Instant Gratification In Brave New World

The concept of the unceasing and inexorable pace of technology inevitably tying into and altering human morality and values is something that has been considered for quite some time. Phillip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, which questions what truly makes humans human, to Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”, which looks at the far reaching social and cultural implications of instant gratification, are excellent examples of an examination of technology and its ability to alter the course of humanity. Nevertheless, the settings of these works, while definitely within the realm of possibility, are remote enough that they can be considered as distant echoes of a future that may not even come into realization. Conversely, the idea of self-driving cars, while far less grand than the visions of Dick and Huxley, is something on the verge of becoming fully implemented while still holding onto very serious moral implications that are just …show more content…
However, throughout the article, his vehement opposition to one potential answer, adjustable ethic settings based upon each individual car owner, is something he makes very clear. From Lin’s perspective, giving the user the ability to decide preference settings in terms of what to value over another in a potential crash scenario leads to a premeditation of what to target that is similar to the premeditation difference between the already existent crimes of manslaughter and murder. In addition, he finds that having the user be able to choose his own life over another’s leads to a concession of self-centeredness where life-or-death decisions are made based upon costs rather than doing the right thing. While I agree with Lin’s opinion that any change made to the car’s crashing algorithm will lead to controversy, I have serious qualms about how he developed his personal objections to adjustable ethic