COWAN@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.UUCP (03/28/87)
(This is a condensed version of a response I sent to Tetsuo Tomiyami:) Although I may share your sentiments regarding the military emphasis of computer science, I agree with Ken Laws that the the mention of military applications in AILIST is appropriate and should not be censored out, for two reasons. First, if there is military research going on in AI on the automated battlefield, I think it is better that this be acknowledged openly than hidden from view. Keeping military work shielded from view merely makes this work more difficult to criticize. Acknowledging its presence allows affected communities (such as the AI community) to openly debate the nature of such work and reach a community decision. Second, I don't think your analogy (to showing pornography in public) holds. The harmful effects of showing pornography (not erotica, but degrading, sexually exploitative material) come directly from showing it, but the harmful effects of military work do not come from merely acknowledging its presence. I think it would be more constructive to engage people on the AILIST in discussions of the implications of military AI. If people responded by saying that discussion about the effects of AI research on society are irrelevant to the list because they are political questions, *then* you might have something to gripe about. Why? Because scientists and engineers (especially those who receive public funds) have a responsibility to society to consider the implications of their work. Therefore, discussion of the implications of military AI (or civilian AI) is totally appropriate, and should not be suppressed in one of the major forums for communication used by AI scientists. (Though it is certainly appropriate for a moderator to cut out stuff to prevent flaming from getting out of control.) Now that Artificial Intelligence, having found uses in society, is no longer an ivory tower avocation, politics is not extraneous to AI. Rather, as the AAAI conference on "Issues Concerning AI Applications To Battle Management" shows, AI *is* political. -rich -------