22: Magnetic Mysteries, The Real Trolley Problem, and Hitchbot

Episode notes

How do animals sense magnetic fields? Why was the first Trolley Problem written? And who was Hitchbot?

Images we talk about:

– Hitchbot with Santa

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We also learn about: the first compasses, captain McDonalds, “epistemologically unacceptable”, magnetic bacteria, magnetic dip, pooping north, the table of good boys, let’s do a study, it’s more intersting that dogs Sometimes poop north, alignment during excretion, I’d rather study dogs than leopards, we don’t know how animals sense magnetism, the beaks of birds the brains of seaturtles the tummies of honeybes and the nasal passages of rainbowtrouts, four years from landing on the moon and we haven’t put a magnet on a bird yet, quantumn eyeballs, the European Robin is famously racist, Phillipa Foot, putting hypotheticals to the test, mice actors, hypotheticals don’t predict real behavior, Foot’s paper was about abortion, you know the hippocratic oath is pretty cool actually, do no harm is not in the oath, the self driving trolley problem, dogs vs cats, ethics boards on hypotheticals, the real car trolley problem is more nuanced, a robot with a thumb, Ella beats Tom to the joke, can robots trust humans, hitchbot meets santa, hitchbot loves Ten Bundy, have you seen this robot? how do we feel when a robot dies, so thoughtful of review corner to be at the end, and… some exciting news???

Sources:

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Myths in Magnetosensation

Magnetic Bacteria

Aviation Skybrary on Magnetic Dip

Dogs Poop North

Leopards Poop North

The Arctic Tern’s Migration

Magnetoreception remains a Mystery

Finding the Magnetoreception Organ

Quantumn Eyeballs

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The First Trolley Problem

Britannica on the Trolley Problem

Of Mice, Men, and Trolleys: Hypothetical Judgment Versus Real-Life Behavior in Trolley-Style Moral Dilemmas

Medical Ethics and the Trolley Problem

Self-driving Car Trolley Problem

MIT’s Moral Machine Experiment

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Web Archive of hitchBOT’s Website

The Vessel on hitchBOT

Servo Mag on hitchBOT

Innovation Heroes Podcast: The Hitchhiking Robot’s Guide to the Universe

DW The hitchhiking robot’s guide to Germany

McMaster University hitchBOT in the Netherlands

International Journal of Social Robotics

Smith and Zeller the death and lives of hitchBOT

Fraser et al How do we feel when a robot dies?hitchBOT’s destruction