PHIL 143.001 – AI and the Future of Humanity: Philosophical Issues about Technology and Human Survival

Instructor: Jackson LeViness. This course meets MTWRF 1:15 – 2:45 p.m. via remote synchronous (RS) instruction.

Will robots take your job? Will they take over the world? Do your friends keep cancelling on you because they can’t take off their Apple Vision Pro™ headsets? If you or a loved one has been impacted by the rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR), you may want to take this course.

We will explore many interesting and challenging philosophical issues, including:

Ethics and Decision-Making: What ethical considerations should help guide AI? Should technological advances be regulated? What might such regulations look like? Should we rely on AI systems to make decisions? If so, in what contexts?

Human-Machine Relationships: Is it permissible to form a friendship or romantic relationship with an AI system? Is it desirable? How might human-machine interactions impact our social and emotional wellbeing?

Consciousness and Agency: Is it possible for a machine to have consciousness? If so, how might this affect our moral practices? Should we, for instance, hold them morally responsible for their actions?

Students will learn to use philosophical tools to think critically and deeply about the issues surrounding technological developments in AI and VR. There will be a heavy emphasis on discussion in this course, and active in-class engagement is encouraged and expected.

Please feel free to email me at jdlev@unc.edu if you have any questions about the course!