the concerns over loss of employment due to mass automation or is it unnecessary? How does society deal with a future with mass automation and lower employment (or is this not really a problem)? How do we prevent the rich from simply getting richer (or do we even care about preventing that)?

    • Is automation ultimately a good thing or a bad thing for humanity? What are the ethical implications for those who develop and utilize these automation technologies?

Feedback

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the course, please provide your feedback at the end of your response.