By Maya Indira Ganesh

The “trolley problem”—a philosophical thought experiment about choosing between harmful outcomes—remains a useful exercise in drawing out the differences between utilitarian and deontological approaches to ethics in analytic philosophy. However, the thought experiment has also shaped how AI-infused artifacts have been imagined, suggesting that ethical decision-making becomes a data-driven enterprise rather than a human, social, or individualized practice.

Technology researcher Maya Indira Ganesh tracks the language, materiality, and culture of epistemic tools that establish safety and automobility as problems to be solved by the driverless car, examining the outputs of AI systems against the realities of our social and technological present—and the futures they are in the process of constructing.

Designed by Tofe Al-Obaidi

Published by Artez Press, 2024

Softcover, 224 pages, color and b&w images, 5.91 × 8.27 inches

ISBN: 978-9-49-144481-4