In anticipation of the symposium on the Extended Mind that I’m editing for Zygon, I can now make available the abstracts. Mark Rowlands THE EXTENDED MIND The extended mind is the thesis that some mental – typically cognitive – processes are partly composed of operations performed by cognizing organisms on the world around them. The…
Here is an imaginative way of surveying the stigmergic activity of an ant colony. (I’m sorry that these creatures were sacrificed in the interest of science but they still “rule the world” and we have much to learn from them – respect!).
Stephen Smoliar has a post today that refers to Hayek’s The Sensory Order. I’m particularly pleased to hear that Smoliar’s sometime-colleague Brian Arthur holds Hayek in high regard. Coming from Arthur, that is high praise indeed. Smoliar also writes: Edelman himself does not appear to have acknowledged Hayek’s work, but this is entirely understandable. I’m pleased to…
Dan Sperber’s tribute to Lévi-Strauss on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
I came across this pretty impressive video of Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robot. Click on image below to view.
If you’ve ever heard the term “extended mind” and thought it denoted some sort of hocus pocus, then this recording will set you straight. Zoe Drayson of Bristol University has recorded a superb overview of the notion and the ethical implications arising from it. Zoe’s motivation for coming to this multidisciplinary literature had resonance for…
Once again a superb posting by Vitorino Ramos on his blog. Heretofore I’d not been aware of the existence of hobo signs or the gum election, both of which nicely illustrate the various conceptual lenses associated with distributed cognition/knowledge. I’ll definitely be invoking these ideas. Good stuff! I also notice another posting about Brian Arthur’s El Farol Bar…
This past weekend I had the good fortune to be able to attend the Second Conference on Emergent Order and Society held in Portsmouth, NH. The term “conference” doesn’t really characterise the format – it is more akin to a colloquium where the emphasis is on genuine discussion and conversation in an intimate group (18 in all)…
For those who have been following the work of Andy Clark – Natural-Born Cyborgs – and his latest – Supersizing the Mind – not mention Ray Kurzweil (and The Matrix) – should enjoy this article from Scientific American (November 2008, pp. 56-61). Not included here are two subsections that outline progress and propspects for neurotechnology (“How…
I don’t often plug workshops or conferences but here is one that appeals to my interest in social epistemology and computational intelligence. ************************** Workshop on Computer Simulations in Social Epistemology, Leuven, October 30-31 Centre for Logic and Analytical Philosophy The Workshop will be held in Seminar Room 2.41, Van Der Heuvelinstituut, 2nd floor (just to…
manwithoutqualities 