According to Hume, there is not much of a relationship between roads, hell, and good intentions. In section one of Justice, whether a natural or artificial virtue, Hume characterizes intentions (referred to as “sentiments”) as the “real” indicia of morality, whereas actions are mere proxy. Correspondingly, good intentions, independent of an action’s outcome, are necessary conditions for the...
Do our mixed feelings on advanced A.I. and tantalizing screens, merely reflect our own moral failings? Elon Musk is scared of artificial intelligence (A.I.). In a 2014 tweet, Elon compared A.I. development to “summoning the demon.” Unlike the countless podcast hosts and academics who routinely engage in such doomsday speculation, Elon put his money where his mouth is. Fifteen days into 2015, when...
How our opinions on dystopias reflect who we are as individuals On October 21, 1949, George Orwell received a remarkable letter. It was penned by Orwell’s former French teacher and fellow writer, Aldous Huxley, whose own dystopian novel, Brave New World, had been published in 1932. The letter’s message was foremost congratulatory, as Orwell had recently published 1984. While Huxley...
“The better you do in Legal Ethics, the more corrupt you are as a lawyer.” This was told to me by a senior (and evidently, jaded) lawyer when I first began at Osgoode. I believe the underlying assumption of this perspective is that Legal Ethics, as it is traditionally taught, tests your ability to manipulate and argue rules, rather than cultivate “goodness” as a lawyer. Consequently, this...