Ethics and emotions in computer-mediated environments

Ethics and emotions in computer-mediated romantic relationships

Aaron Ben-Ze'ev
University of Haifa

The appearance of computer-mediated communication has introduced a new type of discourse and consequently a new type of personal relationship has developed. Virtual reality generates intense emotions, which due, among other things, to its powerful imaginative aspects and the ability to act (within the limitation of virtual reality) the way one always wanted to. Accordingly, online romantic relationships constitute a serious challenge to offline relationships. Online relationships are experienced as exciting novelties, which provide a pleasant alternative to the more humdrum round of daily life. Imagination lets us wander through the jungle of our wishes and desires in a way that many of our actual moral prohibitions are absent, and hence violating them in online relationships is not perceived as so immoral. Developing emotional ties in virtual reality is not in itself a sin; however, it may lead to harmful consequences. Developing enduring emotional bonds online poses a real threat to the primary offline relationship.

Only a better understanding of cyberspace and the limitations of human nature may enable us to cope with the brave new virtual romantic environment we are facing now. So far, human history has been characterized by our ability to learn how to cope with painful and usually harmful circumstances; the challenge now is to learn how to cope with the enjoyable and often beneficial virtual environment.

From (Artificial) Intelligence to (Artificial) Emotions

Naomi Sussmann
University of Haifa

The possibility of applying intelligence to machines has been the source of great fascination to philosophers and scientists alike for close to a century now and is nowhere close to a resolution yet. Indeed, it is still not clear whether machines may ever be made truly intelligent and if so, what such intelligence may consist of – especially, when compared to that of humans. Yet, the match between intelligence and machines helped make a considerable advance in our understanding of human intelligence – if only because it is a necessary condition of applying it to machines.

In this paper it is therefore proposed that the reflection on the application of emotions to machines be conducted along the path already largely paved and trodden in the field of artificial intelligence. Let us consider the emotions in close comparison to intelligence – indeed, let us take seriously the suggestion that emotion is a sub-species of intelligence and examine how the knowledge already accumulated with relation to artificial intelligence can now help direct our steps in the new field of artificial emotion: What are the similarities and differences between intelligence and emotion and how may our understanding of them effect our understanding of their respective relations with, and applications to, machines – if at all.