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Article 5686 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke)
Subject: Re: AI failures
Message-ID: <1992May15.162223.10464@cs.ucf.edu>
Keywords: morality personhood
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Organization: University of Central Florida
References: <1992May15.145142.4097@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Date: Fri, 15 May 1992 16:22:23 GMT

I've been watching this moral thread go by in some frsutration since I wanted  
to point to a small, very nice little book that deals with these issues that I  
read last year.  I finally found the reference:  

Leiber, Justin:  Can animals and machines be persons? : a dialog (Hackett,  
Indianapolis, 1985, 76p)

	With respect to the thread, the book raises the question: "If you have  
interacted with an AI sufficiently for it to seem like a person to you, could  
you then erase it without guilt?"

	The book describes a hearing before the UN Space Agency.  It seems the  
space station (heir of MIR/Freedom) has grown obsolete and they want to shut it  
down.  There are two problems:  it houses an AI and a chimpanzee.  
	The AI was not designed as such but developed as the station control  
computer's capabilities were enhanced over the years.  Its user interface  
became so friendly and its data base so large that as far as the astronauts  
were concerned it was a good friend and confidant.  In effect, the AI had  
passed several years of Turing testing by dozens of astronauts.  Unfortunately,  
the hardware and operating environment in the station were unique and old (as  
aerospace computers often are) and was such an integral part of the station  
that it could not be returned to earth or reproduced without major expense.
	The chimp had been sent up to station as an experimental animal years  
before.  It had become the station mascot, and was dearly loved by all the  
astronauts.  Unfortunately it had been too long in space; its bones were weak  
and a return to earth would be a death sentence.
	The issue before the Agency is whether it can morally shut down the  
station, terminating the chimp and the AI. I don't think it will give away  
anything to say that the Agency does not reach a conclusion, but merely hears  
testimony during the book.  Conclusions are left to the reader. 
	Representatives of many cultures are on the Agency, including an  
Easterner who says that selfhood is an illusion.  Both the chimp and the AI  
testify via remote link.
	The book is a good read and I recommend it highly. Its scenario or an  
equivalent one could happen in the not too distant future.



