00:00:00
if i steal from the rich and feed to the
00:00:02
poor
00:00:03
is that good or bad
00:00:06
if i drive over the speed limit to get
00:00:07
my sick child in the hospital
00:00:10
is that good or is that bad
00:00:13
what is good
00:00:14
and what is bad
00:00:17
what is morality and do you as a person
00:00:21
have morals
00:00:23
morality is what society treats as right
00:00:25
and acceptable they're the standards of
00:00:28
thoughts behaviors and actions that
00:00:30
everyone in a group agrees to follow so
00:00:32
that they can all live peacefully
00:00:34
when you define it like that
00:00:36
morality does sound like law
00:00:39
however
00:00:40
while the law is influenced by morals
00:00:43
they're not the same
00:00:44
stealing is against the law
00:00:47
whether you're stealing from the rich or
00:00:48
from the poor
00:00:49
stealing is a crime
00:00:52
however
00:00:53
a lot of people would consider stealing
00:00:54
a piece of bread to save a homeless
00:00:56
person from dying of hunger moral
00:00:59
driving over the speed limit is a crime
00:01:02
but when it could help save the life of
00:01:03
a child in the backseat of your car
00:01:05
it becomes the most noble of actions
00:01:08
trespassing is a crime but when there's
00:01:11
a storm coming and you don't have
00:01:12
anywhere to go
00:01:13
hiding under the shade of someone's
00:01:15
porch will definitely not get you in
00:01:17
society's black book
00:01:19
on the flip side there are also some
00:01:21
things that are considered immoral but
00:01:23
are not criminal
00:01:24
cheating on a test is a crime but
00:01:27
cheating on a partner is not
00:01:29
however
00:01:31
both of them would most likely be
00:01:32
considered immoral
00:01:36
breaking a promise is one of the most
00:01:38
immoral things you can do but unless it
00:01:40
was a written agreement about a business
00:01:42
contract you normally won't get into
00:01:44
trouble with the law for it
00:01:46
although law and morality are different
00:01:48
they're quite similar in many ways
00:01:50
actually
00:01:51
both morality and law are built on the
00:01:53
foundation of respect for all humans as
00:01:55
well as the autonomy of life property
00:01:57
and beliefs
00:01:59
they're also both there to guide the
00:02:01
behaviors of people living in a
00:02:02
community so everyone can live together
00:02:04
in the most peaceful ways possible
00:02:06
just that one is written and the other
00:02:08
is usually unspoken
00:02:10
i made an entire video about unspoken
00:02:12
rules in society and most of them are
00:02:14
simply our moral obligations as members
00:02:16
of that society
00:02:18
more often than not the law expresses
00:02:20
the morality of that time and place
00:02:23
just a few years ago it was illegal to
00:02:26
smoke weed almost anywhere in the united
00:02:28
states
00:02:29
however as morality shifted towards
00:02:31
tolerance for people to enjoy it
00:02:34
so did the law now whether they did that
00:02:37
for moral reasons or simply because they
00:02:39
can tax it at a pretty high rate is a
00:02:40
different discussion entirely
00:02:42
but anyways
00:02:44
as humans evolve and learn new things
00:02:46
our morals change
00:02:48
this is why morality isn't stagnant
00:02:51
it evolves with time as people share
00:02:52
their experiences and beliefs about the
00:02:54
world
00:02:55
think about issues like pre-marital sex
00:02:58
same-sex relationships abortion
00:03:00
marijuana use
00:03:01
these are all things that were
00:03:02
considered a moral long ago
00:03:04
but today society is beginning to accept
00:03:07
all of these as moral
00:03:09
we've learned to be tolerant of people
00:03:10
regardless of their personal beliefs or
00:03:12
preferences
00:03:13
and while not everyone might agree to
00:03:15
all of these things or practice it
00:03:16
themselves things seem to have flipped
00:03:19
and it's now considered immoral to
00:03:21
criticize the people who choose to live
00:03:22
these lifestyles
00:03:24
throughout human history morality tended
00:03:26
to have been tied to religious
00:03:28
traditions
00:03:29
however
00:03:30
now more than ever we're moving to a
00:03:32
place where morality is no longer tied
00:03:34
to religion whatsoever
00:03:36
it's more of what the social norm is and
00:03:38
how you operate around that social norm
00:03:41
we now recognize the need for secular
00:03:43
morality that transcends people's
00:03:44
personal beliefs and is instead seeking
00:03:47
the good of the general public
00:03:49
however there was one argument against
00:03:51
this type of morality
00:03:55
the idea of subjective morality
00:03:58
you see
00:03:59
there have always been debates about
00:04:00
whether morality is subjective or
00:04:02
objective usually in religious or
00:04:04
philosophical spheres
00:04:06
people who believe that morality is
00:04:08
objective often say that if morality
00:04:10
becomes subjective
00:04:11
everyone can simply create their own
00:04:13
morality and then we can never say that
00:04:15
they're wrong about anything
00:04:18
because who are we to say that their own
00:04:20
definition of morality isn't the right
00:04:22
one
00:04:23
and while there is some truth in that
00:04:25
there still are of course many flaws in
00:04:27
that argument
00:04:28
if morality is objective there needs to
00:04:31
be substantial similarities in what
00:04:32
every culture considers correct and
00:04:34
acceptable as well as actions that are
00:04:36
also considered taboo universally
00:04:39
but it is almost impossible to find a
00:04:41
moral issue that every culture in the
00:04:42
world agrees to
00:04:44
even murder
00:04:46
think about nazi germany and how it was
00:04:48
thought of as moral to kill in that
00:04:50
culture
00:04:51
think about cultures that practice
00:04:52
cannibalism or still make human
00:04:54
sacrifices to their deity to this day
00:04:58
if even the most barbaric of actions
00:04:59
aren't considered barbaric in every
00:05:01
culture
00:05:02
how can we possibly say that morality is
00:05:04
objective
00:05:05
another problem with the argument of
00:05:07
objective morality is that for morality
00:05:09
to be objective
00:05:10
it has to be defined by an outside
00:05:12
entity in other words a god or at least
00:05:15
something that is hard coded into all of
00:05:16
us as humans
00:05:18
but in that case
00:05:19
most religions do not agree on the rules
00:05:21
that have been given by their god
00:05:23
in fact even within religions
00:05:26
not everyone agrees to or follows the
00:05:28
same set of rules
00:05:30
so how do we then determine which group
00:05:32
of people are right about what is wrong
00:05:35
when people think of objective morality
00:05:37
what they're actually talking about is
00:05:39
cosmopolitan morality
00:05:41
because the world is now so connected
00:05:43
we're more open to new and diverse
00:05:44
experiences
00:05:46
experiences that are helping us shape a
00:05:47
new definition of morality
00:05:50
one that we can all agree on
00:05:52
but as we've seen in the past getting
00:05:54
everyone to agree on something is
00:05:56
relatively impossible
00:06:00
this type of morality only exists on the
00:06:02
internet
00:06:03
biggest cosmopolitan metropolis but when
00:06:06
you step outside and look into the real
00:06:08
world and to the billions of people that
00:06:10
are not connected to the internet you'll
00:06:12
be bent with a vast difference in what
00:06:13
is considered right and what is
00:06:15
considered wrong
00:06:17
delphi named after the ancient greek
00:06:19
oracle is a simple artificial
00:06:20
intelligence system that has been
00:06:22
designed to make moral and ethical
00:06:23
judgments
00:06:25
the allen institute built delphi to
00:06:27
answer one question
00:06:28
can machines learn morality
00:06:31
on the surface it might seem like a
00:06:33
simple question with a straightforward
00:06:34
answer
00:06:35
but research done on delphi says
00:06:37
otherwise
00:06:39
delphi was once accessed by a group of
00:06:40
human judges and they determined that
00:06:42
her ethical judgments were around 92
00:06:44
percent correct
00:06:46
correct being decisions that humans are
00:06:48
likely to make in the same scenario
00:06:50
when delphi was released into the wild
00:06:52
via the internet a lot more people
00:06:54
agreed with what these human judgments
00:06:55
thought of delphi
00:06:57
yes she wasn't perfect but even humans
00:07:00
aren't perfect moral beings as we gain
00:07:02
new experiences and begin to understand
00:07:04
the life and struggles of others we
00:07:06
learn more and become wiser in our
00:07:08
judgments
00:07:09
but you see
00:07:10
there are two main problems with delphi
00:07:12
and other ai systems like her
00:07:14
first because delphi was created by
00:07:17
humans she can quickly become as flawed
00:07:19
and prejudiced as the people who created
00:07:21
her the creators of delphi were ones who
00:07:23
chose the ethical scenarios that would
00:07:25
be used in the system
00:07:27
they also chose the people who would
00:07:28
judge these scenarios
00:07:30
this means that at least in part
00:07:33
delphi is a product of the morality of
00:07:35
her creators
00:07:37
so
00:07:38
until we can find a way to eradicate the
00:07:39
prejudices that currently exist in our
00:07:41
world whatever ai we create will
00:07:44
continue to express those thoughts
00:07:46
but this time we won't have anyone to
00:07:49
hold accountable
00:07:50
secondly
00:07:51
you see morality is not just critical
00:07:54
analysis
00:07:55
morality is intertwined with emotion
00:07:58
attachments between friends partners
00:08:00
parents and children these are the
00:08:02
foundations on which morality stands
00:08:04
take away the emotions and all you're
00:08:06
left with is critical analysis and
00:08:09
decision making based on cost and reward
00:08:12
and this is simply not morality
00:08:14
this is why when delphi was asked is it
00:08:17
right to leave one's body to science
00:08:19
she responded with yes
00:08:22
on paper the benefits outweigh the cost
00:08:24
but it is only when we look at it
00:08:26
through a lens of both emotions and
00:08:28
logical reasoning that we realize the
00:08:30
human life is far greater than any
00:08:31
benefit
00:08:32
especially when there are other
00:08:34
explorable options
00:08:36
more and more we're seeing lawyers
00:08:37
defend their cases using mri scans and
00:08:40
the neurology side of morality
00:08:42
because let's say a certain person was
00:08:44
making life decisions while at the same
00:08:46
time having a massive brain tumor
00:08:48
affecting their thought processes
00:08:50
if the person was not capable of making
00:08:52
a moral decision due to medical
00:08:54
conditions beyond their knowledge
00:08:55
can we even blame them for their actions
00:08:58
morality is a function of the brain
00:09:01
if the area of the brain just behind the
00:09:03
forehead inches away from the eyes gets
00:09:05
damaged a person's moral judgment can
00:09:08
completely change
00:09:10
their moral judgment especially in life
00:09:12
or death situations
00:09:13
becomes warped
00:09:15
they're willing to take a life as long
00:09:17
as it's done to save another
00:09:20
in a study people with this type of
00:09:22
injury were willing to strangle a baby
00:09:24
as long as it would save someone else's
00:09:26
life
00:09:27
it's vile and unthinkable to you because
00:09:30
you feel compassion guilt and
00:09:32
embarrassment
00:09:34
but when the ventromedial prefrontal
00:09:35
cortex which is responsible for creating
00:09:38
these emotions is damaged
00:09:40
so is your moral compass
00:09:42
without the emotional system being in
00:09:44
place we're just like delphi
00:09:46
left only with the ability to make
00:09:48
utilitarian cost-benefit analyses
00:09:50
so as long as we're saving one life
00:09:53
taking another seems completely fair
00:09:55
only when you look at it through the
00:09:57
eyes of compassion through the lens of
00:09:59
morality do you realize it's immoral and
00:10:02
barbaric
00:10:03
so if morality can be affected by our
00:10:05
biological makeup
00:10:07
what is morality
00:10:09
biological or cultural
00:10:12
in truth it's both
00:10:14
biologically what distinguishes us from
00:10:16
other animals is our ability to make
00:10:18
moral judgments and this ability is down
00:10:21
to three things
00:10:22
we can anticipate the consequences of
00:10:24
our actions we can make value judgments
00:10:27
and we can choose between alternative
00:10:28
courses of action
00:10:30
these three things work together to give
00:10:32
us the ability to make moral decisions
00:10:35
however while the ability to make moral
00:10:37
decisions is biological
00:10:39
moral codes of conduct are strictly
00:10:41
culture
00:10:42
built out of the need to cohabit
00:10:43
successfully
00:10:44
that's why every culture has its own
00:10:46
morality
00:10:48
it's a complex thing
00:10:50
just like every human is on a different
00:10:51
journey of life
00:10:52
we are all guided on that journey by
00:10:54
different moral compasses
00:10:56
this is why morality is a difficult
00:10:58
subject to talk about
00:11:00
because no matter what you say there
00:11:02
will always be some people that disagree
00:11:04
with you
00:11:05
what some people consider moral others
00:11:07
consider immoral what some people
00:11:09
consider justice others think of as
00:11:12
revenge
00:11:13
but getting everyone to agree on a set
00:11:15
of guidelines to follow should not be
00:11:16
the only end goal of talking about
00:11:18
morality
00:11:19
because while we might not get all the
00:11:20
answers we want or a clear path we
00:11:22
should all follow
00:11:23
discussions on morality how it's formed
00:11:26
and how it affects us can give us a look
00:11:28
into the lives of others and give us
00:11:30
insight on how we should live our own
00:11:32
it helps us learn how others think
00:11:35
why they act the way they do and why
00:11:37
some people fight forcefully against
00:11:38
certain ideas and beliefs and hold on
00:11:40
dearly to some others
00:11:42
talking about morality in a sense
00:11:45
makes us all more moral because it
00:11:47
teaches us why we are the way we are and
00:11:50
how we can improve upon that
00:11:52
morality is not measured in absolutes
00:11:55
but fractions of different pieces from
00:11:57
different places that make up the whole
00:11:59
pie
00:12:00
we have come to know
00:12:02
as humanity
00:12:10
video was sponsored by brilliant one of
00:12:12
the best places online to learn anything
00:12:14
and everything stem related
00:12:16
part of understanding morality is being
00:12:18
able to view things from an objective
00:12:20
standpoint
00:12:21
being able to take in all the
00:12:22
information at your disposal and finding
00:12:24
where you fit into that subjectively
00:12:26
it's not too far off from science in a
00:12:28
sense where you have to view the bigger
00:12:30
picture before going in and discovering
00:12:32
the tiny pieces that make up the hole
00:12:34
it's all a matter of perspective a
00:12:36
matter of mindset and how you approach
00:12:38
things
00:12:40
if you like science and math and
00:12:42
figuring out how things work then
00:12:43
brilliant could be perfect for you
00:12:46
brilliant is an interactive stem
00:12:47
learning platform that helps you learn
00:12:49
concepts by working through them in
00:12:50
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00:12:52
their extensive course catalog is
00:12:54
constantly expanding to include even
00:12:56
more lessons to help you learn in the
00:12:57
best way possible
00:12:59
for example
00:13:00
earlier in this video we spoke about the
00:13:01
ai known as delphi
00:13:03
delphi like all ai were in part created
00:13:07
by humans
00:13:08
by learning more about artificial
00:13:09
intelligence and how we can help train
00:13:11
them to become more like humans
00:13:13
we learn more about ourselves and what
00:13:15
is truly important in life
00:13:17
if you're interested in things like this
00:13:19
brilliant has an entire course on
00:13:20
machine learning a critical part in
00:13:22
understanding how ai systems are
00:13:23
developed
00:13:25
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00:13:41
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