Cognitive Technology and Human-Machine Interaction: The Contribution of Externalism to the Theoretical Foundations of Machine and Cyborg Ethics
Cognitive Technology and Human-Machine Interaction: The Contribution of Externalism to the Theoretical Foundations of Machine and Cyborg Ethics

Summary/Abstract: Machine ethics is the branch of ethics concerned with the behavior of artificially intelligent systems. Cyborg ethics is the related field of investigation concerned with the ethics of human-machine hybrid systems. While these areas of ethical investigation are experiencing rapid growth urged by disruptive advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and human-machine interaction, yet their theoretical foundations continue to elude consensus among researchers. In fact, most attention in machine and cyborg ethics has been devoted to normative and applied ethical questions concerning the moral status of artificially intelligent systems, the moral permissibility of their application in specific contexts, and the normative principles governing the interaction between artificially intelligent systems and humans. While cyborg ethicists have discussed the ethical implications of integrating man and machines, machine ethicists have long debated on whether artificially intelligent systems have the cognitive capacities necessary for the attribution of moral status. It remains unexplored, however, what theory of cognition is best placed to explain and assess these cognitive capacities or competent actions, especially in relation to human-machine interaction. This contribution aims at harmonizing the theoretical foundations of, respectively, machine and cyborg ethics and argues that an externalist account of cognition based on the notion of extended mind might offer a valid substrate for such harmonization.

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