Dr. Sven Nyholm is an Assistant Professor of Philosophical Ethics at Utrecht University. His main areas of research are applied ethics (especially the ethics of technology), ethical theory, and the history of ethics. More specifically, he has recently published on love-relationships and biomedical enhancements, sex robots, motivation-enhancements, accident-algorithms for self-driving cars, deep brain stimulation, happiness and well-being, meaning in life, and interpersonal respect and moral reasoning. His work also focuses on the ethics of automated driving, human-robot collaboration, deep brain stimulation (including its effect on the self), and disability and the goods of life. He is especially interested in how robotization and other types of automation affect traditional human values, as well as in existential questions raised by new technological developments. He has a new book coming out, Humans and Robots: Ethics, Agency, and Anthropomorphism.

In this episode, we dig into the main topics of his book, Humans and Robots. We refer to the fact that there are different kinds of robots and how we should deal with them. We talk about anthropomorphization, and the intuitions people have about robots’ minds. We raise the question about the ay we treat robots spilling into how we treat other humans. We address agency and moral responsibility in the context of self-driving cars and military robots. We ask if we can establish proper relationships with other robots. Finally, we go through what kinds of minds robots can have and what that would mean, and also if robots can also me moral agents and be “good”.

Follow Dr. Nyholm’s work:

Twitter handle: @SvenNyholm

Our first interview (Self-Driving Cars, Love Enhancement, And Sex Robots): https://youtu.be/eEcqxjlz1eg

Humans and Robots: Ethics, Agency, and Anthropomorphism: https://amzn.to/2uEX1WS

A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, PER HELGE LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, JERRY MULLER, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BERNARDO SEIXAS, HERBERT GINTIS, RUTGER VOS, RICARDO VLADIMIRO, BO WINEGARD, VEGA GIDEY, CRAIG HEALY, OLAF ALEX, PHILIP KURIAN, JONATHAN VISSER, DAVID DIAS, ANJAN KATTA, JAKOB KLINKBY, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, JOHN CONNORS, PAULINA BARREN, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, DAN DEMETRIOU, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ARTHUR KOH, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, MAX BEILBY, COLIN HOLBROOK, SUSAN PINKER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, PABLO SANTURBANO, SIMON COLUMBUS, PHIL KAVANAGH, JORGE ESPINHA, AND CORY CLARK!

A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, ROSEY, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, IAN GILLIGAN, SERGIU CODREANU, AND LUIS CAYETANO!

AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, MICHAL RUSIECKI!

Home Top podcasts Popular guests Top books