For Accessible Web Version of Jeeloo Liu, Ph.D., Spotlight
Fellowship Will Fund Research on Robotics Ethics
Philosophy professor JeeLoo Liu has joined a rare group of social science and humanities scholars and writers. April 23, the Cal State Fullerton chair of philosophy was named a 2019 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. The fellowship funds humanities and social sciences research.
Even more rare: she is the only one of this year’s 32 fellows chosen for a project that focuses on philosophy.
Nicknamed “the brainy awards,” the national fellowship provides up to $200,000 to support an academic leave for the fellows to focus on their studies. The criteria for the selection includes “high-caliber scholarship that applies fresh perspectives to some of the most pressing issues of our times.”
Liu’s proposal, “Confucian Robotic Ethics,” falls into the category of Technical and Cultural Creativity — Potential and Perils, one of this year’s four topic areas.
“I am very honored to be chosen among these other scholars,” she said. “I hope that my work will set the path for future collaborations among robot designers and ethicists.”
Lui teaches philosophy of mind on a regular basis, and has always been interested in learning about the nature of our mind by contrasting it with artificial intelligence. She wanted to find a topic that would enhance the exchange between science and humanities, and decided to work on robotic ethics because she believes that having humanoid robots in our society is a real possibility. "We need to prepare for the future and think carefully about how to design robots that would one day make decisions based on the ethical codes we build into them. Establishing ethical dimensions of technology needs to precede technological advancements, not as an afterthought for remedy."
Photo credits: Human robot by Franck V, unsplash. Drone by Jared Brashier, unsplash. Child with robot by Andy Kelly, unsplash. Background Confusian antiquity by Peter Albrecht, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. All Modified.