Teaching Ethics, Empathy and Other 'Human' Traits

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It's funny how you can find teaching materials in the most abnormal of circumstances, and it's also funny how it is often the obscure that has the deepest impact. As a digital technologies teacher, I find all forms of technology fascinating, and as such, subscribe to quite a few technology news feeds. Not simply to satiate my hunger for technologically advanced tidbits, but in an effort to stay abreast of technologies that I might one day be teaching and discussing with my students.

One of the more recent technologies that I've followed, quite fascinated by, is that of autonomous vehicles. Ever since viewing Back to the Future Part II, I've been waiting for the technology from that movie to become a reality, and now, finally, we are living in an age where some of those 'predictions' are coming to pass. The autonomous, or self-driving, vehicle being one of the most exciting, and maybe the one with the brightest future.

The endless applications of a commercially available vehicle that drives itself are exciting. Imagine being able to sleep in just that little longer, because you know that you will be able to shave or apply makeup on the way to work, and whilst many of us are probably guilty of doing this already, imagine being able to do this in a much safer environment. We are already seeing the benefits of autonomous vehicle use in the military - planes flying themselves, mean less human casualty in regard to pilot deaths. And what about the lives that could be saved by trucks that don't need drivers? How many truck drivers are constantly driven to the brink of exhaustion due to almost ridiculous schedules? Ones that will often see drivers using drugs to help them stay awake longer in order to make their deliveries on time. Imagine, now, that trucks could drive themselves - a truck that could stay on the road virtually 24/7, making deliveries well ahead of schedule because they don't need to sleep. Logically speaking, autonomous vehicles could save various industries millions of dollars, and society, countless lives.

Logic. It's logic that makes these vehicles possible. Zeroes and ones, yes and no, right and wrong. Programming is logical, and therefore, any computer is more logical than a human. They have the ability to make decisions in a fraction of a second - much faster than we mere mortals. A quick calculation, and the decision is made, based upon what the program running inside them says.

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The Debate: Autonomous vs Human

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With some experts in the field estimating that by as early as 2020, we could see the introduction of self-driving cars in a noticeable way, and that by around 2040, we could be seeing as much as 95% of all vehicles sold, completely autonomous in nature, we don't need to look very far to see the debate that rages over the introduction of self-driving cars. Most news outlets in many countries, both print and online, have entered the debate over these fantastic inventions. While it is apparent, and not surprising, that cars driven by computers are generally safer than those driven by humans, they still have their flaws.

Earlier this year in Arizona, you may recall, that a pedestrian was struck and subsequently killed by an Uber car that was, at the time, operating in self-driving mode. While there was a technician riding in the car at the time, they did not have control of the car, and in the seconds just prior to the incident, they were looking at the car's console, so did not see the pedestrian until too late.

This incident was the catalyst for mass analysis of data that was produced by the vehicle at the time of the crash, and it was discovered that the car did in fact see the pedestrian, however, the car didn't immediately recognise the 'object' on the road as human. At first, it recognised an object, then a car, and finally a bike. A fraction of a second before impact, the car determined it needed to perform a specific safety manoeuvre called an 'emergency braking manoeuvre', however, Uber does not allow the car to do this without human driver interaction. The reason behind this is that Uber fears it's cars may cause more catastrophic outcomes if able to perform these braking procedures which can involve the slamming on of brakes and erratic swerving - much like we would do if trying to avoid a crash.

I've also 'heard' (so, maybe don't quote me on this!) that in this particular case, the car did recognise the pedestrian, but due to the location of the crossing (on a bend), the car was unable to brake. It had been programmed to take into account the dangers of braking excessively on a bend and chose to not stop, but keep driving instead. Recently, in Australia, a report was run on one of the news broadcasts (I've since forgotten which one, and have not been able to find a reference to it, sorry) in regard to self-driving cars and the fact that they are programmed to take into account human casualty and reduce loss of human life at all costs. What this could possibly mean for your family of four, taking a drive in your autonomous vehicle one day, is that if your car has the choice of hitting a bus full of 20 people or crashing itself into a concrete wall were the possible damage is only four, then it will choose the latter. Doesn't really fill you with great confidence, does it!?

Tesla has also experienced troubles during the testing of its self-driving fleet. In 2016, a Tesla driver was killed while testing a self-driving car. The sensors failed to 'see' a semi crossing the street ahead and drove straight into it. On another, more recent occasion, a Tesla vehicle being test-driven rear-ended a fire truck - and I don't need to address the implications that may have been caused had this truck been on the way to an emergency.

Despite these incidents (and quite a large number more, evidently), autonomous vehicles are actually much safer than human-driven vehicles. It has been cited by numerous professionals that of the hundreds of thousands of people killed each year on the roads, 90% of the fatalities were caused by human error, which is quite staggering if you think about it (also quite ironic in the case of Uber, where their cars cannot execute the braking manoeuvre discussed earlier, unless the human tester intervenes).

What I deduce from all of this is that, as with a lot of emerging technology, we are a little scared. We don't understand it all that well, and struggle to see how it's supposedly so safe, and yet we hear about these accidents and deaths that are being caused by autonomous vehicles. But what of the successful test drives? Like much of what happens in society, we only really hear of the 'news worthy' incidents, which are the ones where there are major injury, death, or other controversial issues. The 12 successful test drives that Uber or Tesla conducted today, or of the thousands of simulations run in a factory over recent months don't make it to the news, so we're left wondering just how safe these cars actually are.
What I also conclude from this, is that while self-driven cars can be programmed to be safer than human drivers, there is something missing. We can program all the AI in the world into a machine, but we cannot program human emotion, more importantly, we cannot program empathy - the part of you that puts yourself into someone else's shoes and shares their feelings. Case in point, the Uber car, if driven by a human would have had the brakes applied, even if there was no point, for whatever reason, because a human driver intrinsically empathises with the pedestrian and brakes automatically, no programming stopping their reaction.

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So Where's the Teaching?

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Well, really long preamble out of the way, lets get back to my opening statement. Finding teaching material in abnormal places.

I'm often looking for relevant material to help teach different topics that are, not necessarily technology topics such as coding and using different apps, but are related to the technology industry, in an engaging and interesting manner. Specifically, learning ethics in technology can be seen by students as particularly boring, and I would tend to agree - from a teacher's perspective, I'd much rather be creating something with code. But ethics, intellectual property, and other topics are equally and possibly more important when teaching a technology subject.

So I stumbled across an article about the Arizona death, and did some further reading on it, and found that I'm not the only person to have concluded as I outlined above. During my research of this accident, I came across an article that has the following in it:

... should we allow self-driving cars on the road when they are 90 per cent ready, or should we delay their adoption to improve them further, knowing during that time more lives will be lost due to human error?

What initially drew me to this quote is the relevance of it. This is something that is happening right now, and decisions are being made today, that are impacting society. Knowing that a self-driving car only 90% efficient can be much safer than a human when placed on the road, really does illicit quite powerful discussion around ethical considerations. Between this and the underlying issues of computers not thinking unless being programmed to do so, you can easily develop a lesson or two on empathy. I find that students growing up today struggle with this emotion a little. They sometimes don't seem to be able to understand the idea of sharing someone else's feelings, so this is valuable teaching, I find.

I'll often start a lesson on a topic such as this with a fairly powerful statement or question, something like, 'If you knew someone was going to die, what would you do to stop it?', or, I might show them the current statistics for road fatalities for the current year and ask them if they could reduce this amount by 95%, would they do it? It's a great way to ensure pretty much all but the most disillusioned students are paying a great deal of attention. It also fosters great discussion that can lead onto other relevant and interesting areas of technology and really gets them thinking about the issues that the technology industry faces. Obviously, I use these opening questions with more senior students, choosing to completely restructure my opening of lessons for middle school students. I still use the same examples, such as the Uber example, I just modify it to be more age appropriate.

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Wrapping Up

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I still love the idea of autonomous vehicles. I would love to be driven around by someone else, even if that someone else is a robot - driving is a stress I could do without (I only really enjoy it in the early hours of the morning when there's no one else on the road). I'm sure it would feel odd at first, and the impulse to take over the wheel would burn quite hot, often, however, in reality, I don't know if I'll ever get the opportunity to experience commercially available self-driving cars. I hope I do, but probably not! Even if they are available in a reasonable timeframe, I would anticipate that they'll be worth a fair amount.

As teachers we may not necessarily be required to keep the curriculum relevant and updated, but it's good practice, especially in technologically driven subjects. Students quickly begin to question the relevance of what we are teaching them if they feel that it is not relevant. My Maths students often ask, 'How will I use this after I've left school?', and I'm sure you've had questions much like this too.

I hope that you've found something practical here, and if you're not a teacher, I hope you've simply enjoyed the read. Thank you for making it to the end of this piece, and as always, I would be thrilled to hear from you, so pop a comment below and I'll get back to you. Let me know your thoughts on autonomous vehicles - are they taking things too far, or should we be using them now? Or, share your experiences and ideas on keeping curriculum relevant in an ever changing world. Or something completely different! Either way, I look forward to hearing from you.

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References

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1. Why Uber's Self-Driving Car Killed a Pedestrian
2. Here's When Having a Self-Driving Car Will Be a Normal Thing
3. Driverless Cars Are Now Tested on Our Roads, So Should We Be Worried?
4. Self-Driving Uber kills Arizona Woman In First Fatal Crash Involving a Pedestrian
5. Uber's Self-Driving Car Saw The Woman It Killed, Report Says

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