We’ve always been curious about our limits.
I mean, don’t you want to know the limits of technology? Just how far medicine science has gone? How close artificial intelligence is to the brain of a human?
A couple of days ago, our government has announced that residents of three new towns will be the first in Singapore to ride driverless vehicles for their first and last mile commutes, starting from 2022.
As exciting as this may sound to some, I thought there might be a cause for concern.
No, not exactly.
To be fair, I’m sure rigorous tests would be carried out to ensure this (what we saw in the video) would not happen.
What I’m concerned about, rather, is the trolley dilemma (problem).
For the uninitiated, the trolley dilemma is as illustrated in the image below.
Imagine you’re the man pulling the lever. Would you pull the lever in order to save the person and send the train in the direction of the other 5?
Or would you leave the lever alone, allowing the train to kill just one man?
No matter what your answer is, I don’t believe there is a perfect answer to this question.
Now, imagine the one pulling the lever is not a human, but an A.I.
I suppose you now know what I’m getting at.
Yes, will a self-driving vehicle be able to make a decision when presented with similar situations? What’s the priority of the vehicle? The preservation of the passengers’ lives or that of the pedestrians’?
To be clear, I’m not trying to be a naysayer. Trust me when I say I’m actually excited about driverless buses.
However, are we prepared to accept the decisions of an A.I.? That its decisions are optimal?
That aside, how will other drivers (humans) react to the decisions of an A.I.?
From what I see here,
It seems like driverless cars will prioritize the safety of the pedestrians (or Jaywalkers, a.k.a. inbred humans)
Will the vehicles simply wait for all the jaywalkers to cross before moving forward?
Knowing how some Singaporeans are complete jerks when it comes to matters on the road, I really can’t imagine how bad the traffic is going to get during rush hour (When people rush across the road like a horde of zombies).
Ultimately, I still think the problem lies with humans. Technical difficulties aside, I strongly believe that computers are right most of the time.
Computer algorithms may be perfect, but humans aren’t.
As much as I would love to see driverless vehicles on the road, I can already see the problems some idiots might cause (Due to general human stupidity or something).
I sincerely hope that the quality of humans would’ve improved by then.
Since you’re here, why not watch a video about an NTU student who went all out to impress his crush, only to end up in…tragedy? Here, watch it and do remember to share it (and also subscribe to Goody Feed YouTube channel)!
This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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Featured image: straitstimes.com
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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