Do we have moral duties towards information objects?

In this paper, a critique will be developed and an alternative proposed to Luciano Floridi’s approach to Information Ethics (IE). IE is a macroethical theory that is to both serve as a foundation for computer ethics and to guide our overall moral attitude towards the world. The central claims of IE are that everything that exists can be described as an information object, and that all information objects, qua information objects, have intrinsic value and are therefore deserving of moral respect. In my critique of IE, I will argue that Floridi has presented no convincing arguments that everything that exists has some minimal amount of intrinsic value. I will argue, however, that his theory could be salvaged in large part if it were modified from a value-based into a respect-based theory, according to which many (but not all) inanimate things in the world deserve moral respect, not because of intrinsic value, but because of their (potential) extrinsic, instrumental or emotional value for persons.     

Objections to Ostritsch’s argument in “The amoralist challenge to gaming and the gamer’s moral obligation”

This paper raises three objections to the argument presented by Ostritsch in The amoralist challenge to gaming and the gamer’s moral obligation, in which the amoralist’s mantra “it’s just a game” is viewed as an illegitimate rebuttal of all moral objections to (typically violent) video games. The first objection focuses on Ostritsch’s ‘strong sense’ of player enjoyment, which I argue is too crude, given the moral work it is meant to be doing. Next, I question the legitimacy of Ostritsch’s claim that certain video games are immoral. I examine what is involved in making this claim and what would be required for a normative position to be established: none of which is addressed by Ostritsch. Finally, I challenge the legitimacy of his claim that players are obliged not to play certain video games in certain ways (i.e., games endorsing immorality as ‘fun games’). I distinguish between immoral and suberogatory actions, arguing that the latter is in fact more applicable to cases Ostritsch has in mind, and that one is not obliged not to engage in these actions.     

脑重大疾病的机理和诊治

脑疾病是我国乃至全球人口健康领域正面临的重大挑战。尽快部署脑疾病研究的中长期战略具有重大意义,将显著提升我国在该领域的国际竞争力,促进相关学科的发展以及新技术和新治疗途径的开发,实现脑疾病的精准医疗。脑疾病的研究正在从分子细胞机理、介观网络机制、生物标记物与分子分型、影像诊断和治疗策略研发等多个层面推进,其中介观网络研究是当前脑科学研究的新焦点,将填补分子细胞机理和宏观疾病症状之间的鸿沟。基于脑疾病的复杂性,非人灵长类动物可能是研究人类脑疾病的最优模型,我国在该领域具有明显优势;而脑疾病的早期诊断和早期干预是脑疾病治疗的关键,我国有丰富的临床资源库,亟需建立国际规范化、全国统一化的采样、处理、分析标准和共享的规则。此外,单细胞和单分子技术是微观研究的新趋势,也是精准医疗的关键技术,在解析复杂脑疾病机理方面具有重要的价值。     

Preserving a combat commander’s moral agency: The Vincennes Incident as a Chinese Room

We argue that a command and control system can undermine a commander’s moral agency if it causes him/her to process information in a purely syntactic manner, or if it precludes him/her from ascertaining the truth of that information. Our case is based on the resemblance between a commander’s circumstances and the protagonist in Searle’s Chinese Room, together with a careful reading of Aristotle’s notions of ‘compulsory’ and ‘ignorance’. We further substantiate our case by considering the Vincennes Incident, when the crew of a warship mistakenly shot down a civilian airliner. To support a combat commander’s moral agency, designers should strive for systems that help commanders and command teams to think and manipulate information at the level of meaning. ‘Down conversions’ of information from meaning to symbols must be adequately recovered by ‘up conversions’, and commanders must be able to check that their sensors are working and are being used correctly. Meanwhile ethicists should establish a mechanism that tracks the potential moral implications of choices in a system’s design and intended operation. Finally we highlight a gap in normative ethics, in that we have ways to deny moral agency, but not to affirm it.     

威权领导对员工非伦理行为的影响：社会交换和社会学习视角

威权领导是华人社会普遍存在的一种领导方式,对其进行研究对华人组织有重要的意义;员工非伦理行为也广泛存在与社会各类各级组织,并带来了巨大的危害,对威权领导与员工非伦理行为关系的研究目前尚未涉及。本文从社会交换和社会学习视角研究威权领导和员工非伦理行为的关系,以及领导成员交换的中介作用和伦理氛围的调节作用。通过406对领导-员工配对的问卷调查,研究结果表明：（1）威权领导与员工非伦理行呈正相关关系;（2）领导成员交换在威权领导与员工非伦理行为关系中起完全中介作用;（3）伦理氛围负向调节领导成员交换与员工非伦理氛围的关系;（4）伦理氛围负向调节领导成员交换对威权领导与员工非伦理行为关系的中介作用。     

AI assisted ethics

The growing number of ‘smart’ instruments, those equipped with AI, has raised concerns because these instruments make autonomous decisions; that is, they act beyond the guidelines provided them by programmers. Hence, the question the makers and users of smart instrument (e.g., driver-less cars) face is how to ensure that these instruments will not engage in unethical conduct (not to be conflated with illegal conduct). The article suggests that to proceed we need a new kind of AI program—oversight programs—that will monitor, audit, and hold operational AI programs accountable.     

Has Ali dissolved the gamer’s dilemma?

In this paper I will evaluate Ali’s dissolution of the gamer’s dilemma. To this end the dilemma will be summarized and Ali’s dissolution formulated. I conclude that Ali has not dissolved the dilemma (at least not fully).     

技术的批判：从马克思到后现代主义

对技术的批判有两个来源：一个是马克思,一个是历史主义派别。马克思对资本市场的分析证实了技术的资本主义应用带来的压抑、剥削和解放的命题。而历史主义学派则通过对技术与权力＂外在化＂的瓦解提出了一种技术的社会批判。近年来后现代的技术政治学也使我们进一步看到技术本身及其在社会关系中更复杂的权力关系。技术不是中立的理性产物,也不是人类和自然的宿命。现代社会可能通过保持技术设计和技术世界斗争的开放性,以实现技术的公正性。     

脑科学任务及人脑客体的角色地位

人脑是迄今所知宇宙中最复杂的物质,是人类创造性思维的主要承担者。脑科学的根本任务,总体上看,就是要在传统的脑医学、心理学等知识基础上,采用新兴技术手段,以现代科学技术哲学理论为指导,深入研究大脑的微观解剖结构,考查各结构部分的功能差异及协作规则,进而对人类理智的实质和规律作出系统分析。从早期关于人脑本身的朴素猜测,到当代新崛起的认知神经科学,对人脑机能等的认识已越来越清晰。这些研究的深入,使得人脑由＂自在实在＂逐步走到了＂对象性实在＂;而不断解构人脑的＂科学实在＂的地位,则是脑科学发展的基本内容。     

科研不端行为从团队至个人的传染机制研究

通过41个高校科研团队的176名博士生样本进行问卷调查,本文构建了一个科研不端行为从团队传染至个体的被调节的中介作用模型。结果发现：团队科研不端行为正向影响个体科研不端行为;团队科研不端行为正向影响第三人效果;第三人效果正向影响个体科研不端行为;第三人效果在团队科研不端行为与个体科研不端行为之间具有部分中介作用;默许沉默正向调节对第三人效果对个体科研不端行为的影响;默许沉默正向调节团队科研不端行为透过第三人效果影响个体科研不端行为的中介作用。最后,讨论了研究的理论贡献和实践启示。     

Free will and moral responsibility in video games

Can a player be held morally responsible for the choices that she makes within a videogame? Do the moral choices that the player makes reflect in any way on the player’s actual moral sensibilities? Many videogames offer players the options to make numerous choices within the game, including moral choices. But the scope of these choices is quite limited. I attempt to analyze these issues by drawing on philosophical debates about the nature of free will. Many philosophers worry that, if our actions are predetermined, then we cannot be held morally responsible for them. However, Harry Frankfurt’s compatibilist account of free will suggests that an agent can be held morally responsible for actions that she wills, even if the agent is not free to act otherwise. Using Frankfurt’s analysis, I suggest that videogames represent deterministic worlds in which players lack the ability to freely choose what they do, and yet players can be held morally responsible for some of their actions, specifically those actions that the player wants to do. Finally, I offer some speculative comments on how these considerations might impact our understanding of the player’s moral psychology as it relates to the ethics of imagined fictional events.     

非伦理领导与员工创新越轨行为:多重中介效应分析

以资源保存理论和情感事件理论为理论基础，以316名员工为被试，运用非伦理领导、情绪耗竭、内在动机和创新越轨行为等量表，对非伦理领导通过情绪耗竭和内在动机两个中介变量影响员工职场创新越轨行为的作用机制进行了探讨。研究结果表明：（1）非伦理领导、情绪耗竭、内在动机和职场创新越轨行为彼此显著相关；（2）情绪耗竭和内在动机的链式多重中介效应在非伦理领导与员工职场创新越轨行为之间起完全中介作用，非伦理领导不但分别以情绪耗竭和内在动机两个独立中介变量影响员工职场创新越轨行为，还可以通过“非伦理领导→情绪耗竭→内在动机→创新越轨行为”的路径影响员工职场创新越轨行为。     

国内法兰克福学派技术批判思想研究述评

法兰克福学派的技术批判是对马克思主义技术批判思想的发展,也是当代资本主义世界人的技术化生存境遇的真实展现。在现代性深入发展、技术化生存危机日益严峻的今天,研究法兰克福学派的技术批判理论无疑具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。然而,国内学界对此关注不够,特别是缺少一种基于整体性视野的系统研究。通过对法兰克福学派技术批判思想已有研究的综述、评价,对未来研究做出展望。     

浅析奥斯汀和塞尔的言语行为理论

语用学是语言学各分支中一个以语言意义为研究对象的新兴学科领域,是专门研究语言的理解和使用的学问。奥斯汀第一个在语用学范围内研究言语行为理论。经塞尔的完善与发展,已成为哲学、语言学的重要研究课题,更是现代语用学的核心内容之一。塞尔的间接言语行为理论从使用和交际的角度研究语言的意义,为认识言外之力的本质提供了独到的解释方法。     

Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy

'Brainjacking’ refers to the exercise of unauthorized control of another’s electronic brain implant. Whilst the possibility of hacking a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) has already been proven in both experimental and real-life settings, there is reason to believe that it will soon be possible to interfere with the software settings of the Implanted Pulse Generators (IPGs) that play a central role in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) systems. Whilst brainjacking raises ethical concerns pertaining to privacy and physical or psychological harm, we claim that the possibility of brainjacking DBS raises particularly profound concerns about individual autonomy, since the possibility of hacking such devices raises the prospect of third parties exerting influence over the neural circuits underpinning the subject’s cognitive, emotional and motivational states. However, although it seems natural to assume that brainjacking represents a profound threat to individual autonomy, we suggest that the implications of brainjacking for individual autonomy are complicated by the fact that technologies targeted by brainjacking often serve to enhance certain aspects of the user’s autonomy. The difficulty of ascertaining the implications of brainjacking DBS for individual autonomy is exacerbated by the varied understandings of autonomy in the neuroethical and philosophical literature. In this paper, we seek to bring some conceptual clarity to this area by mapping out some of the prominent views concerning the different dimension of autonomous agency, and the implications of brainjacking DBS for each dimension. Drawing on three hypothetical case studies, we show that there could plausibly be some circumstances in which brainjacking could potentially be carried out in ways that could serve to enhance certain dimensions of the target’s autonomy. Our analysis raises further questions about the power, scope, and necessity of obtaining prior consent in seeking to protect patient autonomy when directly interfering with their neural states, in particular in the context of self-regulating closed-loop stimulation devices.     

Anonymity versus commitment: The dangers of education on the internet

I shall translate Kierkegaard's account of the dangers and opportunities of what he called the Press into a critique of the Internet so as to raise the question: what contribution -- for good or ill -- can the World Wide Web, with its ability to deliver vast amounts of information to users all over the world, make to educators trying to pass on knowledge and to develop skills and wisdom in their students? I will then use Kierkegaard's three-stage answer to the problem of lack of involvement posed by the Press -- his claim that to have a meaningful life the learner must pass through the aesthetic, the ethical and the religious spheres of existence -- to suggest that only the first two stages -- the aesthetic and the ethical -- can be implemented with Information Technology, while the final stage, which alone makes meaningful learning possible, is undermined rather than supported by the tendencies of the desituated and anonymous Net.     

“A tie is a tie? Gender and network positioning in life science inventor collaboration”

Collaborative relationships are an important anchor of innovative activity, and rates of collaboration in science are on the rise. This research addresses differences in men’s and women’s collaborative positioning and collaborator characteristics in science, and whether network influences on scientists’ future productivity may be contingent on gender. Utilizing co-inventor network relations that span thirty years of global life science patenting across sectors, geographic locations, and technological background, I present trends of men’s and women’s involvement in patenting and their collaborative characteristics across time. Amidst some network similarities, women are less likely to connect otherwise unconnected inventors (brokerage) and have greater status-asymmetries between themselves and their co-inventors. In multivariate models that include past and future activity, I find that some network benefits are contingent on gender. Men receive greater returns from network positioning for brokerage ties, and when collaborating with men. Women benefit from collaborating with women, and are more likely to collaborate with women, but both men and women collaborate with mostly men. I discuss the implications of these results for innovative growth, as well as for policies that support men’s and women’s career development.     

脑认知的神经基础

动物都需要认识和学习外界环境因素,并根据价值与风险做出抉择与行动;社会动物还必须有社会认知、共情、社会交往等社会行为能力;而人类有发达的自我认知、逻辑推演、意识、语言等能力。动物认知能力的好坏,决定了动物在野外是否能够成功觅食、躲避天敌、繁衍后代;而人类认知能力,则决定了个人的人生轨迹、自我价值实现乃至对社会的贡献。所有这些认知行为都是由神经细胞的功能来决定,其神经基础是脑科学的核心问题,也是人类认识自身的终极挑战。经过多年的研究,神经科学已经揭示了认知行为神经基础的一些基本原理:不同认知行为是由脑内不同的神经环路负责,需要各脑区内的局部神经环路与脑区间长程神经环路的协同工作;学习与记忆是许多认知功能的必要基础,这是由神经细胞之间突触联结的强度与结构的可塑性介导;神经调质(例如多巴胺)可以在多个尺度上调节神经网络的活动与可塑性,从而调控认知行为。文章聚焦在感知觉、学习与记忆、抉择、社会行为、意识和运动控制等方面,对认知功能的神经基础进行了概述。我们认为,未来神经科学需要结合介观和微观尺度的研究,对认知行为的神经基础进行系统与深入的阐明。在介观层面,科学家们需要描绘脑区之间细胞类型特异性的联结图谱;绘制认知功能的大脑功能图谱;利用因果性手段、揭示认知功能的核心脑区;操控不同脑区及脑区间联结的活动,进而观察认知行为的改变和其他参与环路的活动变化,从而获得脑整体动态规律。在微观层面,需要阐明不同脑区有哪些特定类型的神经元;揭示不同类型神经元是如何参与特定认知功能的;解析不同类型的神经元是如何联结以及这些联结是如何在认知行为中发生动态改变的。这些介观与微观研究将为理解宏观认知行为的神经基础提供重要线索,对于破解人类智能这一终极奥秘具有重要意义。同时,揭示认知行为的神经机制还是治疗脑疾病的必要基础,而且有助于推动脑启发(Brain Inspired)的智能技术的发展。     

Trusting Virtual Trust

Can trust evolve on the Internet between virtual strangers? Recently, Pettit answered this question in the negative. Focusing on trust in the sense of ‘dynamic, interactive, and trusting’ reliance on other people, he distinguishes between two forms of trust: primary trust rests on the belief that the other is trustworthy, while the more subtle secondary kind of trust is premised on the belief that the other cherishes one’s esteem, and will, therefore, reply to an act of trust in kind (‘trust-responsiveness’). Based on this theory Pettit argues that trust between virtual strangers is impossible: they lack all evidence about one another, which prevents the imputation of trustworthiness and renders the reliance on trust-responsiveness ridiculous. I argue that this argument is flawed, both empirically and theoretically. In several virtual communities amazing acts of trust between pure virtuals have been observed. I propose that these can be explained as follows. On the one hand, social cues, reputation, reliance on third parties, and participation in (quasi-) institutions allow imputing trustworthiness to varying degrees. On the other, precisely trust-responsiveness is also relied upon, as a necessary supplement to primary trust. In virtual markets, esteem as a fair trader is coveted while it contributes to building up one’s reputation. In task groups, a hyperactive style of action may be adopted which amounts to assuming (not: inferring) trust. Trustors expect that their virtual co-workers will reply in kind while such an approach is to be considered the most appropriate in cyberspace. In non-task groups, finally, members often display intimacies while they are confident someone else ‘out there’ will return them. This is facilitated by the one-to-many, asynchronous mode of communication within mailing lists.     

基于行为博弈理论的社会纠纷化解机制思考

行为博弈理论认为人们不仅追求物质利益,同时还具有积极互惠与消极互惠动机。其中,消极互惠行为不仅导致效率低下的非合作结果,而且容易激化矛盾、引起纠纷。传统的社会纠纷化解机制研究多集中在司法领域,而本文以行为博弈理论为视角,在Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger(2004)连续互惠理论基础上,引入客观第三方的行为策略,并证明在一定条件下,参与者的消极互惠行为会被弱化,从而为我国社会的纠纷化解机制提供新的研究角度。