Self-directed machines, robots are 'evil in itself,' Yale scholar says

YOUNGSTOWN

“Mala in se” is what Wendell Wallach, the Dr. Thomas and Albert Shipka Speaker Series lecturer, calls lethal atomic or killer robots.

Mala in se is a Latin term for evil in itself, Wallach said during his Tuesday afternoon lecture at Youngstown State University, “How to Keep Technology from Slipping Beyond Our Control.”

“These machines select their own targets and dispatch something lethal without human involvement,” he explained. “So when you have machines making life and death decisions, that, to me, is a form of evil.”

Wallach is a consultant, ethicist and scholar at Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics.

He joined the series to explore the impact of technology in the modern world, particularly artificial intelligence and neuroscience.

He challenged listeners to think about ways to regulate growing innovations.

“The frame of mind is that all of this is inevitable and there’s nothing you can do about it ... But other countries go beyond thinking about their national bodies. If it’s dangerous, you can’t do it unless you demonstrate a way to prevent that danger.

Read more of his remarks in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.