Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!mtunx!whuts!homxb!ho7cad!kqb
From: kqb@ho4cad.ATT.COM
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: AIList V6 #86 - Philosophy
Summary: responsibility is a contract, not a property of a person
Message-ID: <325@ho7cad.ATT.COM>
Date: 9 May 88 18:18:52 GMT
References:  <368693.880430.MINSKY@AI.AI.MIT.EDU> <721@taurus.BITNET>
Sender: nuucp@ho7cad.ATT.COM
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In article <721@taurus.BITNET>, shani@TAURUS.BITNET writes:
> ... if everything is pre-determined or random,
> how can you asume responsibility to what you are doing? and if responsibility
> does not exist, the whole matter of free will and value system has no content,
> ...

A few people have expressed difficulty with the notion of responsibility when
they discover that a person's actions are a combination of (1) deterministic
processes and (2) random processes.   I think that the difficulty arises from
a confused notion of responsibility (and "free will").  In this message I aim
to remove (some of) the confusion from the concept of responsibility.

Responsibility can be claimed ("I stand for X and will be responsible for X.")
or assigned ("You are Joey's parent and are responsible for Joey's actions.").
  Responsibility does not exist independent of a claim or assignment of
  responsibility; it is a personal or social contract rather than an
  intrinsic property of a person.
We may question whether or not an assignment or claim of responsibility is
appropriate (useful), but it is a waste of time to ask whether or not a person
IS responsible (due to "free will", etc.).

A claim or assignment of responsibility is most useful when the responsible
person has the power to uphold that responsibility.  It is not useful to
assign responsibility for the war between Iran and Iraq to a newborn baby in
Cincinnati because the baby has no power over that situation.  On the other
hand, it may be useful for an adult to claim responsibility for world hunger
(even though he or she did not personally cause it), because there is a lot
that a resourceful and committed adult can do about that.

Here is why the notion of responsibility_as_a_contract works:
Assigning responsibility to the appropriate person is useful because it changes
the environment of the person who is assigned responsible.  Since people are
capable of understanding the consequences of their actions, an assignment of
responsibility can be a useful way to modify their behavior.
Claiming responsibility can be a useful way to clarify, prioritize, and
communicate your values.  (If you are ever concerned about whether or not your
life means anything, try taking a stand on something that you care about.)
                                                  - Kevin Q. Brown
                                                  ...ihnp4!ho4cad!kqb
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