An Ethical Framework for Interconnected and Self-Organizing Moral Machines

Introduction

The theme of this essay is the major systemic changes confronted by the global financial sector in general and particularly in the trade in financial products. Within this essay I will focus specifically on the dominant role played by technology and technological applications within the context of these changes. Algorithms play an essential and valuable role within the financial sector. Take, for example, the visualization of all sorts of information and being able to exchange and share this information between the parties involved, irrespective of their time and location. Algorithms have become increasingly autonomous during the past decade, their artificial intelligence has increased and this artificial intelligence has allowed them to act more independently and make complicated decisions at speeds that exceed human powers of observation. Whether we like it or not, these algorithms currently dominate the financial markets and the large majority of the global financial transactions are performed without any human interference. The development of systems that are ever more interconnected with networks in which algorithms act autonomously and influence the global trade in financial products raises new questions concerning, for example, the need for an 'ethical framework'. This framework could enable us to further consider if and how these machines and their algorithms could be taught a form of morality as part of their development. In the second part of this essay, I will deal specifically with the question of whether and how concepts such as ethics and morality could be related to technology and whether and how machines and algorithms that act increasingly autonomously could be taught a form or ethics and morality.