Call: “Intelligent Machines and Human Beings: Challenges of a new Relationship” – Special issue of J. of Ethics and Info. Tech.

Call for Papers for a Special Issue
“Intelligent Machines and Human Beings: Challenges of a new Relationship”
Journal of Ethics and Information Technology

Some scholars claim that the technological development of intelligent machines will soon outdo the human capacities in various fields of expertise within the next 50 years, for example in games such as chess, automated driving systems, the health sector, and war robots. Very complex artificial systems will become a socio-political milestone concerning the relationship between human beings and machines. This includes new forms of alterity and otherness: long gone are the days when the term “robot” mainly refers to human androids. For example, we need to discuss the anthropological status of cyborgs – when human beings merge with machines. Another challenge is the role and status of hybrid systems due to their double- or better multiple-nature. They consist of two or more fully autonomous subsystems that temporarily coalesce. As parts of a hybrid system the subsystems change their status as well since hybrid systems are also subjects. Not only questions of ethical and legal responsibility – in cases of malfunction – must be considered, but also the very idea of how one should view the very relation between the two intelligent beings. This special issue examines the diverse and complex problems that the relationship between human beings and intelligent machines face or will face in the (foreseeable) future, provides insights in new technological developments, and features new approaches and solutions to vital problems in current debates.

Submissions are invited for the following topic areas:

  • Ethics/Applied Ethics
  • Law
  • Philosophical Anthropology
  • Social Philosophy
  • Political Philosophy
  • Philosophy of mind
  • Feminist Philosophy/Gender Theory
  • Philosophy of economics

Possible questions and topics for discussion in the various philosophical disciplines include, but are not limited to:

  • The three laws of robotics
  • Top-down- and bottom-up-approaches and the question of implementing morality in intelligent systems
  • Moral responsibility
  • Legal responsibility and liability
  • Should intelligent machines and human beings be allowed to marry?
  • Anthropological status of cyborgs
  • Nature, role, and status of hybrid systems
  • (Moral) agency and (moral) patiency
  • Intelligent machines and (forced) sexuality/prostitution
  • Intelligent machines and health care
  • Should intelligent machines take care of the elderly?
  • Do intelligent machines enjoy human rights?
  • Intelligent machines and modern slavery. Will machines become our “new” slaves?
  • War robots
  • Intelligent machines and emotions
  • Turing vs. Searle – strong vs. weak/narrow AI
  • Intelligent machines and consciousness
  • How to bridge the gender gap with robotics
  • Intelligent machines in public transportation (train, bus, airplane etc.)
  • Does every company need roboethics-codes?
  • Corporate social responsibility and robotics

Guest Editors

Prof. Dr. John-Stewart Gordon (Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas): j.s.gordon@hmf.vdu.lt,
Dr. Janina Sombetzki (University of Vienna): janina.sombetzki@univie.ac.at and
Vainius Volungevičius (Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas): vainius.vol@gmail.com.

Paper submission

The online submission deadline for papers is 1st December 2016. To submit your paper, please use the online submission system, to be found at www.editorialmanager.com/etin.

For further submission requirements, including format and referencing style, please refer to the instructions for authors on the ETIN website. We would like to stress that the journal’s readers come from different disciplines; hence, the authors are kindly asked to submit articles that consider this important aspect.

Please contact the managing editor for more information: John-Stewart Gordon (j.s.gordon@hmf.vdu.lt), Janina Sombetzki (janina.sombetzki@univie.ac.at), or Vainius Volungevičius (vainius.vol@gmail.com).

About the Journal

Ethics and Information Technology is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing the dialogue between moral philosophy and the field of information and communication technology (ICT). The journal aims to foster and promote reflection and analysis which is intended to make a constructive contribution to answering the ethical, social and political questions associated with the adoption, use, and development of ICT. Within the scope of the journal are also conceptual analysis and discussion of ethical ICT issues which arise in the context of technology assessment, cultural studies, public policy analysis and public administration, cognitive science, social and anthropological studies in technology, mass-communication, and legal studies. In addition, the journal features research that deals with the history of ideas and provides intellectual resources for moral and political reflection on ICT.

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