A Model of “Evil” for Course of Action Analysis

Reed, Gregory S.; Tackett, Greg

doi:10.5711/1082598318461

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…The optimal parameters for the MOE model produced good agreement between the model and expert assessments, which suggested potential for the concept behind the MOE model. 15 However, the results of the study also raised significant questions about the MOE model. When optimized, the number of civilian casualties far outweighed every other quantifiable consequence in the MOE's calculations.…”

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…15 These questions regarding the MOE model suggested that a new model, one based on a different means of ethical assessment of COAs, was needed.…”

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The REV model, which is the subject of this article, was inspired by an earlier model known as the Metric of Evil (MOE), developed by the US Army and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. 15 As with the REV model, the earlier MOE model assessed military COAs from an ethical perspective and explicitly suggested the ''lesser of two evils'' of a pair of actions. True to its name, the MOE model explicitly attempted to measure ''evil,'' using ''intentional or anticipatable harm'' as a working definition of evil, as inspired by Zimbardo's own definition.…”

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the results also suggested that the MOE model's approach does not adequately parameterize the full range of ethical factors that humans actually use in making ethical assessments. 15 The research indicated that the MOE model could not readily weigh the loss of human life against the promotion of ideals or principles. This suggested that a different analysis of the ethical principles applicable to military COAs would be more meaningful and relevant for evaluating actions.…”

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One comment submitted by a participant in the MOE experiment illuminates an important component that was missing from the MOE model: How many casualties are justified in the promotion or defense of capitalism, democracy, communism, fundamentalist Islam, or the power of a warlord? 15 These questions regarding the MOE model suggested that a new model, one based on a different means of ethical assessment of COAs, was needed.…”

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A principles-based model of ethical considerations in military decision making

Reed

Petty

Jones

et al. 2015

Journal of Defense Modeling & Simulation

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When comparing alternative courses of action, modern military decision makers often must consider both the military effectiveness and the ethical consequences of the available alternatives. The basis, design, calibration, and performance of a principles-based computational model of ethical considerations in military decision making are reported in this article. The relative ethical violation (REV) model comparatively evaluates alternative military actions based upon the degree to which they violate contextually relevant ethical principles. It is based on a set of specific ethical principles deemed by philosophers and ethicists to be relevant to military courses of action. A survey of expert and non-expert human decision makers regarding the relative ethical violation of alternative actions for a set of specially designed calibration scenarios was conducted to collect data that was used to calibrate the REV model. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey showed that people, even experts, disagreed greatly amongst themselves regarding the scenarios' ethical considerations. Despite this disagreement, two significant results emerged. First, after calibration the REV model performed very well in terms of replicating the ethical assessments of human experts for the calibration scenarios. The REV model outperformed an earlier model that was based on tangible consequences rather than ethical principles, that earlier model performed comparably to human experts, the experts outperformed human non-experts, and the non-experts outperformed random selection of actions. All of these performance comparisons were measured quantitatively and confirmed with suitable statistical tests. Second, although humans tended to value some principles over others, none of the ethical principles involved-even the principle of not harming civilians-completely overshadowed all of the other principles.

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Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…15 These questions regarding the MOE model suggested that a new model, one based on a different means of ethical assessment of COAs, was needed.…”

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Consequences-based Evaluation Of Coas: the Metric Of Evilmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A principles-based model of ethical considerations in military decision making

Reed

Petty

Jones

et al. 2015

Journal of Defense Modeling & Simulation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

AI and Stochastic Terrorism – Should it be done?

Kemper

2022

2022 IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering Workshops (ISSREW)

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A Model of “Evil” for Course of Action Analysis

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

A principles-based model of ethical considerations in military decision making

A principles-based model of ethical considerations in military decision making

AI and Stochastic Terrorism – Should it be done?

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