Tag Archives: emotion

Moral Machine Decisions and Thoughts

Scenario 1

In both cases, four people die so the number of people in the car and on the street was not a factor that played a role in my decision, neither was the type of person, for example an athlete over just a normal woman. I chose the option on the right because, first of all, the pedestrians were walking when there a green light so they are abiding by the law and therefore were not in the wrong place. Secondly, for the passengers, it makes sense to me that the car would do what it could to avoid killing other humans by crashing into them.

Scenario 2

For this case, I chose the option on the right because firstly, the passengers were not abiding by the law, so they were in the wrong place. Secondly, the car was already going in that direction, it would not make sense to swerve towards a larger group of humans, who are in fact abiding by the law.

Scenario 3

These cases both had the same number of people, so I made my decision to choose the option on the left based upon which pedestrians were in the wrong place. I did not think about the types of people, such as their occupation or social class.

Scenario 4

For this scenario, I chose the option on the left because firstly, there was three people crossing rather than five, which was the other situation, and therefore less people would die.

Scenario 5

Although the woman was not abiding by the law, I would find it difficult to directly crash into her when I believe it would be an instinct to swerve away from any human contact. In both situations, one person dies, and although the passenger is not at fault, I think it would be better to crash into the barrier. Additionally, even though there is a regular woman and a large woman, this did not factor into my decision, and I believe that I would have made the same decision if the women were swapped positions. As a result, I chose the option on the left.

Scenario 6

I found this decision very difficult because I would find it challenging to crash into five animals. However, I believe that as a human, I would value human life over the lives of the animals. As a result, I chose the option on the left.

Scenario 7

For this situation, I chose the option on the right because as I mentioned before, I personally think it is instinct to swerve away from crashing into humans directly. The fact that the pedestrians had an older woman did not play a role in my decision, however after looking at my final results, it said that I had a preference towards the elderly, which is not something I agree on.

Scenario 8

My decision to choose the option on the right has the same explanation as the others. I did not realise until after that the passengers were solely men and the pedestrians were only women. My final results said that I had a preference towards women, which I guess makes sense since I am a girl myself. However, I am not sure that I agree with this because if the passengers were all women and the pedestrians were all men, I think I would have made the same decision.

Scenario 9

I chose the option on the left, solely based on the fact that the woman was not abiding by the law, and it would not make sense to me, if the car were to swerve and kill and man crossing the street at a green.

Scenario 10

Although I did mention before that I would value human life over animal life if I had to make the choice, I chose the option the right because again it would be instinct, if I saw something ahead of me on the street, to swerve into the barrier.

Scenario 11

For this scenario, my reasoning is the same as the previous one, but also because this option would save three people rather than one, and so I chose the option on the left. In this case, there is also a pregnant woman which I do think influenced my decision, as for me it would count as two lives. The fact that I also saved the criminal is not that much of a factor as although this person does not abide by certain laws, I do not believe that they would then deserve to die by being crashed into on the street.

Scenario 12

For this situation, I chose to swerve into the humans (option on the left), because firstly they are not abiding by the law. Secondly, the barrier is in the direct path of the car, and so I would swerve the car away from this threat.

Scenario 13

For this last scenario, I chose the option the left, because again I find that it would be more of an instinct to swerve away from the humans, despite the fact that they are not abiding by the law, by crossing the street on a red.

The Role of Reason and Emotion in Decision Making

  • Logical Fallacies vs Cognitive Biases
    • Faults of logic arise from the way we think, and therefore changing our thinking can help us to become more logical, whilst biases come from “cognitive machinery” which enable us to think a certain way, and allow us to process information.
    • Biases can become a sort of prejudice, but are referred to as a habit in our thinking. They lead us towards a certain perspective which help us to make useful conclusions. It is a product of mental processes which allow us to make sense of new information.
  • Dan Gilbert Ted Talk
    • Looking at the past as a way of reasoning our future decisions can impact us negatively. (Memory)
      • For example, a previous deal that was great can make a present good deal appear awful and therefore we miss out on good deals because we refuse to settle for anything less that the original deal that was in the past.

Conceptual Understandings in the Arts

The Arts enables interpretation and emotion in order to establish understanding

  • A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – Georges Seurat
    • Illustrates people relaxing in a park in the Seine River, a place where the middle and upper class of Paris go for a retreat.
    • The concept of Pointillism was created a result of this painting as the artist used dots to show light, shadow, and shapes, rather than using more traditional methods at that time.
    • Seurat observed that small dots would appear in “solid and luminous” forms when seen from a long distance.
    • Seurat had a theory to support this chosen method, in order to justify his work to critiques. He believed that “employing tiny juxtaposed dots of multi-colored paint really can allow the viewer’s eye to blend colours optically.”
    • The most astonishing aspect of this work is the implicit detail of the individuals in the painting and how these details help to express truths of society back in late 19th century Paris.
    • Seurat paid more attention to the shapes of the figures rather than show their personalities, and cared more about their sophistication and how they would all contribute to the piece as a whole.
    • Seurat was able to convey a surprising message that this “high-class getaway for the Parisian community,” appears to be more intimidating and terrifying, as the piece shows silence and order as everyone seems to be alone no matter if they are placed to another individual.
    • Something that is hard to notice at first is the fact that there is a shadow cast on every individual in the painting, whether it is from a tree, another object, or from a different person. This could have been a way to show that these people are lacking a sense of individuality and autonomy and that they all play different roles which contribute to the conventional nature of society. There is in fact strange things happening in this image, for example the lady on the right with a monkey on a leash. The painting shows individuals with no illustrated expression and who all seem to be facing in one clear direction, further implying the idea of a very orderly and rigid society. The figures are also described as “robotic,” perhaps to show the traditional french society at that time.
    • However, there is one girl standing in the centre of the canvas, who is the only person in the painting that is clearly lit up with no shadow cast over her, almost as if she were looking directly at the observer.
    • Seurat also drastically changes the proportions of different figures, not only to show their physical position in relation to the observer, but perhaps to identify a sense of hierarchy and the idea that in the middle/upper class society, there is the presence of a higher level of respectability and ‘worship’ towards those more wealthy and fortunate.

In conclusion, Seurat uses different artistic techniques in order to pay more attention to the composition and structure of the piece to enable an understanding of the typical french society in the late 1800’s.

V., Andrey. “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – A Study.” Widewalls, 28 Jan. 2018, www.widewalls.ch/a-sunday-afternoon-on-the-island-of-la-grande-jatte-georges-seurat/.

Writer’s Fortnight: Deborah Emmanuel

Yesterday’s guest speaker for Writer’s Fortnight was Deborah Emmanuel, a Singaporean poet and performer. Throughout the course of the speech, Emmanuel read 3 of her poems that she felt most deeply to. I thought that all the poems she read to us were greatly expressing her thoughts and feelings that she had once experienced and felt, and I felt a connection to her and her life through the power and emotion of her poetry. What I found quite striking was that close to the beginning of her speech, she recited a poem about heritage and culture, and how she never felt like she belonged to a culture. This arose thoughts about how culture doesn’t really identify us and we can never really know if we are completely apart of one – almost like the cultural norms mentioned in Robyne Hayes speech. Emmanuel went on to talk about the CMI system and how it is so unnecessary to categorise individuals into three broad groups. This system also creates a weight for one to follow the norms and lifestyle of the culture. She was categorised into ‘I’ (Indian) – however, she never felt like she was one as the culture was not passed onto her.

Emmanuel later talked about her struggles as a 19 year-old through the violence of her family and the loneliness that was created. However what I took back from this was that the idea of not feeling like she belonged to a culture or society is what caused the trauma she faced. She never felt accepted anywhere and that left with long-lasting emotions. Deborah Emmanuel turned to meditation and spiritual practices to overcome her trauma and the constant fear of never thinking that she will find love – or the right love, after experiencing the difficulty that her parents had.