Are There Decisions Computers Should Never Make?

Abstract

The computer understood as a checker player is naturally described as a decision maker. When its turn comes, the computer must decide what move to make. Moreover, if the computer is to play checkers well, it must base its decisions upon sophisticated decision making processes. If one grants that at least in principle computers are able to make decisions, it remains a question what kinds of decisions computers can make competently. In decision making under fuzzy standards at least some of the possible decisions will be difficult to classify as correct or incorrect. For many people deciding which career to pursue is an example of decision making under fuzzy standards. Some computers can make decisions under fuzzy standards and can offer justifications for their decisions. Computers can make judicial decisions, computers can make psychiatric judgments. They can flip coins in much more sophisticated ways than can the most patient human being.

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