Contemporary Moral Problems Recap Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards recapping major concepts from the lecture on Contemporary Moral Problems, covering general ethics, social media impacts, and artificial intelligence.

No-rest objection

An anti-consequentialist intuition suggesting utilitarianism is too demanding because it requires individuals to constantly maximize utility, leaving no time for rest.

Knowing-the-consequences objection

An objection to utilitarianism based on the difficulty or impossibility of accurately predicting all future outcomes of an action.

Justice objection

The moral intuition that utilitarianism could justify individual rights violations or injustices if they result in a greater aggregate utility.

The "murderer at the door" case

A classic ethical thought experiment involving whether to lie to a killer, eliciting different moral judgments from Kant, Constant, and utilitarianism.

Virtue ethics

A moral theory that focuses on the character of the individual rather than specific rules or consequences.

Ethical egoism

The normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest.

Narrow self-interest

A specific focus within ethical egoism often contrasted with broader or more enlightened forms of self-interest.

Virtue as the golden mean

The Aristotelian concept that a virtue is the desirable middle ground between two extremes: a vice of excess and a vice of deficiency.

"Wrong to some extent" vs. "wrong all things considered"

A distinction in moral philosophy between an action having some negative moral weight versus the final determination that the action should not be performed.

Basic principle of utilitarianism

The moral doctrine that an action is right if it promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Hedonism

The theory that pleasure or happiness is the highest good and proper aim of human life.

Consequentialism

An ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its results are.

Act-utilitarianism vs. rule-utilitarianism

The distinction between applying the principle of utility to individual actions versus applying it to general rules of conduct.

Deontological ethics

Moral theories that prioritize duties, obligations, and the nature of the action itself over the consequences.

Basic principle of Kantianism

The ethical framework centered around the categorical imperative and the necessity of acting out of duty according to universalizable maxims.

Critical thinking vs. critical ignoring

A distinction explored by Kozyreva et al. focusing on the strategy of intentionally ignoring irrelevant information to manage digital overload.

Tufekci’s two models of threats to free speech

Models identifying different ways in which free speech can be undermined in the digital age.

Echo chambers vs. filter bubbles

Concepts describing how information environments can isolate individuals from diverse perspectives, categorized as a myth by the Renew Democracy Initiative.

Intermittent variable rewards

One of the ten "hijacks" identified by Harris, referring to the psychological mechanism used by social media to keep users engaged through unpredictable rewards.

Haidt’s four harms to children

Specific negative impacts of social media on minors, the evidence for which is questioned by Brown and Watzl.

Right to be carefree

A concept proposed by Shields and Ferracioli in the context of children and social media usage.

Attention markets

A framework used by Brown and Watzl to describe how social media platforms trade human attention, potentially threatening autonomy.

Front-end/back-end distinction

A distinction made by Brown and Watzl in their analysis of how digital platforms function.

Gaming problem

An issue in AI and algorithmic management where systems are manipulated to achieve metrics; Birch and Andrews suggest ways to mitigate this.

Algorithmic bias

The tendency of an algorithm to produce outputs that are systematically prejudiced toward certain groups or individuals.

Cognitive atrophy

The potential decline in human cognitive skills resulting from over-reliance on generative AI and automated systems.

Garbage-In-Garbage-Out principle

A concept in AI stating that the quality of information coming out of a system cannot be better than the quality of the information that was input.

Strong vs. Weak AI

The distinction between AI that possesses human-level intelligence and consciousness (Strong) and AI designed for specific tasks (Weak).

Sentience

A defining feature of a mind often discussed as a requirement for attributing rights or considering markers of pain in AI.

Algorithm

A set of step-by-step procedures or rules followed by a computer to solve a problem or perform a task.

Machine learning

A field of AI focused on building systems that learn from data to improve performance without being explicitly programmed.

Neural networks

Computing systems inspired by biological brains that are used in machine learning to recognize patterns and process complex data.

Generative AI, Predictive AI, and Classical AI

Different categories of artificial intelligence categorized by their primary function, such as creating content or making forecasts.