Uncertain Machine Ethics Planning

Sep. 18th, 2025 08:11 pm
purplecat: An open book with a quill pen and a lamp. (General:Academia)
[personal profile] purplecat
My PhD student had a paper published in AAMAS on Uncertain Machine Ethics Planning. This is a good conference which, for my sins, I'm currently joint Programme Chair for (this means I'm currently in the process of trying to find 1,300 potential referees in the hopes of ending up with 650). Anyhoo... AAMAS rewards pretty theory heavy papers and this was no exception, but the bottom line is that he's developed a technique in which a system can reason across several potential plans of action, using different moral theories in order to work out which plan of action is least unacceptable across all the moral theories (I hope this makes sense, we keep running into double negatives in the theory). It's grounded in a philosophical concept called hypothetical retrospection - in which even if something turns out badly you can argue it was still the correct choice because at the time you made the choice the chance of it turning out badly was low. There are some details such as ranking outcomes so, in the situation where you can get an apple (for sure) or gamble with a low chance on getting an all expenses paid holiday (yes I know this isn't a moral choice), no number of apples can outweigh the small chance of getting the holiday - I guess the moral equivalent might be no number of people made a little bit happier can be outweighed by killing someone.

Moral theories can be big theoretical juggernauts like utilitarianism or kantian morality - or more subtle distinction around which values are preferred (though this doesn't really come out in the paper if you can wade through all the formalism).
purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)
[personal profile] purplecat
Two Doctor Who companion outfits for your delectation and delight! Outfits selected by a mixture of ones I, personally, like; lists on the internet; and a certain random element.


Outfits below the Cut )

Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!

Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!

Costume Bracket Masterlist

Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.

August 2025

Sep. 10th, 2025 02:57 pm
muninnhuginn: (Default)
[personal profile] muninnhuginn

August 2025

Read:
Shorts:
Non-fiction
 
Attended:
  • A New Day
 
Nothing much to see here. Just work, a few outings, and a whole heap of fatigue. Hey ho! Onwards with the program.
purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)
[personal profile] purplecat
Two Doctor Who companion outfits for your delectation and delight! Outfits selected by a mixture of ones I, personally, like; lists on the internet; and a certain random element.


Outfits below the Cut )

Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!

Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!

Costume Bracket Masterlist

Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.

Random Doctor Who Picture

Sep. 6th, 2025 03:32 pm
purplecat: The Eighth Doctor. (Who:Eight)
[personal profile] purplecat

Cover for the Eighth Doctor Book Endgame by Terrance Dicks.  A burning radiation symbol.  The Stars and Stripes and Hammer and Sickle are just visible in the read background.
This was one of a sequence of books in a soft reboot of the Eighth Doctor range, in which the Doctor has lost his memory and must live through the 20th century - in this case the Cold War. Terrance Dicks increasingly recycled his old ideas, or perhaps obsessions into his book. This one features a shadowy set of beings called The Players about which I recall little, beyond that they had already been inserted into various books of his. Anyway, at least I remember something about this one.

Random Roman Remains

Sep. 5th, 2025 09:30 pm
purplecat: Black and White photo of production of Julius Caesar (General:Roman Remains)
[personal profile] purplecat

Tree growing close by some Roman footings with large fallen bricks behind.
Chesters Roman Fort
Page generated Sep. 19th, 2025 02:36 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios