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Articles

The Morality Machine

Phil Badger considers what it would take to make truly justifiable moral decisions.

Imagine for a moment that it will soon be possible to program a computer in such a way that it can generate the answer to any particular moral dilemma we might be faced with. Now further imagine the process that might lead to the writing of such a program, and what the content of that program might be. We might imagine a huge project in which people from different backgrounds and cultures come together to debate and discuss not just moral problems, but the principles upon which they should be decided. Many suggestions will be made as to which principles should be adopted. Some might suggest a single principle, such as, ‘Do for others what you would want them to do for you’, while others will want a hierarchy of principles, such that the less significant ones are moderated but not annulled by the principles to which we grant higher priority.

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