Robocars will be able to make decisions based on morality. Free Technical Library News

NEWS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NOVELTY IN ELECTRONICS
Free technical library / timeline

Robomobiles will be able to make decisions based on morality

15.07.2017

The development of autonomous driving technologies has raised many questions, including the difficult problem for autonomous systems of potential life-or-death decision making. Should autonomous car systems protect the lives of their owners at all costs, or will they have to sacrifice a driver to save a large group of people from death?

While there is no concrete answer to this question, a research team from Germany believes that morality may soon play a role in how self-driving cars will make decisions.

Evidence suggests that human morality is too context-dependent to accurately model, meaning that it cannot be effectively integrated into a self-governing algorithm.

Study participants were asked to drive a car in virtual reality through city streets on a foggy night. In virtual travels, they created emergency situations when it was impossible to avoid a collision with inanimate objects, animals or people. The subsequent decisions were modeled and turned into a set of rules creating a "value of life" model for every person, animal and inanimate object that might be involved in a traffic incident.

“Now that we know how to implement human ethical decisions into machines, we as a society are still left with a double dilemma,” says Professor Peter Koenig. “First, we must decide whether moral values should be included in the guidelines principles of how machines behave, and secondly, if there are any, should machines act in exactly the same way as people?

<< Back: Remains of ancient giants found 16.07.2017

>> Forward: Bacteria on nanofiber electrodes could purify wastewater 15.07.2017

Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:

Machine for thinning flowers in gardens 02.05.2024

In modern agriculture, technological progress is developing aimed at increasing the efficiency of plant care processes. The innovative Florix flower thinning machine was presented in Italy, designed to optimize the harvesting stage. This tool is equipped with mobile arms, allowing it to be easily adapted to the needs of the garden. The operator can adjust the speed of the thin wires by controlling them from the tractor cab using a joystick. This approach significantly increases the efficiency of the flower thinning process, providing the possibility of individual adjustment to the specific conditions of the garden, as well as the variety and type of fruit grown in it. After testing the Florix machine for two years on various types of fruit, the results were very encouraging. Farmers such as Filiberto Montanari, who has used a Florix machine for several years, have reported a significant reduction in the time and labor required to thin flowers. ... >>

Advanced Infrared Microscope 02.05.2024

Microscopes play an important role in scientific research, allowing scientists to delve into structures and processes invisible to the eye. However, various microscopy methods have their limitations, and among them was the limitation of resolution when using the infrared range. But the latest achievements of Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo open up new prospects for studying the microworld. Scientists from the University of Tokyo have unveiled a new microscope that will revolutionize the capabilities of infrared microscopy. This advanced instrument allows you to see the internal structures of living bacteria with amazing clarity on the nanometer scale. Typically, mid-infrared microscopes are limited by low resolution, but the latest development from Japanese researchers overcomes these limitations. According to scientists, the developed microscope allows creating images with a resolution of up to 120 nanometers, which is 30 times higher than the resolution of traditional microscopes. ... >>

Air trap for insects 01.05.2024

Agriculture is one of the key sectors of the economy, and pest control is an integral part of this process. A team of scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR-CPRI), Shimla, has come up with an innovative solution to this problem - a wind-powered insect air trap. This device addresses the shortcomings of traditional pest control methods by providing real-time insect population data. The trap is powered entirely by wind energy, making it an environmentally friendly solution that requires no power. Its unique design allows monitoring of both harmful and beneficial insects, providing a complete overview of the population in any agricultural area. “By assessing target pests at the right time, we can take necessary measures to control both pests and diseases,” says Kapil ... >>

The threat of space debris to the Earth's magnetic field 01.05.2024

More and more often we hear about an increase in the amount of space debris surrounding our planet. However, it is not only active satellites and spacecraft that contribute to this problem, but also debris from old missions. The growing number of satellites launched by companies like SpaceX creates not only opportunities for the development of the Internet, but also serious threats to space security. Experts are now turning their attention to the potential implications for the Earth's magnetic field. Dr. Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics emphasizes that companies are rapidly deploying satellite constellations, and the number of satellites could grow to 100 in the next decade. The rapid development of these cosmic armadas of satellites can lead to contamination of the Earth's plasma environment with dangerous debris and a threat to the stability of the magnetosphere. Metal debris from used rockets can disrupt the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Both of these systems play a key role in protecting the atmosphere and maintaining ... >>

Solidification of bulk substances 30.04.2024

There are quite a few mysteries in the world of science, and one of them is the strange behavior of bulk materials. They may behave like a solid but suddenly turn into a flowing liquid. This phenomenon has attracted the attention of many researchers, and we may finally be getting closer to solving this mystery. Imagine sand in an hourglass. It usually flows freely, but in some cases its particles begin to get stuck, turning from a liquid to a solid. This transition has important implications for many areas, from drug production to construction. Researchers from the USA have attempted to describe this phenomenon and come closer to understanding it. In the study, the scientists conducted simulations in the laboratory using data from bags of polystyrene beads. They found that the vibrations within these sets had specific frequencies, meaning that only certain types of vibrations could travel through the material. Received ... >>

Random news from the Archive

75,6 TB of data on a piece of quartz 30.09.2020

The amount of digital data generated by humans is growing at an extremely high rate. Meanwhile, physical media are not developing so fast. This means that in order to create cloud storage, you need to purchase more and more expensive hard drives. The way out of this situation may be a new Microsoft technology that allows you to write tens of terabytes of data on a piece of quartz.

Microsoft Project Silica is based on the technology of writing data on ultra-strong quartz glass using a laser by deforming its structure. During the experiments, the researchers were able to "pack" 75,6 TB of data into a piece of fused silica the size of a 2,5-inch disk. If we draw analogies, then the most capacious 3,5-inch hard drive has a capacity of 20 TB.

The main problem faced by the Project Silica team is that the quartz media cannot be overwritten. Therefore, the information on it is read-only. This will cause problems with backup, it will take much longer than with regular disks. As it turned out, not only Microsoft, but also other companies are working on a similar technology. So, Seagate already has its own developments.

Analysts say that by 2025 the amount of data in the world will exceed 175 zettabytes (1 ZB = billion TB). This is six times more than in 2018. Moreover, the development of 5G networks, the demand for high-definition video and the market for the Internet of things can lead to the fact that by the end of the decade the total amount of information will reach 1 trillion terabytes - 1000 zettabytes.

See full Archive of science and technology news, new electronics

All languages of this page

Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews