Busi Ethics Quiz 4
what does friedman believe
-companies should focus on the profits of their shareholders, not charity - managers work for the shareholders, companies dont have social responsibilities
marxs believes in three forms of alienation
-from product of their labor -from fellow workers - from the activity of work
adam smith believes
-the amount of trade countries are able to engage in is what makes them wealthy - trading produces wealth because the more you function in a market, the more funds go to producing goods at a certain price for the highest quality -its not about dividing the pie, but growing it
invisible hand
A phrase coined by Adam Smith to describe the process that turns self-directed gain into social and economic benefits for all
stockholder model
The assumption in business that a company's only important ethical obligation is to try to make as much money as possible for its investors and owners
stakeholder model
a good company considers all stakes within a company to make sure it runs well.
which of the following concepts describes the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) behind recent innovations such as ChatGPT?
a neural network
shareholder model
a view of social responsibility that holds that an organization's overriding goal should be profit maximization for the benefit of shareholders
consider the following point from Marx: the political economists themselves err fundamentally when they assume that the individuals are set free in and by the market-place. 'it is not the individuals who are set free by free competition: it is, rather, capital which is set free.' which of the following claims expresses marxs idea expressed in this passage
according to marx, political economists like smith fail to understand that in "competing" on the free market, the worker must obey the specific "rules" of capitalism rather than be truly free
according to adam smith, the positive effects of market processes
are completely independent of positive or negative moral intentions
surplus value
different between labor cost and market value- profit for the capitalist
what fundamental issue underlies questions about the relation between AI and ethical concerns about copyright and patents?
does AI have sufficient commonality with the human element of creativity to make new products a matter of "fair use" of previous materials
Laissez-faire
economic system works best when government keeps its hands off
condiser the following passage from Marx: "The owner gets the surplus value because the value of the workers wages, expressed in hours of labour time, is smaller than the number of hours the worker works for the capitalists in 'exchange' for his wages." the process marx here discusses is:
exploitation
For Adam Smith it is important for the government to redistribute wealth to those who do not benefit from the free market.
false
consider the statement: "successful business practice requires working in the interest of various different groups, including the community in which the company functions, and therefore executives should not always favor company profits (or the direct results for shareholders) in a clash of interests." the shareholder theory would disagree with this reasoning
false
marx believes the real value of a product is however much someone wants to pay for it in the free market
false
Marx's concept of alienation depends centrally on Marx's view that the value of products is produced by labor.
false (that would be exploitation)
difference between stakeholder and shareholder theory
for the stakeholder to be different than the shareholder, the stakeholder needs to not base itself solely for financial benefit of the company
the real value of labor itself
how much labor is required to subsist
real value
how much would it take to produce an item? what makes something have the value it does
use value
how useful it is
shareholder theory basically believes that
if it is good for teh finances, then do it.
alienation from fellow workers
if jobs are eliminated, people will self-promote themselves instead of coming together that getting rid of jobs is bad. you work against others to keep you job
alienation from the activity of work
kept from your life You have to work to do things you enjoy. How many hours are you really giving to yourself?
what connection is there between AI systems and ethical concerns about issues of bias and discrimination?
since AI systems pick up patterns in their datasets, it will include the same biased and discriminatory patterns included in human speech
Nick Bostrom discusses several forms of "superintelligence". Which are these forms:
speed, collective, and qualitative
exploitation
taking advantage of someones effort, unfairly benefiting from the labor of another person
what is the idea of "black box" functionalism?
that mental processes are functions, and that it is irrelevant which apparatus is successful in creating this function
what is the central idea in a neural network?
that the nature and connections in a structure "neural nodes" can capture cognition instead of traditional programming
Marx's claims that in the capitalist system
the labor of workers is exploited by the owners of the means of production
the labor theory of value
the real value of an item is constituted by the necessary quantity of labor required for producing an item
alienation from the product of their labor
the worker becomes poorer the more work they do. they become cheaper
consider the following depiction of the laborer's condition according to Marx: which of the following captures Marx's core analysis of the workers condition as depicted in this graph
the worker is placed as the producer of labor consumed by the industrialist
the critique of labor
there can be a lot of waste. people are doing things for their own self-interest, so maybe they don't really care about the waste if its convenient for them.
arguing the stakeholder theory, its first and main proponent Edward Freeman argues that if executives fail to take into account the interests of stakeholders, companies are likely to suffer in performance. what is the main concern with this defense of the stakeholder theory?
this point does not differentiate the stakeholder theory from the shareholder theory, since the shareholder theory would agree with this
at bottom, what is the central capacity of modern AI networks?
to capture predictive patterns in large amounts of data
while generally a proponent of laissez-faire economics, the following could be grounds for adam smith to support government action in the market
to prevent a company's monopolistic position from stifling market functioning
For Marx, capital is the central force of production (or the "means of production") today, but this can change.
true
For Marx, the surplus value of the production process benefits the capitalist, and not the worker.
true
according to friedman's shareholder approach, companies should only strive to maximize the value of shares
true
according to milton friedman, company executives are employees of shareholders
true
adam smith supports laissez-faire economics
true
the reason why labor in a market economy alienates workers from each other is that, as producers of their own labor, workers compete against each other
true
market value
what people are willing to pay