Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Neuro-interventions as Punishment?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This article is focused on crime and punishment, not learning, and doesn't consider anything other than human-mediated interventions (so no AI-delivered verdicts and sentences here), but it does raise the question of what sort of 'educational' interventions are ethical. Consider, for example, a type of neuro-technology that eliminates in convicted criminals any desires to commit crimes. Would it be appropriate to use this? Would it be better if pain is also applied, so the criminal feels remorse? Would it be reasonable to apply the procedure before any crime is committed? Perhaps only for at-risk students? I would imagine our ethical intuitions would be strong around these cases. They should also inform what we think about education in general - if, say, we require students to learn certain things, then how is this different from the neuro-technology?

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 26, 2024 11:14 p.m.

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