In this last unit, I was surprised to learn about the domino effects that are involved with releasing a new technology like Autonomous cars into society. I am fascinated by the ethics involved with Autonomous cars. Everything from how they are programmed to value the lives of certain types of people above others, to how it will effect our economy and world position should we outright refuse to develop the technology. Out of the sources provided, I found the videos “how to be empowered not overpowered”, “Can we build AI without losing control over it”, and “how will Autonomous vehicles transform our city's” to be the most engaging for me. This is because “empowered not overpowered” and “can we build” had the same conclusion but came from two almost polar opposite viewpoints on technology. While “transform our city's” fundamentally changed my viewpoint on the topic as a whole.
I used to view this topic strictly as what the direct effects would be from its development and distribution, much like how “empowered not overpowered” and “can we build” do. however, “transform our city's” opened my eyes to what events something like an autonomous vehicle can set in motion, despite not being directly linked or affected by said events. An example of this being that Autonomous vehicles can either continually run or park themselves at a person's home drastically reducing the need for parking lots, this frees up a ton of real estate and now the value of property can severely drop. effects like these, are having me reevaluate many other ethical and philosophical dilemmas that I had long since stopped mulling over.
