This past weekend I attended the Timothy Sprigge Memorial Conference (see link to obituary by Jane O’Grady who was in attendence). I met Sprigge in 1997 at the Bradley conference at Harris-Manchester College Oxford, a time when I was very interested in the idealists. Funny how philosophical changes come and go – Sprigge, ever the…
The latest issue of EPISTEME is now available – the theme is computer simulations – an topic that is seeing a great deal of growth. Alexander RieglerCarlo MartiniGerhard SchurzIgor DouvenJ. McKenzie AlexanderJan SprengerKevin J. S. ZollmanPaul HumphreysRainer HegselmannStephan HartmannUlrich Krause
Forbes features a symposium on A.I: it’s past, present and future. The editor writes: Can machines think? In 1950, Alan Turing, considered by some to be the father of modern computing, published a paper in which he proposed that, “If, during text-based conversation, a machine is indistinguishable from a human, then it could be said…
Call for papers Hayek in Mind: Hayek’s Philosophical Psychology Leslie Marsh, Volume Editor Advances in Austrian Economics Hayek’s philosophical psychology as set out in his The Sensory Order (1952) has, for the most part, been a neglected work. Social theory, Hayek’s traditional disciplinary constituency, has recently begun to take note and examine its place in the complete Hayek corpus. Despite being…
The Brain: How Google Is Making Us Smarter Humans are “natural-born cyborgs,” and the Internet is our giant “extended mind.” Science journalist Carl Zimmer writes about the extended mind thesis in the latest issue of Discover. Whatever one might think about the Clark-Chalmers argument, Zimmer offers a well-needed corrective to the recent rash of articles…
In a post on the OUP blog Adrian Vermeule writes: The basic problem with “The Use of Knowledge in Society” is what we might call the Hayek Fallacy: a false comparison between the aggregate product of many minds and the product of a single mind. Perhaps that comparison is relevant in special contexts, such as…
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…
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…
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)…
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 