Online research in philosophy

This paper analyzes epistemological and ontological dimensions of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) through an analysis of the functions of computer systems in relation to their users. It is argued that the primary relation between humans and computer systems has historically been epistemic: computers are used as information-processing and problem-solving tools that extend human cognition, thereby creating hybrid cognitive systems consisting of a human processor and an artificial processor that process information in tandem. In this role, computer systems extend human cognition. Next, (...) it is argued that in recent years, the epistemic relation between humans and computers has been supplemented by an ontic relation. Current computer systems are able to simulate virtual and social environments that extend the interactive possibilities found in the physical environment. This type of relationship is primarily ontic, and extends to objects and places that have a virtual ontology. Increasingly, computers are not just information devices, but portals to worlds that we inhabit. The aforementioned epistemic and ontic relationships are unique to information technology and distinguish human-computer relationships from other human-technology relationships. (shrink)

The perspective of modeling knowledge in Artificial Intelligence is that these models are equal to the knowledge itself (e.g. equate the map with the territory). This encoding view treats knowledge as if it were primarily verbal and assumes that verbal concepts themselves can be replaced by descriptions of concepts—as if a body of descriptions and neural categorizations were equivalent mechanisms for generating behavior.[ ] This paper describes a number of concepts around the notion of ‘situatedness’: situated cognition, situated action, situated (...) learning, and the concept of autopoiesis as an organizing principle. Situatedness changes the way we think about how knowledge is created (learning) and applied (action). In this light knowledge management changes its meaning from managing the knowledge of an organization to managing the situation in which learning happens. Collaboration and participation become the key management principles. In this paper we propose that Brahms (Business Re-design Agent-based Holistic Modeling System), an activity-based multi-agent modeling environment, allows us to model knowledge in situated actions and learning in human activities. (shrink)

This interdisciplinary book presents recent work on emotions in neuroscience, cognitive science, philosophy, computer science, artificial intelligence, and...

The test Turing proposed for machine intelligence is usually understood to be a test of whether a computer can fool a human into thinking that the computer is a human. This standard interpretation is rejected in favor of a test based on the Imitation Game introduced by Turing at the beginning of "Computing Machinery and Intelligence.".