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Researchers are investigating prospective logic as a way to program morality into a computer. Using prospective logic, programmers can model a moral dilemma so the computer can determine the logical outcomes of all possible decisions and select the best (or least worst) one. This sets the stage for computers that have "ethics," which could allow fully autonomous machines programmed to make judgments based on a human moral foundation. Currently two researchers have developed a system capable of working through the "trolley problem," an ethical dilemma proposed by British philosopher Philippa Foot in the 1960s. In this dilemma, a runaway trolley is about to hit five people tied to the track, but the subject can hit a switch that will send the trolley onto another track where only one person is tied down. The prospective logic program can consider each possible outcome based on different scenarios and demonstrate logically what the consequences of its decisions might be.
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