Stigmergy and the Wealth of Networks

ants, artificial intelligence, cognition, cognitive science, collaboration, collaborative filtering, collective intentionality, collective knowledge, complexity, distributed cognition, distributed knowledge, John Graves, stigmergic, stigmergic cognition, stigmergy

John Graves shares his worth with Wiki-to-Text and Stigmergy & Wealth of Networks for a Learning2gether session.

The Glass is Half Full: Optimism and the Brain

1, brain, brain scans, brain science, Christoph Korn, Raymond Dolan, sociocognition, Tali Sharot

Here’s an article from Nature Neuroscience that is getting a lot of attention. Here is an interview with lead author Tali Sharot who has cornered the market on “optimism” research.

Christianity and the Extended-Mind Thesis

Andy Clark, Christianity, david chalmers, extended cognitive systems, extended mind, externalism, Lynne Rudder Baker, religion, robert wilson

Here is a paper by Lynne Rudder Baker entitled “Christianity and the Extended-Mind Thesis” continuing the theme of extended mind and religion she wrote on for a symposium I put together a few years back – see the journal Zygon.

Utilitarians are not nice people

bentham, cognition, cognitive science, Daniel Bartels, David Pizarro, Mill, moral philosophy, philosophy of mind, sociocognition, utilitarianism

Here’s an article entitled “Goodness has nothing to do with it” in The Economist. Here is Bartels’ and Pizarro’s actual paper published in Cognition.

Chuck Getchell

charles getchell, oakeshott, Sabre Foundation

On the eve of the 10th anniversary conference of the founding of the Michael Oakeshott Association (regretably I’m unable to be in attendance) I thought I’d pay tribute here to someone who was instrumental in setting up the MOA – “Chuck” Getchell. It just so happens that it’s been almost a year since Chuck died – here is his obituary.

Chuck centre, flanked by Noel and Margot O’Sullivan at the Inaugural Conference in 2001 at the LSE

Chuck was an incredibly well-connected, cultured, gentle and modest guy with a twinkle in his eye. After meeting him in 2001 I came to know Chuck quite well as the long time secretary of the Sabre Foundation. I have fond memories of Chuck visiting me at my house in Maine and of my coming down to his neck of the woods in Ipswich where I met a few of his relations and was shown around the area. Chuck will be missed by many.

The Global Brain

complex adaptive systems, complexity, cyborgs, extended cognitive systems, extended mind, global brain, google, social networking, spontaneous orders, stigmergic, stigmergic cognition, stigmergy

Here’s yet another article on the global brain.

Kafka’s In The Penal Colony

franz kafka, In The Penal Colony, Kafka, modernism

If ever there was a mind that captured the modern condition (our current condition) it is Franz Kafka. Not only that, he must rate as the preeminent novelist of ideas without them being the ideas of the learned man trotted out self-consciously by most (academics and literati) who would be flattered by that appellation. First published in October 1919 here is Kafka’s In the Penal Colony. Since this was the only Kafka piece that I felt could be translated to the screen, years back I wrote a screenplay that faithfully followed this text. Though it never made it to the screen I can see it in my mind eye unmodulated by others’ vision.

Humanity 2.0: Steve Fuller takes an “extended” turn

Andy Clark, cyborgs, distributed cognition, extended mind, externalism, robert wilson, social epistemology, Steve Fuller

Steve Fuller arguably the best-known social epistemologist in the sociological tradition seems to have taken an extended mind/distributed cognition/cyborgian turn. Steve by the way (as was Susan Haack in my previous post) most generous in participating in the first EPISTEME volume and conference, especially significant since he is the founding editor of Social Epistemology. The cover of Steve’s latest bears a striking resemblance to Andy Clark’s Natural-Born Cyborgs. Judging from the article it seems that Steve would have much in common with another major extended theorist – Rob Wilson and his What Sorts of People Should There Be? project.

In all this, it’s not so much that we’ve been losing our humanity but that it’s becoming projected or distributed across things that lack a human body.

Susan Haack – Epistemology: who needs it?

episteme, epistemology, Evidence and Inquiry, Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate, science, social epistemology, SUSAN HAACK

I had the great pleasure of listening to Susan Haack today. Her talk was entitled “Epistemology: Who Needs It?” (see the abstract below). She was wonderfully lucid and engaging without ever coming over as dry or pompous nor losing her stance as a “passionate and unfashionable moderate.” She would be the perfect ambassador for the public understanding of science. Susan must rate as one of the greatest female philosophers around whose expertise ranges from the highly technical to the very accessible. To her credit she has never portrayed herself in clichéd “I’m a female philosopher therefore I’m a feminist philosopher” terms. Her intellectual honesty and openness is beyond reproach. Susan is also a most generous person. She kindly agreed to participate in the first issue of EPISTEME that I edited. Not only that, she hopped off a plane in London for the launch of EPISTEME from China feeling like crap and being the trooper that she is, delivered her paper without any indication of her discomfort. She also participated in the EPISTEME Dartmouth conference three years ago – see her paper here. My favourite book of hers is admittedly not her best one – but it somehow captures her – Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate. Her best and most challenging book is Evidence and Inquiry.

Epistemology: Who Needs It?

This reflection on the real-world relevance of epistemological ideas begins with the thought that all of us—when we wonder what to make of newspaper reports of supposed medical breakthroughs, of failures of military intelligence, etc., etc.— call, implicitly or explicitly, on epistemology; and shows how an understanding of, e.g., the differences between genuine inquiry and advocacy research, the nature of wishful and fearful thinking, and the material character of the relevance and its bearing on what relevant evidence we may be missing, can illuminate the ways in which inquiry can go wrong and evidence can mislead us.