Autonomy
What do we mean by autonomy?
Autonomy is self determination to do what you would like, without being inhibited from doing it.
What might inhibit your autonomy?
- Other seeking to do things contrary to your self determined goals
- Gaps in a system from an otherwise well intended, but less than optimally designed society
- Gaps in a system intentionally left in place by mal-intended entities with power in society
- Yourself
What If I want to do something contrary to the goals of another person?
- Enter Society. When 2 or 10,000 people have their own goals, some are just mutually exclusive. This is what it means to live in a society. We go from there to figure out the best way forward.
What is the best kind of Society?
- Naïvely? One with max autonomy for max people. There are problems with this, but in general once you can all agree on base “rights” and the associated “duties” accompanying those rights, maximizing autonomy should pretty much be the whole goal.
Do robots have autonomy?
- Yes, but not in the way defined above (at least not yet…). Usually Robots who are given “autonomy” are often extending the autonomy of another entity within a defined set of instructions.
Are we discussing both kinds of autonomy?
- Yes. In fact this organization aims to reduce barriers to weild one kind of autonomy, to increase the more broad, philosophical autonomy. Through Robotic, or through other technological means.