Grayling on neurophilosophy

August 25, 2010

Here’s a brief view of neurophilosophy from Anthony Grayling in The Philosopher’s Magazine.


“Artificial Intelligence”

August 22, 2010

I shall disclaim responsibility for this particular choice of terms. The phrase “artificial intelligence,” which led me to it, was coined, I think, right on the Charles River, at MIT. Our own research group at Rand and Carnegie Mellon University have prefered phrases like “complex information processing” and “simulation of cognitive processes.” But then we run into new terminological difficulties, for the dictionary also says that “to simulate” means “to assume or have the mere appearance or form of, without the reality; to imitate; counterfeit; pretend.” At any rate, “artificial intelligence” seems to be here to stay, and it may prove easier to cleanse the phrase than to dispense with it. In time it will become sufficiently idiomatic that it will no longer be the target of cheap rhetoric.

Herbert Simon 1996


Joaquin Fuster

August 13, 2010

I recently had the honor and good fortune to be on the same panel as neuroscientist Joaquin Fuster. We had been in correspondence over the years: the intellectual generosity of this man, one of the giants in the field, knows no bounds. I was thrilled to finally meet him in person. Below are some shots of him in full flight – his talk was entitled “Frederick Hayek’s Theory of Mind and Human Cognition.” (As co-panelist I was pitching Hayek as an extended mind theorist of sorts). Here is a lecture of Joaquin’s entitled “Distributed Memory and the Perception-Action Cycle” that is not far removed from his talk in San Diego. Here are some highlights from a recent lecture entitled “The brain is a search engine.”

In conversation with Roland Zahn, another fascinating mind.

Dinner with yours truly.


Network architecture of the long-distance pathways in the macaque brain

July 29, 2010

Here’s an interesting article by Dharmendra Modha and Raghavendra Singh.


Why is consciousness so mysterious?

June 17, 2010

A nice chat with Dave Chalmers on this topic.


Notes and Neurons

May 13, 2010

World Science Festival featuring Bobby McFerrin, best known as the writer and performer of one of my favourite songs Don’t worry be happy.

Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? Join host John Schaefer, Jamshed Barucha, scientist Daniel Levitin, Professor Lawrence Parsons and musical artist Bobby McFerrin for live performances and cross cultural demonstrations to illustrate music’s note-worthy interaction with the brain and our emotions.


Embodiment, Stigmergy, and Swarm Intelligence

May 7, 2010

Here is a chapter from a book by Michael Dawson, Brian Dupuis, and Michael Wilson (all of the Biological Computation Project, University of Alberta) that has just come my way and is entitled From Bricks to Brains: The Embodied Cognitive Science of LEGO Robots. In fact, all the chapters in draft are freely available to be downloaded from the book’s dedicated webpage. This offer will cease on publication of the book – which will be VERY soon. There is also a nicely produced 15 minute mini-documentary on the publisher’s site featuring Dawson and Depuis (click the video tab).


From The Sensory Order to the Moral Order

April 6, 2010

Arizona ’10

April 1, 2010

Wish I were there. Maybe in two years time.


Extended Mind – Extended Time

March 28, 2010

Since we’ve been waiting for almost four years!!! for the publication of this collection of papers attached to The Extended Mind II conference held at The University of Hertfordshire in July of ’06, it’s arrival is going to be somewhat underwhelming on the grounds that: (a) most of the papers have been in circulation for quite a while, and (b) much good literature and more detailed statements by many of the participants have appeared, many addressing issues raised at the Hertfordshire conference. This kinda makes this book redundant. A shame really considering the calibre of the line-up.

Update: I’m told by someone in the know that some of the papers go back to 2003!