Here is a nice collection of HD photographs of a plethora of robots from Boston.com. The diversity of uses is astonishing – from the banal to the exotic – they are ubiquitous. But let’s not get carried away and talk of consciousness.
Top of the Pops (well relatively speaking)
Sad as it is, we were chuffed to discover that our co-authored paper is the 57th most popular paper in Chalmers’ MindPapers database out of a total of 18,477 papers.
Liberal Education Revisited
A couple of months ago I posted a link to Stanley Fish’s NYT article bemoaning the corroding of liberal education. With the news of the closure of Liverpool’s philosophy department here is John Pugh echoing Fish.
Young Wittgenstein
This photograph is featured in a recent NYT book review. Photos of Wittgenstein are few and far between so it was nice to see this one of the young Ludwig around 17 or 18 with the family. I also chanced upon the full version of Derek Jarman’s film which I couldn’t find on DVD. I recall that it was pretty accessible given the director’s “experimental” inclinations. A small screen, but given that it’s stagy, it doesn’t really detract from one’s enjoyment.
Philosopher of Conversation
Here’s a piece from The Spectator written by, I suspect, John Casey. It looks like it’s dated 25 May 1985. Paul Franco gave it to me a few years ago and I’d folded it into a book and forgot about it. Click image a few times to enlarge.
Dawn of the robots
Ron Chrisley has just been sent me a link to an article that features excerpts of an interview with him in the Australian science magazine Cosmos. The article “Dawn of the Robots” offers a nice overview of the conceptual problems faced by robotics and the state of the art – all wrapped up in the usual techno-ebullience.
Ruth Garrett Millikan Lecture
I want to give a plug to the Annual William D. Hamilton Memorial Lecture that this year features Ruth Garrett Millikan on “The Tangle of Biological Purposes That Is Us.” For those of you in the Boston area this is an event that you really should try to attend.
April 1, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
St. Francis Room
Jack Ketchum Library
Biddeford Campus
University of New England
Lehrer on Noë/Poole on Lehrer
Lehrer on Noë/Poole on Lehrer – nothing really of much interest from the effete world of “science” journalism.
New Issue of Journal of Mind and Behavior
Robot Humour
