Pamela Robinson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3866255 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Pamela Robinson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Pamela |
| FAMILY NAME | Robinson |
| SIGNATURE | ROBINSON P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institute of English Studies, University of LondonSenate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, UK |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1663-5970 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The AI-design regress
Shutdown-seeking AI
We propose developing AIs whose only final goal is being shut down. We argue that this approach to AI safety has three benefits: (i) it could potentially be implemented in reinforcement learning, (ii) it avoids some dangerous instrumental convergence dynamics, and (iii) it creates trip wires for monitoring dangerous capabilities. We also argue that the proposal can overcome a key challenge raised by Soares et al. (2015), that shutdown-seeking AIs…
Embracing emergence: Reframing and Reimagining the Visionary Communities Project
Moral disagreement and artificial intelligence
Artificially intelligent systems will be used to make increasingly important decisions about us. Many of these decisions will have to be made without universal agreement about the relevant moral facts. For other kinds of disagreement, it is at least usually obvious what kind of solution is called for. What makes moral disagreement especially challenging is that there are three different ways of handling it. Moral solutions apply a moral theory or…
Moral uncertainty, noncognitivism, and the multi‐objective story
We sometimes seem to face fundamental moral uncertainty , i.e., uncertainty about what is morally good or morally right that cannot be reduced to ordinary descriptive uncertainty. This phenomenon raises a puzzle for noncognitivism, according to which moral judgments are desire‐like attitudes as opposed to belief‐like attitudes. Can a state of moral uncertainty really be a noncognitive state? So far, noncognitivists have not been able to offer a c…
Is Normative Uncertainty Irrelevant if Your Descriptive Uncertainty Depends on It
According to ‘Excluders’, descriptive uncertainty – but not normative uncertainty – matters to what we ought to do. Recently, several authors have argued that those wishing to treat normative uncertainty differently from descriptive uncertainty face a dependence problem because one's descriptive uncertainty can depend on one's normative uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the phenomenon of dependence poses a decisive proble…
Pages from the Past: Medieval Writing Skills and Manuscript Books
A Companion to the Early Printed Book in Britain, 1476-1558
The history of the book is now recognized as a field of central importance for understanding the cultural changes that swept through Tudor England. This companion aims to provide a comprehensive guide to the issues relevant to the early printed book, covering the significant cultural, social and technological developments from 1476 (the introduction of printing to England) to 1558 (the death of Mary Tudor). Divided into thematic sections (the pri…
Civic Hackathons: Innovation, Procurement, or Civic Engagement
At all levels, governments around the world are moving toward the provision of open data, that is, the direct provision to citizens, the private sector, and other third parties, of raw government datasets, controlled by a relatively permissible license. In tandem with this distribution of open data is the promotion of civic hackathons, or "app contests" by government. The civic hackathon is designed to offer prize money to developers as a way to …
A ‘very curious Almanack’: The gift of Sir Robert Moray FRS, 1668
In 1667, only seven years after its foundation, the Royal Society of London acquired the Arundel Library, the gift of Henry Howard, later 6th Duke of Norfolk. This collection originally contained both manuscripts and printed books, but in 1830–32 the Society parted with the Arundel manuscripts,[1
Should the sexes be separated for secondary education ‐‐ comparisons of single‐sex and co‐educational schools
The publication of schools' examination results in England has reopened in sharper form the old debate about whether single‐sex or co‐educational schooling is better for secondary education. This paper considers both the claimed academic and social advantages. Performance at GCSE and A level has been analysed for boys and girls separately in single‐sex and co‐educational schools using national data supplied by the Department for Education and Emp…
Food security in Southern Africa
Civic Hackathons: Innovation, Procurement, or Civic Engagement
At all levels, governments around the world are moving toward the provision of open data, that is, the direct provision to citizens, the private sector, and other third parties, of raw government datasets, controlled by a relatively permissible license. In tandem with this distribution of open data is the promotion of civic hackathons, or "app contests" by government. The civic hackathon is designed to offer prize money to developers as a way to …
Food security in Southern Africa
Should the sexes be separated for secondary education ‐‐ comparisons of single‐sex and co‐educational schools
The publication of schools' examination results in England has reopened in sharper form the old debate about whether single‐sex or co‐educational schooling is better for secondary education. This paper considers both the claimed academic and social advantages. Performance at GCSE and A level has been analysed for boys and girls separately in single‐sex and co‐educational schools using national data supplied by the Department for Education and Emp…
Shutdown-seeking AI
We propose developing AIs whose only final goal is being shut down. We argue that this approach to AI safety has three benefits: (i) it could potentially be implemented in reinforcement learning, (ii) it avoids some dangerous instrumental convergence dynamics, and (iii) it creates trip wires for monitoring dangerous capabilities. We also argue that the proposal can overcome a key challenge raised by Soares et al. (2015), that shutdown-seeking AIs…
Food security in Southern Africa
Should the sexes be separated for secondary education ‐‐ comparisons of single‐sex and co‐educational schools
The publication of schools' examination results in England has reopened in sharper form the old debate about whether single‐sex or co‐educational schooling is better for secondary education. This paper considers both the claimed academic and social advantages. Performance at GCSE and A level has been analysed for boys and girls separately in single‐sex and co‐educational schools using national data supplied by the Department for Education and Emp…
A ‘very curious Almanack’: The gift of Sir Robert Moray FRS, 1668
In 1667, only seven years after its foundation, the Royal Society of London acquired the Arundel Library, the gift of Henry Howard, later 6th Duke of Norfolk. This collection originally contained both manuscripts and printed books, but in 1830–32 the Society parted with the Arundel manuscripts,[1
A Companion to the Early Printed Book in Britain, 1476-1558
The history of the book is now recognized as a field of central importance for understanding the cultural changes that swept through Tudor England. This companion aims to provide a comprehensive guide to the issues relevant to the early printed book, covering the significant cultural, social and technological developments from 1476 (the introduction of printing to England) to 1558 (the death of Mary Tudor). Divided into thematic sections (the pri…
Civic Hackathons: Innovation, Procurement, or Civic Engagement
At all levels, governments around the world are moving toward the provision of open data, that is, the direct provision to citizens, the private sector, and other third parties, of raw government datasets, controlled by a relatively permissible license. In tandem with this distribution of open data is the promotion of civic hackathons, or "app contests" by government. The civic hackathon is designed to offer prize money to developers as a way to …
Pages from the Past: Medieval Writing Skills and Manuscript Books
Is Normative Uncertainty Irrelevant if Your Descriptive Uncertainty Depends on It
According to ‘Excluders’, descriptive uncertainty – but not normative uncertainty – matters to what we ought to do. Recently, several authors have argued that those wishing to treat normative uncertainty differently from descriptive uncertainty face a dependence problem because one's descriptive uncertainty can depend on one's normative uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the phenomenon of dependence poses a decisive proble…
Moral uncertainty, noncognitivism, and the multi‐objective story
We sometimes seem to face fundamental moral uncertainty , i.e., uncertainty about what is morally good or morally right that cannot be reduced to ordinary descriptive uncertainty. This phenomenon raises a puzzle for noncognitivism, according to which moral judgments are desire‐like attitudes as opposed to belief‐like attitudes. Can a state of moral uncertainty really be a noncognitive state? So far, noncognitivists have not been able to offer a c…
Moral disagreement and artificial intelligence
Artificially intelligent systems will be used to make increasingly important decisions about us. Many of these decisions will have to be made without universal agreement about the relevant moral facts. For other kinds of disagreement, it is at least usually obvious what kind of solution is called for. What makes moral disagreement especially challenging is that there are three different ways of handling it. Moral solutions apply a moral theory or…
The AI-design regress
Shutdown-seeking AI
We propose developing AIs whose only final goal is being shut down. We argue that this approach to AI safety has three benefits: (i) it could potentially be implemented in reinforcement learning, (ii) it avoids some dangerous instrumental convergence dynamics, and (iii) it creates trip wires for monitoring dangerous capabilities. We also argue that the proposal can overcome a key challenge raised by Soares et al. (2015), that shutdown-seeking AIs…
Embracing emergence: Reframing and Reimagining the Visionary Communities Project
Sociology (7 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Psychology (4 works) · Free Will and Agency (3 works) · Social Psychology (3 works) · Social science (3 works)