Right. And net lives lost = 1001. So, we've killed 1001 people to let another 1000 live. We exchaned their lives.
>> The 2001 who are saved by auto-driving were also most probably not interested in dying. How is it that their opinion doesn't matter?
Of course it matters, but they were dying already, until we intervened and killed another 1001 people with our self-driving technology.
Besides, some of the people who would be dying without self-driving technology had control of their destiny, much unlike the (btw, very theoretical) trolley problem. Some of them probably made mistakes that cost their lives. Some of them were obviously the victims of others' mistakes. But the people killed because of self-driving cars were all the victims of self-driving cars mistakes (they were never the driver).
>> Individual people have been killed by airbags, yet you probably think it's OK that we have them.
An airbag or a seatbelt can't drive out on the road and run someone over. The class of accident that airbags cause is the same kind of accident you get when you fall off a ladder etc. But the kind of accident that auto-cars cause is an accident where some intelligent agent takes action and the action causes someone else harm. An airbag is not an intelligent agent, neither is a seatbelt- but an AI car, is.
Let's change tack slightly. Say that we had a vaccine for a deadly disease and 1 million people were vaccinated with it. And let's say that out of that 1 million people, 1000 died as a side effect of the vaccine, while 2001 people avoided certain death (and let's say that we are in a position to know that with absolute certainty).
Do you think such a vaccine would be considered successful?
I guess I should clarify that when I say "considered successful" I mean: a) by the general population and b) by the medical profession.
Right. And net lives lost = 1001. So, we've killed 1001 people to let another 1000 live. We exchaned their lives.
>> The 2001 who are saved by auto-driving were also most probably not interested in dying. How is it that their opinion doesn't matter?
Of course it matters, but they were dying already, until we intervened and killed another 1001 people with our self-driving technology.
Besides, some of the people who would be dying without self-driving technology had control of their destiny, much unlike the (btw, very theoretical) trolley problem. Some of them probably made mistakes that cost their lives. Some of them were obviously the victims of others' mistakes. But the people killed because of self-driving cars were all the victims of self-driving cars mistakes (they were never the driver).
>> Individual people have been killed by airbags, yet you probably think it's OK that we have them.
An airbag or a seatbelt can't drive out on the road and run someone over. The class of accident that airbags cause is the same kind of accident you get when you fall off a ladder etc. But the kind of accident that auto-cars cause is an accident where some intelligent agent takes action and the action causes someone else harm. An airbag is not an intelligent agent, neither is a seatbelt- but an AI car, is.