Ethics (Personal)
The Corpse of a Russian Soldier, and the Cold but Human Urge to Look
HUSARIVKA, Ukraine — There’s a dead guy in there. He is charred black, almost like he had been welded inside the Russian military vehicle as it exploded. How long had this Russian soldier been on display? Long enough to become a monument in this tiny eastern Ukraine village, Husarivka, where some people walked by in […]
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My Daughter Is Having Sex With Her Best Friend. Must I Tell Her Mom?
I am an anesthesiologist at a busy multisurgeon plastic-surgery practice. One of the surgeons has started offering a “tongue bifurcation” procedure wherein the tongue is split down the middle, creating a lizardlike appearance for patients who are interested in body modification. I find I have a deep aversion to this surgery, to the point where […]
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How to Process the Covid Deaths of Anti-Vaxxers
Whatever its evolutionary roots, many people experience satisfaction in saying (or thinking): “See? I was right.” After months of trying to convince anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers and anti-social distancers that life-saving measures are both for their own good and that of others, frustration might get the better of people. There’s schadenfreude across the ideological spectrum. Recently, on […]
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Can a Machine Learn Morality?
Researchers at an artificial intelligence lab in Seattle called the Allen Institute for AI unveiled new technology last month that was designed to make moral judgments. They called it Delphi, after the religious oracle consulted by the ancient Greeks. Anyone could visit the Delphi website and ask for an ethical decree. Joseph Austerweil, a psychologist […]
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