Dr Claire Benn presents at the 94th Joint Session of the Mind Association and the Aristotelian Society

The Joint Session is the premier UK general philosophy conference, held annually during the summer by the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association. It has taken place at nearly every major university across the United Kingdom and in Ireland. This year it is taking place online.

Since 1910, the Joint Session has grown to become the largest gathering of philosophers in the country, attracting prestigious UK and international speakers working in a broad range of philosophical areas. Inaugurated by the incoming President of the Mind Association, the Joint Session includes symposia, open and postgraduate sessions, and a range of satellite conferences.

The conference will take place from 17.00 on Friday 10 July to 19.00 Sunday 12 July (all times BST). The Plenary Sessions, the Postgraduate Sessions, and the SWIP Sessions will be pre-recorded videos that we release at the start of the conference, with speakers finding time to respond to your comments and questions over the course of the weekend.

Claire’s talk - Signalling Virtue: Reassuring Observers of Machine Behaviour - will be streamed on Friday, 10 July 2020.

Abstract

Machines are subject to various constraints, such as not to harm. I introduce another: that partially observed machine systems ought to reassure observers that they understand the constraints that they are under and that they have and will abide by those constraints. Specifically, a system should not follow a course of action that, from the point of view of the observer, is not easily distinguishable from a course of action that is forbidden. I demonstrate, both technically and in application to examples, three ways in which this constraint can be made sensitive to variations in risk attitudes. 

Find out how you can join the conference here.

View the talk here.