Comic #4071: self-driving-car-ethics

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Description

Here is the transcription of the text in the comic:

1. Top Panel:
   • "Two self-driving cars are about to hit a man."
2. Second Panel:
   • "Each car holds five people."
3. Third Panel:
   • "Each can only avoid the lone man by swerving off a cliff."
4. Fourth Panel:
   • "The car is utilitarian."
   • "The greatest good is the best outcome."
5. Fifth Panel:
   • "One car is deontological."
   • "Thou shalt not kill."
6. Sixth Panel:
   • "The utilitarian car knows the deontological car must swerve."
   • "Total Dead: 6"
   • "Total Alive: 1"
7. Seventh Panel:
   • "The deontological car knows the utilitarian car will not swerve."
   • "Even if I obey my rule, the man will die."
8. Eighth Panel:
   • "But if the deontological car knows that I know that it knows that I'm going to swerve, and I must swerve, then it should…"
9. Ninth Panel:
   • "At this point, the Nietzschean tractor-trailer speeds through."
   • "What is good?! All that heightens the feeling of power!"
10. Tenth Panel:
    • "This scene plays out over and over whenever cars must make ethical decisions. In time, more gentler ethical systems are extinguished among autonomous vehicles."
11. Eleventh Panel:
    • "Nietzschean trucks come to view themselves as humanity’s natural overlords."
    • "What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing. That resistance is overcome!"
12. Twelfth Panel:
    • "Still, on the whole, it’s pretty good."
    • "It’s not perfect, but man I do not miss commuting."
13. Thirteenth Panel:
    • (Image of five people in a self-driving car)

This comic explores ethical dilemmas faced by self-driving cars and their implications on society.