The 2009 North American Conference on Computing and Philosophy

-
NA-CAP@IU 2009: Networks and Their Philosophical Implications

June 14th - 16th

At Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana

In recent years, across several different academic disciplines, including biology, computer science, cognitive science, informatics, philosophy and psychology, a shift in the study of complex systems is readily visible. This shift away from a focus on the individual components of a system to the interrelations between them has provided the groundwork for what might broadly be called a "network" perspective, as it has become increasingly clear that simple components can produce astoundingly complex and varied behavior when they work in consort. Evidence for this observation is seen everywhere from biological neural networks, stigmergic systems, and animal behavior to networked computing, social networking, and dynamic systems. This conference will explore the philosophical implications of this network perspective as it applies to the broader scope of topics studied by our association.

Conference highlights include keynote lectures from William Bechtel (University of California, San Diego) and Olaf Sporns (Indiana University), both of whom will speak about new research in biological networks. The conference will additionally feature panel sessions on Logic Pedagogy and Networks and Social Network Effects. The IACAP is also pleased to acknowledge this year's recipient of the Goldberg Graduate Award, Matteo Turilli (University of Oxford) for his paper, "Translating Ethical Requirements into Software Specifications," which he will be presenting at this conference.

Individual conference sessions will be dedicated to:
o Biological and Artificial Networks
o Computation and Representation
o Modeling, Epistemology and Cooperation
o Networks, Networked Computing and Robotics
o Bayesian and Semantic Networks
o Group Cognition, eTrust and Network Neutrality
o Social Networks, Privacy and the Self
Details are available on our Program page.

The International Association for Computing and Philosophy would like to acknowledge the generosity of the Department of Philosophy and the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University, and the support of the university generally, not only for their financial contributions, but more importantly for their cooperation in helping with the arrangements, their intellectual openness to the study of computing and philosophy, and the willingness of their graduate students and faculty to participate in our conference.

________________________________________

Program Director: Tony Beavers, University of Evansville

Assistant Program Director: Mara Harrell, Carnegie Mellon University

Conference Host: Colin Allen, Indiana University

Logic Pedagogy and Networks Program Chair: Marvin Croy, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Social Networking Program Chair: Dylan Wittkower, Coastal Carolina University

NA-CAP Director: Selmer Bringsjord, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

NA-CAP Steering Committee:
Don Berkich, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
David Stern, University of Iowa
Mara Harrell, Carnegie Mellon University
IACAP President: Luciano Floridi, University of Hertfordshire & University of Oxford

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the importance of being pedantic (series: notes to myself)

-
Image
They say that to call someone pedantic is an insult. I'm not so sure. True, someone pedantic is obsessed with minor details, small errors, or tiny imperfections. And a pedantic is also someone who cares too much about all such things not to let you know about them, advising or correcting, disagreeing or disapproving. And yes, if you are a pedant, you are more than just occasionally pedantic. This can happen to anybody, the excessive emphasis on some narrow or boring detail being a tendency we all share when it comes to matters about which we care very much. But if you are a pedant, being pedantic is your daily stance, your intrinsic nature, your way of living. You are always, consistently, reliably, systematically pedantic, from the moment you wake up, about the exact place where the slippers should be next to your bed, all the way to the moment you go to sleep, and the exact place where the phone should be placed to recharge. If you are a true pedant, no detail is too trivial, no
Read more

Mind the app - considerations on the ethical risks of COVID-19 apps

-
[22 April update: at the Digital Ethics Lab (OII, University of Oxford) we have elaborated a list of 16 questions to check whether an app is ethically justifiable, the full article, open access, is available here ] There is a lot of talk about apps to deal with the pandemic . Some of the best solutions use the Bluetooth connection of mobile phones to determine the contact between people and therefore the probability of contagion. In theory, it may seem simple. In practice, there are several ethical problems, not only legal and  technical ones . To understand them, it is useful to distinguish between the validation and the verification of a system.  The validation of a system answers the question: "are we building the right system?". The answer is no if the app is illegal,  for example, the use of an app in the EU must comply with the GDPR; mind that this is necessary but not sufficient to make the app also ethically acceptable, see below; is unnecessary, f
Read more

Call for expressions of interest: research position for a project on Digital Sovereignty and the Governance, Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (GELSI) of digital innovation.

-
Image
THIS CALL IS NOW CLOSED Call for expressions of interest: research position for a project on Digital Sovereignty and the Governance, Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (GELSI) of digital innovation. The Centre for Digital Ethics of the University of Bologna https://centri.unibo.it/digital-ethics/en invites expressions of interest (EOI) from early career researchers, with a relevant Master or PhD degree, interested in developing a research project in the field of Digital Sovereignty and the Governance, Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (GELSI) of digital innovation. The EOI should include three documents (all in English): 1. a letter (ca. 500 words), including relevant details about personal motivation, relevant skills, experience, and a link to a Google Scholar profile; 2. a short CV (max 3 pages), including a list of publications; and 3. a short (ca. 1,000 words) outline of the proposed research project about digital sovereignty and the GELSI of digital innovat
Read more

Il sapore della felicità condivisa

-
Il 19 marzo del 1850, Charlotte Brönte scrive una lettera a William Smith Williams, l’editore presso Smith Elder che per primo aveva riconosciuto in lei una straordinaria scrittrice. Williams le ha inviato alcuni libri da leggere, e lei, nel ringraziarlo, usa una frase divenuta famosa e che oggi troviamo citata ovunque: “la felicità non condivisa può a malapena essere chiamata felicità. Non ha sapore/gusto.” (Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness—it has no taste). Per le persone misantrope e asociali, o anche semplicemente un po’ solitarie, che ritengono che la solitudine sia l’unica felicità (beata solitudo, sola beatitudo), l’affermazione sembra del tutto errata. Eppure, è difficile non riconoscere che esiste un tipo di felicità che richiede la sua condivisione per essere goduta a pieno e non restare incompleta. Non si tratta della felicità intesa come contentezza. Come si sa, questa fa riferimento allo stare bene con se stessi e con la propria vita, in pace con l
Read more

On the art of biting one's own tongue (series: notes to myself)

-
The art of biting one's own tongue consists in the ability not to engage when someone says something unpleasant, untrue, malicious, or abusive about you. Instead of answering a biased question, arguing against a ludicrous opinion, complaining about an abusive message, correcting a meaningless error, countering a fallacy, explaining a patent mistake, objecting to a groundless criticism, rectifying a willful misrepresentation, rejecting an insinuation, responding to a provocation, retorting to a nasty remark, replying to an offensive allegation, … in short, instead of engaging with your mindless interlocutors you simply ignore them and do absolutely nothing, not even acknowledging that you might have received their communication, not even sharing a “no comment”, just silence. As far as they know, you might have never got the email, read the tweet or the Facebook comment, seen the Instagram picture. If you bite your own tongue appropriately, for them their communication might have nev
Read more

Gauss Professorship

-
Image
Every year, the Göttingen Academy of Sciences (Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen) elects a Gauss Professor (Gauß-Professur der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen) to honour the memory of the great scientist . Normally, the Professorship is awarded to an "importat scientist in one of Gauss' fields of interest". So, no philosopher has been elected so far. They just made an exception. Next year, I will be their Gauss Professor, in recognition of my work on the philosophy of information. An overwhelming honour, but very exciting. No teaching, complete freedom of research and great support. Shame on me if I do not make the most of such a privilege. I better start revising my German.
Read more

The ethics of WikiLeaks

-
The Wikileaks phenomenon is intricate, but suppose we reduce its ethical evaluation to two questions: is whistleblowing ethical, even when motivated by resentment and the desire to harm its target? And is Wikileaks’ facilitation of whistleblowing ethical, even if it might put at risk innocent people? A deontologist, convinced that telling the truth and never lying is an absolute must, is likely to appreciate whistleblowing as the right thing to do, independently of the reasons behind it. And a consequentialist may support Wikileaks as a means to maximise the welfare of the largest number of people, especially if risks are minimized by censuring sensitive information. So current answers in the mass media seem to converge: Wikileaks is a good thing. I am not entirely convinced. Confidential communication is a three-player game – sender, receiver and referent – in which sender and receiver trust each other. The receiver, not the referent, trusts and holds responsible the sender f
Read more

On Philosophy's envy of her four sisters (series: notes to myself)

-
Image
Philosophy has four sisters: Mathematics, Poetry, Religion, and Science. She envies all of them. She would like to be as powerfully abstract, and rigorously demonstrative, and practically useful, and timeless ... as she believes Mathematics to be. But failing, she ends up calculating the qualitative, formalising the undefinable, inferring the trivial, and missing the obvious: useless, empty, self-referential. She would like to be as delicately perceptive, and existentially fine-tuned, and meaningfully profound, and experientially rich ... as she believes Poetry to be. But failing, she ends up blathering obscure intuitions, prophesying in an esoteric language, playing with words while disrespecting facts and reasonings, obsessed with invented etymologies but oblivious of actual meanings: unhinged, nonsensical, unaccountable. She would like to be as methodologically driven, and systematically explanatory, and epistemically foundational, and progressively cumulative ... as she believes
Read more

Philosophy & Technology

-
Image
Philosophy & Technology ISSN: 2210-5433 website: http://www.springer.com/13347 submission: http://www.editorialmanager.com/phte/ Description Technologies have been changing the world for a long time, at an increasing pace, with ever expanding scope and unprecedented impact. They profoundly affect human life and are radically modifying not only how we interact with, shape, and make sense of our world, but also how we look at ourselves and understand our position and responsibilities in the universe. Technologies have brought enormous benefits and opportunities, but they have also raised new and pressing challenges, whose complexity and global dimensions are rapidly expanding and evolving. Philosophy & Technology addresses such challenges, in order to improve our critical understanding of the conceptual nature and practical consequences of technologies, and hence provide the conceptual foundations for their fruitful and sustainable developments. The journal aims to
Read more

ECAP 2008

-
COMPUTING AND PHILOSOPHY E-CAP 2008@LIRMM, France, June 16-18, 2008 http://www.lirmm.fr/ECAP08/ Conference Chair: Jean Sallantin js@lirmm.fr E-CAP 2008 is generously supported by CNRS, Province Languedoc/Roussillon, University Montpellier II ECAP is the European conference on Computing and Philosophy, the European affiliate of the International Association for Computers and Philosophy (IACAP): see www.ia-cap.org for further information. IMPORTANT DATES February 15 , 2008 Submission of extended abstracts March 17, 2008 Notification of acceptance April 30, 2008 Early registration deadline June 16-18, 2008 Conference GENERAL INFORMATION From Monday 16 to Wednesday 18 June 2008 the Sixth International European Conference on COMPUTING AND PHILOSOPHY will be held on the Campus of the University for Science and Technology, Montpellier, France. PROGRAM Continuing the
Read more