Algorithms and Ethics

Santa Fe Institute lecture series examines the math and morality behind computers’ role in society


Computers map our driving routes, buy our groceries and have even been known to write poetry. But as society increasingly depends on technological interfaces in more conflicted areas, ethical and legal concerns also grow. Cris Moore, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute whose work focuses on computer science, math and physics, will deliver two lectures on "The Limits of Computers in Science and Society" as part SFI's Stanislaw Ulam Memorial Lecture Series. Moore served two terms as a city councilor for District 2 starting in 1994. This interview was edited and condensed for style and length.

SFR: The first lecture discusses why some problems are easy for computers to solve, and others are hard or impossible. What are some examples?

CM: So when you ask Google maps to find you the shortest path from A to B, there are a lot of possible paths, a huge number of possible paths—but it's pretty easy for an algorithm to zero in on the shortest one. But there are other problems, like designing an airline schedule. Or there's this classic thing, the traveling salesman problem, where finding the best solution is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Different problems have different structures: Some have the kind of structure that lets us zoom in quickly on the solution; some we can't get a handle on. … There are questions that are deep inside logic and mathematics, like, for instance, Alan Turing, who was famous for breaking the Nazis' Enigma code in England, proved there's no program which can predict what other programs will do because you could ask it about itself and throw a twist in there and create a paradox.

That's the halting problem?

Exactly. And this is close to [Kurt] Gödel's incompleteness theorems that there are things that are true but that we cannot prove—and I don't mean things like sunsets are beautiful. Things even in math. … So, the two lectures are very separate, and you don't have to come to them both. If you like the beauty of mathematics, come to the first. If you're concerned about the rise of computers in society and the impact on us as humans, come to the second. And if you like both of those things, come to both.

Read more: https://www.sfreporter.com/news/2018/09/19/algorithms-and-ethics/