Tootfinder

Implications of computer science theory for the simulation hypothesis
David H. Wolpert
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.16050 https://arxiv…

Implications of computer science theory for the simulation hypothesis
The simulation hypothesis has recently excited renewed interest, especially in the physics and philosophy communities. However, the hypothesis specifically concerns {computers} that simulate physical universes, which means that to properly investigate it we need to couple computer science theory with physics. Here I do this by exploiting the physical Church-Turing thesis. This allows me to introduce a preliminary investigation of some of the computer science theoretic aspects of the simulation …

R.I.P. Daniel Dennett.
An influential modern voice on the question of Philosophy and AI, especially with the idea of the intentional stance.
https://dailynous.com/2024/04/19/daniel-dennett-death-1942-2024/

Daniel Dennett (1942-2024) - Daily Nous
Daniel Dennett, professor emeritus of philosophy at Tufts University, well-known for his work in philosophy of mind and a wide range of other philosophical areas, has died. Professor Dennett wrote extensively about issues related to philosophy of mind and cognitive science, especially consciousness. He is also recognized as having made significant contributions to the concept

Powerful (I thought) narrative from Sabine Hossenfelder about why she’s no longer an employed-in-academia scientist and is instead a YouTuber: https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2024/04/how-i-fell-out-of-love-with-academia.html

How I fell out of love with academia
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science

A friend's network of sustainable dairy farm supplies milk products to this bakery run by an Egyptian-Guatemalan woman in Mysore. It's lovely how many skilled people from outside #India have made #Mysore their home.

From Guatemala to Mysuru A Baker's Journey - Star of Mysore
By R. Eshwari Raquel loves yoga, baking and Mysuru. Armed with a degree in Physiology and Biomedical Science, she is the Founder of Local Friendly Bakery,  Vontikoppal. She firmly believes that attention to detail and creativity blossom with practice, a philosophy rooted in her upbringing. “I’ve been enveloped in the aroma of freshly baked goods...

Beyond Personhood: Agency, Accountability, and the Limits of Anthropomorphic Ethical Analysis
Jessica Dai
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.13861 https://<…

Beyond Personhood: Agency, Accountability, and the Limits of Anthropomorphic Ethical Analysis
What is agency, and why does it matter? In this work, we draw from the political science and philosophy literature and give two competing visions of what it means to be an (ethical) agent. The first view, which we term mechanistic, is commonly--and implicitly--assumed in AI research, yet it is a fundamentally limited means to understand the ethical characteristics of AI. Under the second view, which we term volitional, AI can no longer be considered an ethical agent. We discuss the implications…

Interesting looking paper on scientific authorship.
Joshua Hobgood-Coote et al., "What's the Point of Authors?" eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/175704/
[Gripe: What's the point of journal publication when the final version of the manuscript was submitted in 2021, & it's not been slotted into an issue of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science in 2024. And yes, I know most of the reasons that can be given, & even agree w/ most of them. Still, poor …

New OpenAccess book published: *The Brain Abstracted*, by philosopher of science Mazviita Chirimuuta
https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5741/The-Brain-AbstractedSimplification-in-the-History
I highly recommen…

The Brain Abstracted: Simplification in the History and Philosophy of Neuroscience
An exciting, new framework for interpreting the philosophical significance of neuroscience.All science needs to simplify, but when the object of research is som

Interesting remarks by Strevens in response to Kitcher's book on the aims and methods of philosophy
> philosophy’s most influential counterexamples are intended ... to play the same role as anomalies in Kuhnian science: to serve as the brave little facts that bring down great theories and make progress possible. If philosophical thought-experimenters conduct themselves ... as empirical scientists... it might be no bad thing for the enterprise of philosophy

Philosophy as a Science and as a Humanity? - Philosophia
This commentary on Philip Kitcher’s book What’s the Use of Philosophy? addresses two questions. First, must philosophers be methodologically self-conscious to do good work? Second, is there value in the questions pursued in the traditional areas of analytic philosophy?

Awareness in robotics: An early perspective from the viewpoint of the EIC Pathfinder Challenge "Awareness Inside''
Cosimo Della Santina, Carlos Hernandez Corbato, Burak Sisman, Luis A. Leiva, Ioannis Arapakis, Michalis Vakalellis, Jean Vanderdonckt, Luis Fernando D'Haro, Guido Manzi, Cristina Becchio, A\"ida Elamrani, Mohsen Alirezaei, Ginevra Castellano, Dimos V. Dimarogonas, Arabinda Ghosh, Sofie Haesaert, Sadegh Soudjani, Sybert Stroeve, Paul Verschure, Davide …

Awareness in robotics: An early perspective from the viewpoint of the EIC Pathfinder Challenge "Awareness Inside''
Consciousness has been historically a heavily debated topic in engineering, science, and philosophy. On the contrary, awareness had less success in raising the interest of scholars in the past. However, things are changing as more and more researchers are getting interested in answering questions concerning what awareness is and how it can be artificially generated. The landscape is rapidly evolving, with multiple voices and interpretations of the concept being conceived and techniques being de…

Famous Humanists in History
:mastodon:
https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/famous-humanists-in-history/

Famous Humanists in History - American Humanist Association
Below is a list of just some of the world’s most prominent leaders, thinkers, and activists in philosophy, justice, science, and the arts that have proudly associated with the American Humanist Association: Bestselling Authors Joyce Carol Oates Isaac Asimov Salman Rushdie Kurt Vonnegut Margaret Atwood Gore Vidal Scientists and Science Advocates Steve Wozniak Carolyn Porco […]

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.12062 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csCY_…

Causal Equal Protection as Algorithmic Fairness
Over the last ten years the literature in computer science and philosophy has formulated different criteria of algorithmic fairness. One of the most discussed, classification parity, requires that the erroneous classifications of a predictive algorithm occur with equal frequency for groups picked out by protected characteristics. Despite its intuitive appeal, classification parity has come under attack. Multiple scenarios can be imagined in which - intuitively - a predictive algorithm does not …

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.02027 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_mat…

Stochastic Optimal Control Matching
Stochastic optimal control, which has the goal of driving the behavior of noisy systems, is broadly applicable in science, engineering and artificial intelligence. Our work introduces Stochastic Optimal Control Matching (SOCM), a novel Iterative Diffusion Optimization (IDO) technique for stochastic optimal control that stems from the same philosophy as the conditional score matching loss for diffusion models. That is, the control is learned via a least squares problem by trying to fit a matchin…

"Theoretical physicists, through the inescapable demands of their own subject, have been forced to become epistemologists, just as pure mathematicians have been forced to become logicians."
- Arthur Eddington, 'The Philosophy Of Physical Science' (1949)

Causal Equal Protection as Algorithmic Fairness
Marcello Di Bello, Nicol\`o Cangiotti, Michele Loi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.12062 https://

Causal Equal Protection as Algorithmic Fairness
Over the last ten years the literature in computer science and philosophy has formulated different criteria of algorithmic fairness. One of the most discussed, classification parity, requires that the erroneous classifications of a predictive algorithm occur with equal frequency for groups picked out by protected characteristics. Despite its intuitive appeal, classification parity has come under attack. Multiple scenarios can be imagined in which - intuitively - a predictive algorithm does not …

Spike up Prime Interest in Science and Technology through Constructionist Games
Pavel Petrovi\v{c}, Fedir Agarshev
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.17243 https:/…

Spike up Prime Interest in Science and Technology through Constructionist Games
Robotics sets have been successfully used in elementary and secondary schools in conformance with the 'learning through play' philosophy fostered by LEGO Education, while utilizing the Constructionism didactic approach. Learners discover and acquire knowledge through first-hand tangible experiences, building their own representations in a constructivist learning process. Usual pedagogical goals of the activities include introduction to the principles of control, mechanics, programming, and robo…

The physicists philosophy of physics
P. J. E. Peebles
https://arXiv.org/abs/2401.16506 https://arXiv.org/pdf/2401.16506

The physicists philosophy of physics
I argue that research in physics operates under an implicit community philosophy, and I offer a definition I think physicists would accept, by and large. I compare this definition to what philosophers, sociologists, and historians of science, with physicists, say we are doing.

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.05805 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csCY_…

And Then the Hammer Broke: Reflections on Machine Ethics from Feminist Philosophy of Science
Vision is an important metaphor in ethical and political questions of knowledge. The feminist philosopher Donna Haraway points out the ``perverse'' nature of an intrusive, alienating, all-seeing vision (to which we might cry out ``stop looking at me!''), but also encourages us to embrace the embodied nature of sight and its promises for genuinely situated knowledge. Current technologies of machine vision -- surveillance cameras, drones (for war or recreation), iPhone cameras -- are usually cons…

The physicists philosophy of physics
P. J. E. Peebles
https://arXiv.org/abs/2401.16506 https://arXiv.org/pdf/2401.16506

The physicists philosophy of physics
I argue that research in physics operates under an implicit community philosophy, and I offer a definition I think physicists would accept, by and large. I compare this definition to what philosophers, sociologists, and historians of science, with physicists, say we are doing.