CFP: the 2008 NORTH AMERICAN COMPUTING AND PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE

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The 2008 NORTH AMERICAN COMPUTING AND PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE

CALL for PAPERS and PROPOSALS

DEADLINE: March 1st, 2008

Conference Theme: The Limits of Computation

Keynote Speakers:
Paul Thagard - "Can Computers Understand Causality"

Ronald Arkin - "Ethics and Lethality in Autonomous Robots"

The North American Computing and Philosophy Conference is seeking papers and proposals for its 2008 conference to be held July 10th - 12th at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

This year's conference theme addresses the limits of computation. As such, individual sessions will ask questions that range over several problem domains where computers and computation are having an impact. Possible questions include:

  • Are there limits to automatic programming?
  • Is quantum computing subject to the same limits as Turing machine computation?
  • Is it possible to build an ethical machine?
  • How do computers facilitate learning?
  • To what extent is the computational metaphor helpful or harmful for describing cognition?
  • How might the capacity of computers to create elaborate visualization techniques enhance cognition?
  • What are the implications of experiments run in virtual worlds like Second Life?
  • Can a musical or literary composition written by a computer be considered a work of art?
  • To what extent, does computer networking enhance or impede the achievement of democratic ideals?
  • What is the overall impact of social networking on our interpersonal relationships and social practices?
We welcome submissions for papers, panels and demonstrations of computing and philosophy applications. Papers and demonstrations will be allotted 30 minutes including time for questions. 90-minute slots are available for panels and can be divided as the panelists see fit.

For papers, please limit submission length to 3,000 words, keeping in mind that the IACAP discourages participants from reading their papers to the audience.

Many presenters prepare slides using PowerPoint or some other software package. However, these need not be submitted with your original paper.

Include also a 250-word abstract.
If you wish your paper to be reviewed blindly, please make sure that it is devoid of all identifying marks, except for those on a cover page.

The IA-CAP discourages "show-and-tell" demonstrations, but welcomes submissions that show a new and interesting application of computers to philosophy. Submissions in this category should consist of a 1,500-word abstract outlining what is innovative about the application and the questions pertinent to philosophy that your demonstration will raise.

For panels, please submit a 1,000-word summary of the panel as a whole, along with 300 to 500-word abstracts for each of its various components.

The deadline for submissions is March 1st, 2008.

Submissions will be handled electronically this year. Details will be appear on the conference as they come available website at

This conference is one of several regional conferences associated with the International Association for Computing and Philosophy. To learn more about the IACAP, including its other conferences and membership details, visit the organization's website at http://ia-cap.org.

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