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- Frankenstein metaphor indicates our future?
George Lucas introduced a current metaphor in Frankenstein for examining autonomous weapons and the future of war (1). Frankenstein is a human-made artificial creature. The nature of Frankenstein whether he will be embedded with the good-will or bad-mind is determined by the technology user. Frankenstein’s food implies genetically modified organisms (GMO) (2). The nature of Frankenstein is really depending on the technology user’s ethics and/or moral (3). It means that determining the nature of Frankenstein is beyond our control (3). The nature of weapons with embedded artificial intelligence (AI) is also beyond our control. It needs to be taken on faith that the autonomous weapons are embedded with good-will AI. It is hard to believe that all weapons are embedded with good-will AI. Who orders designers to determine the nature of Frankenstein? Ethical scientists and engineers should take an initiative in examining AI weapons.
References:
1. George Lucas, The automated battlefield, Science 27 Apr 2018: Vol. 360, Issue 6387, pp. 386
2. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/long-shadow-frankenstein
3. Y. Takefuji, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6372/137/tab-e-lettersCompeting Interests: None declared.
